Returning thanks on an ordinary day...

Today there were two deaths of older women with some connection to our small congregation.  I grieve with and for both families - different as night is from day - but both mothers were deeply loved.  I also sat waiting for my sweetheart as she went for an MRI in the hopes it might give us some clues about her excruciating arm pains.  And I sat in quiet vigil awaiting news of my daughter's transition into labor for our first grandchild (we are still waiting.)

In the midst of being an everyday ordinary pastor who loves his people and weeps with their sorrows and laughs with their joys, I came across this interview given by Pope Francesco I.  It made my heart sing.  As Diana Butler Bass posted:  never think that God has given up on the church.  (check it out at: http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview)  Here is a humble and hope-filled servant of Christ Jesus - not perfect - but real in a refreshing way.

So while the Republicans in the House of Representatives keep finding new ways of ambushing the President while trying to balance the budget on the back of America's poor - and international politicians parse words and ideas while the Syrian civil war grinds on - and while the majority of Americans support common sense gun control to stop the growing carnage... I pause to give thanks to God for working below the radar and lifting up loving servants who trust the foolishness of Christ and his Cross more than the politics of the status quo.