Start date: August 26, 2019 Location: Lexington, Kentucky Observations: The past three weeks (only three?) have been a whirlwind. On a Friday in late August, with my industrious and reassuring mother in tow, I drove from Northern Virginia down to Richmond, former home to me and then-home to most of my belongings. The next day, those belongings were loaded onto a moving truck, and then Mom and I got on I-64 and drove. And drove. For hours. Through beautiful mountains and West Virginia and into Kentucky. My new home. One is greeted on I-64 in Kentucky by a humongous oil refinery. It is the very first thing you see. How will I later interpret this odd detail as the start of a new home and new call? I realize a parent really is never done being a parent as my mom labors for 14-hour days with me unpacking said items (yes, they arrived the next day!), cleaning, hanging things on the wall and generally getting me settled in. God bless parents (and specifically my mom). On my … [Read more...]
What boxed wine taught me about community
This week we asked our bloggers to consider their experience of alcohol and church. Here are their reflections. Boxed wine gets a bad rap. Perhaps you see those rectangular packages lined up on the shelves of your grocery store and envision young adults drinking too much. Or you may wonder why on earth someone would rather drink their wine out of a bag (which, as it turns out, holds the wine inside the box) instead of a bottle. I too used to not get the point of wine in a box. I live in Virginia, home to hundreds of wineries that together sell more than half a million cases of wine each year. Supporting local grape growers and winemakers seems like the right thing to do. But then I met my neighbors. And now, when I look at boxed wine, I see church. When I moved to Richmond, Virginia, more than three years ago to begin seminary, I was placed in an off-campus apartment complex with some other number of seminarians. An on-campus housing shortage sent us out into what some … [Read more...]
Moving ahead without knowing what’s next
I graduated from seminary a few weekends ago. It was an amazing day: a fitting culmination of countless written words, late nights, Hebrew conjugations, hard questions, community transitions, afternoon meetings and shared meals. (Thank God for those shared meals.) My family was there, as were friends from my home church, from college, and – of course – from seminary. After a moving commencement service where we were exhorted by Brian Blount, Union Presbyterian Seminary’s president, to get up and follow God’s call, us newly minted graduates spilled out into the warm (okay, hot) Virginia sunshine. We took pictures and exchanged hugs and farewells and words of thanks with the professors and staff and classmates who had made it all possible. It was an amazing day. And yet, four years and two degrees later, something is still missing. A bit of an Eeyore-like cloud hovers around the outermost edge of this moment of accomplishment and celebration — because I am moving ahead without … [Read more...]
I’ve forgotten how to read for fun
When I was a kid, reading was my hobby. Other kids played soccer or did gymnastics or participated in Scouts. While I dabbled in a few of these activities, what I loved most was to read. Historical fiction was a particular favorite, whether it was American Girl doll books or The Magic Treehouse series. Filling out a summer reading list was a thrill — even if my sister always had more books listed than I did. (Though that school year reading log? Not nearly as fun.) Then, I became an adult. Books for classes replaced novels during college. The Washington Post Express replaced those college texts during my commute home when I worked in Washington, D.C., after graduating. Books on theology and leadership and the Bible replaced that newspaper when I transitioned to seminary (well, at least until the 2016 election, when I resumed reading the Post). Reading always served a particular function, and it was rarely for “fun.” As I was actively interviewing for my first call, I came up with … [Read more...]
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