This month, we’ve been exploring “Finding Our Center” and it has been a perfect opportunity for me to do just that (practicing what I preach you could call it?). We started the month by talking about rest as a way to recenter ourselves. I wasn’t planning on actually staying home and resting, but when the flu hit our house, I didn’t really have a choice. But there’s a lesson to learn when one has to slow down and take a rest. And you know what? It felt really good, actually. I hope we can all learn to just take a break despite the overculture (this is a term I’ve learned from listening to Dr. Clarissa Pinkola-Estes) telling us to stay busy, busy, busy.

So, during this rest I realized two things: 1. I need two days off a week. Like really, I should have a weekend! So, I am now taking Monday and Tuesday off (of course, as my job requires, I am available for emergencies). 2. When my creative juices stop flowing and I can’t think of anything to write for a newsletter article, then I should take a break and not write for a while. Despite the fact that I am writing something this week, I don’t really feel like I’ve completely regenerated, but I wanted to check in and let you know what was going on and encourage rest and recentering for everyone.

Also, I wanted to share what you all did on Sunday. I love creating multigenerational worship and contemplation stations. This past week, for MLK day, there was a lot of reading and learning (more so than in some other services we’ve created). I was thrilled with the way you all engaged. I took some photos of one of the stations and wanted to share here so that you could all contemplate further just what it is that Beloved Community can look like, rest well.