Quote from writer and cartoonist Allen Saunders borrowed by John Lennon for his song, Lovely Boy, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
I made my plans and they were great plans. The General Assembly for my amazing church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is meeting in Indianapolis this week. The venue is excellent - hotels surround the convention center and you walk across cool glassed-in bridges from hotel to event to mall and into great downtown eating places. My husband couldn't go. Since I can get lost getting out of the parking lot Emily signed on to go with me. How fun is that?! Emily is younger than my kids and eager to see the greater church in action. Plain and simply we are going to have a blast! We read all the publicity leading up to the event. I will introduce her to my friends manning the Phillips Theological Seminary booth, we will linger over the fair trade booths and I'll try to buy only a few books. The worship, music, preaching and workshops will be sensational. Since I don't want to drag a laptop all over the place I order the printout of the business docket. I watch the webinars and sign-up for the dinners we will attend. This is going to be so good! We are scheduled to leave my house Saturday at 11:30. Plenty of time to navigate Love Field. We will take Uber from the airport to the Marriott where we are staying. I feel young and cool just thinking about it! Friday my body starts complaining. By Saturday morning I've got fever, I can't stand up straight and even my hair hurts! Emily zips into action and notifies the airline and hotel. I feel sorry for myself. Emily and I are missing out on everything! And then bad psychology/stupid theology kicks in.........What did I do to deserve this?.........Where did I go wrong? Is God mad at me? I'm just a useless, pitiful human being........sign.........moan. There is nothing like feeling weak, vulnerable, and disappointed to open the door to nonsense. Well, nonsense be damned. Stuff happens! I didn't make myself sick. God isn't mad at me. This is not the end of hope and joy in my life. Emily got to go to the beach with her family. I will stay home and rest. In a little while I'm going outside to pot some coleus cuttings that are coming along beautifully. All that enrichment and education I'm missing out on? I'm catching up on my Christian Century reading, reading ahead for the next few sermons, and playing the piano. I'm working on I'll Fly Away on the harmonica (you can almost tell what I'm playing now). And, Lord have mercy on my soul - I'm going to get my mileage and finance stuff up to date! I pray abounding blessings on all those attending the General Assembly, and on the General Assembly, itself. I pray for my Phillips Seminary Friends and the Oklahoma and Texas pastors I will miss seeing. I pray for the music, the friendships, and all the possibilities for my wonderful Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I pray for safe travel for Emily. And I pray for Rev. Rosemary Redmond, who preached for me on Sunday, and for the lovely folks of my church. Stuff happens. Plans change, we adapt. But we can still set our face to the future, we can still dream dreams and see visions. And we can live, ever more powerfully, into the Body of Christ right here ad now! Look out, Waxahachie, She Rev is on the mend!
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Rev. Marcia HageeShe graduated from Duke University and the University of Missouri-Columbia studying Psychology and Religion. She earned her M. Div at Phillips Theological Seminary and was ordained by the Oklahoma Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Archives
June 2018
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