Thoughts on Theology, Motherhood, and Life in General

Wow, do I suck at writing with any sort of regularity! Nine months have passed since my last entry. Every day is still Groundhog Day. Covid continues to ravage the US, in part because of a lack of organized federal response last year and in part because too many Americans don't believe in science and are too selfish/self centered to sacrifice a bit of normalcy for the greater good. Over 420,000 Americans have lost their lives to Covid 19 in the last year--we've exceeded the point of a 9/11 or Pearl Harbor happening every day and people are still refusing to abide by mask mandates. It infuriates me. I'd love to tell you that I've been following my own advice from my last post and handled the last 10 months like champ. You expect the pastor to practice what she preaches, don't you? But we all know that reality is complicated and the last nine months have felt like years to many of us. Since I was already in a foul mood on Tuesday, I finally got on the scale and confro...

Judging by my social media feed, as it continues well into its second month, the corona-quarantine seems to be negatively impacting the mental health of many I know, particularly my extroverted friends. Last week was a hard week for me--I spent two days huddled and essentially hibernating under an electric blanket because I just couldn't deal. This week, while I've been consistently dropping balls left and right (hello, conference call that I joined an hour late because I wrote down the wrong time not once, but TWICE), at least my mental health is in a better place. The warm weather and sunshine have helped, but I've also taken some steps to improve things as much as I can. None of what I've done is particularly groundbreaking. You've undoubtedly heard it all before--but there is a reason for that and that reason is that it really does help!  1. I've made a conscious effort to exercise. Mostly I walk around my neighborhood, but yesterday I did 30 minutes ...

Isaiah 43:18-19a. "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing." Some of my favorite books of the bible are those written by the prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah in particular. I find them relatable because I see so much of our culture in them and their critique of humanity speaks to my hyper-critical soul. As I thumbed through my well-worn study bible (always buy the hardcover, not the paperback) today, my eyes rested upon that verse from Isaiah above and it tugged my heart. While its ancient context was comparing the Babylonian exile to the Mosaic exile, I keep using the exile metaphor with my church folks about our current quarantine situation because I think it is the best biblical context for where we find ourselves, even if our exile is being stuck in our homes instead of forced out them. Even within our homes, most of our daily routines and schedules, all that is familiar and known to us, life as we know ...

Good Friday worship set up. I fully expected to slack off on blogging last week with it being Holy Week. I spent the better part of the week trying to figure out how to broadcast a meaningful Good Friday worship experience from my home. I went live from my dining room with a makeshift tabletop pulpit. I managed to dig up enough candles for a Tenebrae service. The "pulpit" is a Target box (still full of the junk food that would go in the kids' Easter baskets) wrapped in my Harry Potter Hufflepuff robe, and the black runner is actually two chiffon wraps (navy under black) from 20 years old bridesmaids dresses. The drape on the cross is a headband that I actually swiped out of my hamper--I honestly think the dust and dirt on it made a theological statement--crucifixion is a nasty, dirty business, right? So despite the fact that I frantically pulled all of the components together out of my closet and various storage areas of the house--I was pleased with how my makeshift ...

Until I hung a curtain in the doorway behind me, the number one question I've gotten on Zoom calls during this corona-quarantine has been, "Christi, are you in a closet?" My home office has been in the closet of our guest bedroom since I started seminary "full time" in 2014. I needed the ability to close a door and quiet household noise. Since we have relatively frequent overnight guests, I couldn't convert our guest bedroom entirely to an office. So I borrowed the closet. When the kiddos swapped rooms back in 2017, the guest bedroom moved into what had been Cassie's room and I got an upgrade to a walk in cloffice that I painted to match the bedroom. Walk in is a generous description--in reality there is just enough floor space for my desk and a chair. It is an exceptionally efficient space because I've had to maximize every last inch of it. A hanging double shelf from Home Depot added space for hymnals and books used regularly in worship prep. A ...

Today I was asked by a friend to share my thoughts on Easter in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic for a conference-wide video. As it turns out, I'm not so great at 10-20 second sound bites. I really need 30-60 seconds. So I had to scrap my Albus Dumbledore quote for the video, and I decided to blog about it instead. One of my very favorite Harry Potter scenes is the one in which Albus Dumbledore informs Harry, "After all, to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." This pandemic reminds me so much of 9/11 in the sense that life as we knew it before this pandemic has ceased to exist. Our pre-Covid 19 lives are dead--many of us may feel as though we are in a holding pattern--in purgatory, if you will--waiting for the next life, our post-Covid 19 life to fully begin when our shelter in place/quarantine orders are lifted. Easter, of course, would be Christ's next great adventure. He died, descended into Hell, and on the third day, was resur...