Each day, life seems to creep up on you to only snatch the only daylight that is left. You know what I’m talking about. I don’t need to tell you anything new on my end. As the old cliché goes – “it is what it is.” But as a wise man once told me – “only if you let it.”
“But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this”
Single Swizzle
Sturgie
Thanksgiving prayer: Thank you God for this world and your love. Thank you for this life and the ability to dream and love and laugh and cry. Thank you for the Sun and stars. Thank you for every person who has come before me and will come after me. Thank you for music and art. Help me to continue to listen for your guidance. Thank you for your animals, trees and water. For the food we eat, the clothes on our backs and the roofs over our heads. For community. Thank you for the Mystery within the Mystery. The light within the light. The darkness within the darkness. May we remain in awe and wonder, in your balance and presence forever and ever. In peace and gratitude.
Amen.
~Mason Jennings
God’s Peace this Thanksgiving -
Sturgis Family
I took this picture of the cross that is outside Bockman Hall here at Luther Seminary. “It is a replica of the oldest cross in Norway, dating to around 1000 A.D. When a Viking chose to become Christian, he or she would erect a cross of stone to mark the spot of decision or baptism. After that, they would gather there with other Christians for worship until a church was built. These crosses still stand in Norway.
What are the inscriptions on the Celtic cross? On the top, the “Chi-Rho,” the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek, and the “theta” from Greek word for the world gives us, “Christ as the light of the world”. On the left arm, the “I” is from “ICHTHUS” or “fish” in Greek, an early Christian symbol, and “Alpha and Omega,” Christ as the beginning and the end. The “VDMA” on the right arm is Latin for “Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum,” or “The Word of God Remains Forever”.
I noticed the cross as I was taking a break from my studies. I couldn’t help but be attentive to this stone, a cold looking cross trapped by the midwest cold and snow. So, I too am reminded of the trappings of life.
I’m currently in school for those who have been following this blog. Yea I know…Sturgie is in school, again. I’m pursuing my Masters of Divinity. It’s a fancy named degree for “pastor.” The MDiv program that I’m enrolled in is long. Six years to be exact and I’m pretty much half way done. And throughout the process I often times feel trapped.
But what I like about the program is that for two-week in Jan and Jun I get away from my “daily” life that is in Eau Claire and I escape to campus where I can full, wholeheartedly devote my time and attention to my studies. So for two weeks i escape the trappings of one life pattern and become trapped with another pattern; life at Luther. It’s great. I need both.
For now the trappings seem to be lasting forever. That is the way I do this school stuff; forever. But my attentiveness to the cross reminds me that only “the Word of God remains forever.”
Single Swizzle
Aaron
