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If all goes well, by the time you read this, I will be in another country. No, I’m not fleeing the law or anything that exciting. Rather, my husband and I are attempting to finally do our 25th wedding anniversary trip. We’ve been trying for so long that we’ve now been married for 28 ½ years. But even as I have a hard time putting anything in print for fear of jinxing it, I do think that it will happen this time. We will be starting in Amsterdam and moving down the Rhine toward Oberammergau for the famed Passion Play. This play began in 1634 as a commitment of the people of this small town in Bavaria who avoided the ravages of a dreaded plague and wanted to thank God for sparing them. It has been put on every 10 years since then, though it was delayed the past two years because of Covid. Oh, the irony of life. Well, Mike and I are glad they waited until we could get there and will let you know how this whole adventure unfolds. I am just now beginning to let myself get excited.
But even if I am NOT in the Netherlands when you read this (see I’m making myself nervous again), there is still plenty to be excited about. My article on how to respond to conspiracy thinking came out in NCR a little over a week again. Experiences with conspiracy thinking keep coming up over and over again in the workshops on tough conversations that I’ve been facilitating in the past year or so. This article was my chance to refine my own thoughts around why conspiracy thinking is actually a theological issue that we should be speaking out about at a church… and what we can do about it in our daily lives. As the midterm elections approach, I’m committed to doing more online sessions about the importance of “living truth” in the fall. One opportunity that just opened up (mark your calendars now if interested!) is a half day Zoom retreat through St. Placid Spirituality Center in Lacey, WA on October 22. Know that you do not need to be in Washington to attend. You just need to know how to set your clock to Pacific Time. Feel free to share the link with whoever you think might be interested.
And in an effort to remind myself that even if I do NOT get to the Netherlands in a timely manner I will still be okay… I’m sharing here my preaching from last week on the feast of St. Philip. (It was also the feast of St. James… but he got the short end of the stick in terms of preaching this year.) Not much is known about Philip other than the line attributed to him in the Gospel of John: “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” May we come to trust that in knowing God through Christ we already have and will always have forevermore all that we need. That alone is enough for a good life… though traveling down the Rhine is great icing on the cake.
Please pray for our safe, smooth travel and that we return rejuvenated for the next 28 ½ years of marriage!
(Thanks to Dayne Topkin for the great photo)