Ellie Stock writes: I wanted to share with you a project that my daughter, Chenoa (who is a PCUSA Mission Co-worker in Peru), and I have been working on... Below is a link to a song video "Let the Earth Breathe".  Some background: After Carleton, and I "retired" from Northminster Presbyterian Church in Dellwood in 2011, we decided we wanted to focus our ministry on addressing the environment from the Universe Story perspective (humanity's common perspective). In 2012 we decided to host a winter/spring environmental film series in Ferguson to start our effort, which included showing "Journey of the Universe." The last program in May was not a film but the "Awakening the Dreamer" Symposium. For that event, I wrote the song "Let the Earth Breathe." Out of that event came a core of people who were interested in pursuing environmental issues and eventually became the Ferguson Eco Team which is still active and hosting environmental fil...

Andy & Christine Peters write:   Back in 2006 we adopted a tiny kitten. Weighing only 2 pounds he had a personality much larger than his body. He jumped and scampered around a small shop that had adoptable cats and kittens from the local humane society. He captured my heart and that afternoon he joined our family. He is now 15 years old and although he is showing his age, he has never lost his joyful exuberance and his zest for life. Everything he does is done with his full body, heart and soul. Whether it is playing with a toy, chasing dust cloths around as we clean the house, eating his food with more gusto than neatness, or taking a long snooze on our radiators on a cold winter day, he does everything with a purpose and sense of gratitude. We have learned that sometimes it is best to mimic nature. We have learned from him to live life joyfully and with purpose. We have learned to commit ourselves to a purpose or an end goal without worrying about how it may look to others. W...

  Tim Woodcock writes: On Sunday, Lori and Doug Dowd led a Christian Forum session on mindfulness and art. Lori began with a mindful meditation focused on the breath and awareness. Doug then offered a short talk on drawing as a way to understand the world, proposing that the practice of mindfulness is analogous to the relaxed-yet-attentive state of mind one experiences when making art based on observation. He then challenged us to take part in a low-stakes art exercise: Find an ordinary object – a plant, a household item – and to observe its structure carefully before beginning to draw. He also encouraged us to enjoy the sounds and tactile feeling of a no. 2 pencil moving across a sheet of paper.  Here are some of the results:

  Photo by Mike Willock

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.”  (Genesis 9:12-15) Photo taken from our front yard yesterday afternoon after a day of heavy rain (Tim Woodcock)

Vickie Robinson writes: Lately, my daily commute consists of me passing by a lot of churches and funeral homes that were once closed in the early hours.  These locations are now open to host funeral services.  As I think about the current reality of the pandemic and now the new strain that has entered Missouri, I realize that Fear is one of Satan's most popular weapons that he uses against us. The most common lie that Satan uses to instill fear into us is that God is far away or absent from our presence. I’m forever reminded that God promises in His Word over and over again that He is always with us. And He has proven time and time both in the Bible and even in our lives today that He is still there. The presence of bad times such as these might work to persuade us of God's absence, but remember that at various times in Biblical times, God was there even in the midst of war, famine, flood, and even storms. God is with us always and promises to never leave us no...

  Tim Woodcock writes: With the bad weather this week, I found myself with a snow day followed by virtual learning day (meaning a teach-from-home day) and the chance to catch up on various neglected projects, including this blog. One of the pleasures of recent days has been getting into a series of online Scrabble games with Steve, a friend from high school, who now lives in largely COVID-free New Zealand. This led me to pick up a book I bought years ago called Word Freak by Stafan Fatis. It’s an incredibly readable look at the subculture of hardcore Scrabble players, some of whom can make decent money playing; however, it is not especially robust scene and players cannot go fully professional in the sense that a poker player or chess player can. Don’t worry: This blog post will connect to faith … I’ll get there eventually … One paragraph late in the book jumped out at me, describing Danny, a top-rated teenage player and an Orthodox Jew. Tournaments ordinarily happen at the...