It always amuses me how clean and shiny the stable appears in the nativity pictures and how magically recovered Mary seems to be. Birth is messy and exhausting. Stables are filthy, dusty, and stinky much of the time. Babies are beautiful and sweet when bathed and dressed in clean clothing, but that is not always … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections December 3rd, 2021
“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon I am a planner. I always have a plan, a back-up plan and often a back-up to the back-up. My purse always contains the usual wallet and keys plus pen and paper, lipstick, cough drops, extra quarters, tissues, phone charging cord, … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections November 20th, 2021
Mary Oliver writes about the Alligator as a fixture in the Florida landscape: “In beautiful Florida, he is king of his own part of the black river, ” and she celebrates the strength, speed, beauty, ferocity of this animal. I recently saw a video about Wally the registered Emotional Support Gator. He’s about 5 feet … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections November 12th, 2021
A giant inflatable Santa went up Tuesday next door to my lodgings in Ft. Walton Beach. I laughed out loud as I walked past, but it was a slightly nervous laugh. I haven’t been able to freely enjoy Christmas since I was in college. When I began working in a church I discovered that before … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections November 5th, 2021
On Sunday, we will meet for our fall Annual Meeting during which we will elect officers to serve our congregation in 2022. I can’t emphasize strongly enough how important it is that everyone join the zoom to participate in this meeting. The democratic process of people having the right, opportunity and responsibility to vote on … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections October 29th, 2021
As we look toward a time in the not-too-distant future when we will gather in person again, I’d like to challenge everyone to think about how we will “Do church” differently. Everyone has favorite memories of our pre-pandemic fellowship and a personal list of things they want to see started up again. And I have … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections October 22nd, 2021
October 11 was national Coming Out Day and I want to give a shout out to all the brave LGBTQ+ folk who proudly stepped forth to share with their family and friends their deepest, truest selves! Thanks to those who participated in our local Pride activities last Saturday! I was 16 when my friend Stephen … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections October 15th, 2021
What an exciting and meaningful weekend we have scheduled! Tonight is our Halloween Party for families and everyone who loves children! I will be attending as a pirate (think “Smee” from Peter Pan) and decorating my Prius hatch as a Monster Mouth for the Trunk-or-Treat. I hope many of you will be bringing candy in … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections October 8th, 2021
Robert Hamma writes in Earth’s Echo of the power and immensity of the ocean and the genius and perfection of each water molecule. Our small, brief lives are lived within the immensity. There is beauty in the smallness and there is beauty in the vastness. Consider the electrons bouncing around atoms we cannot see alongside … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections October 1st, 2021
The beautiful September weather almost distracted me from the huge oak that fell across the back corner of our lot in Birmingham earlier this week. No real harm done, but it reminded us of the other oak that hit our house two years ago and poked a hole through the kitchen ceiling. There is nothing … Continue reading Rev. Ruth’s Reflections September 24th, 2021
