The Ready Writer

Get ready folks, this is gonna be kind of a long one. Also, for those who only prefer to read about my writing and not so much my political and spiritual life, scroll down.  I'll get there eventually. So I've been thinking a lot about water lately.  My dreams have been full of it, I've been drinking a lot of it, and since it's January in Oregon, there's just a lot of it around. Water has a lot of symbolism. America's new President was sworn in earlier this week and as it was happening, it started to rain.  Many people thought it was a sign from God.  A positive thing.  Of course the reason behind this wasn't something divine.  It has to do with precipitation and clouds, I remember at least that much from public school science class (I also did an interpretive dance about the water cycle in Outdoor School when I was in 6th grade). But even so, the first thought I had was a divine one.  I thought about John 11:35: "Jesus Wept." Counter th...

In light of the tragedy in Orlando a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would write a little something here to combat the hateful religious rhetoric that is all over the place lately. So I have been secular for most of my life.  My parents never raised me in a church, and other than going to the churches that my friends went to after a slumber party, I never really went, or had much interest in going.  I considered myself somewhere between spiritual and agnostic, and loved the history of the earth based religions (like Paganism) because they showed value of the Earth that we live on. I honestly can't say when I became a Jesus Follower (I have a little trouble calling myself a Christian because of the baggage and drama around it), it was probably around 5 or 6 years ago, and it wasn't until this last October that I wanted to start going to church. I'm going to say here that I don't think you need to go to church to be a good person of faith or a good person, it was j...

THE FIRST PORTION OF THIS POST IS FROM THE UCC SUNDAY BULLETIN PRINT OUT. THESE IDEAS ARE NOT MY OWN I JUST LIKE THEM AND I'M NOT MAKING MONEY ON THESE THINGS.  MY THOUGHTS WILL FOLLOW. "God is still speaking! God is a god of thunder and wind and rain. But we also know that God speaks in a still small voice whenever and wherever hearts are open and there is a cry for justice. That experience of a still speaking God, addressed by our denomination's identity materials, has given the United Church of Christ an unusual brand: the comma! Of course, that comes from the Gracie Allen quote, "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." The good news is we are not uni-punctuational. Just as Elijah experienced God in a new voice on that mountaintop, there is more than one punctuation mark that might express how we feel about this still speaking God. The question mark is always a faithful witness to every question we ask from the heart in our seeking and wonder...

So last Sunday, I finalized a decision I had been wanting to make for a little while now. I got baptized. My parents never baptized me as a child, and I am grateful for that because it allowed me to make that decision on my own.   For me, baptism wasn't and isn't about washing away the old me.  I liked the old me.  I was still a good person without faith, before faith, and after faith.  For me, baptism was the same as watering a flower.  Having the water flow down into the roots to feed it.  It was also a physical act that would prove my faith.  Before I got baptized, Pastor Christina asked me if I wanted to say a few words, and below is what I said in front of the congregation: "I like to think of people as gardeners.  Every time we accomplish something in life, we plant a seed, and our experiences, and the people around us help that little seed to grow.   For example, in 2013 I graduated from Southern Oregon Universit...