Weekend 3 for 3: Worship God, Love People, and Enjoy Beauty, the quarantine wedding edition
A curated list of what I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty.
First, some photos from Kendra and Jordan’s private wedding ceremony on April 4.
Our daughter Kendra’s wedding date was supposed to be April 25, 2020 - that’s today in case you’ve lost track. Processing the disappointment of having to postpone her wedding and all of the uncertainty that includes was a bitter disappointment for all of us. Kendra’s sense of loss was personal and deep. The sliver of a silver lining was that with the big celebration postponed, Kendra and Jordan could go ahead and have a private ceremony whenever they wanted. They chose April 4 and 9 of us gathered (both sets of parents and one sibling each plus a wonderful man from our church who live streamed the service to family far away).
We used our church sanctuary and decorated a little corner of one of the rooms for a brief “reception” which consisted of a delicious little cake from a local bakery (served from behind a giant sheet of plastic between the bakery and the customers) and a bottle of champagne. A generous friend from church drove hours into the Connecticut countryside to gather local flowers for a bouquet and two altar arrangements. While we were inside celebrating the new couple, two friends secretly decorated Kendra’s car. While the bride and groom walked to their car we popped confetti cannons and Amy and Jan sat in their cars across the parking lot blasting their car horns. It was a lovely, sweet celebration in the middle of the world’s chaos.
While there are still so many questions in my mind about God’s timing and purposes for us all during the global suffering of COVID-19, something in my soul felt at peace with two people committing to love each other for better and worse, richer and poorer, in sickness and health til death do us part. It felt to my eyes and ears and heart like a small, but everlasting protest of life over death and love over fear.
We’re excited to (God willing) celebrate Kendra and Jordan’s (and their family and friends!) dream for their wedding day in October, and we’re giving thanks now for this burst of celebration in April May God make the love of Father, Son and Spirit evident in and through the new Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. Amen!
Now for some of what I’ve been working on the past few weeks.
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Silent Saturday - The final three days of Lent and conclusion of this year’s Retrieve Lament series during Holy Week.
Resurrection Sunday (public post)
Each Sunday in Eastertide I’ll share a free Daybook devotional post at the Patreon page for everyone to enjoy. To receive notifications for the free public posts, click "follow" at the bottom of the profile page.
I’m soooo close to reaching my goal of 50 patrons in order to publish my first e-book. I need 6 more patron to reach my goal. Will you join us?
Practice Resurrection Guidebook
I’ve been delighted to collaborate with Brian and our church’s children’s ministry director Amy Willers in creating a guidebook to lead our congregation through Eastertide 2020 and you’re welcome to join us! We've heard from folks that this year especially feels more difficult to enter into practices of celebration and we wanted to help encourage each other to worship, celebrate, wonder, explore, and create in simple acts accessible to all ages.
You can use the guidebook digitally ) or download it for free from the home page of our church’s website: https://apostlesct.org/ Weeks 1 and 2 are available now and we’ll be updating the guidebook each Sunday throughout Eastertide. Please let me know if you’re following along or tag a photo on social media - #practiceresurrection2020 or #ChurchoftheApostlesCT
Celebrate all 50 days!
Having just completed 46 daily devotional posts for Lent and 8 daily devotional posts for the Easter Octave on Patreon, I’ve taken a bit of a break this week. In case you missed it, though, here are the last two posts on the blog from Holy Week. They’re both full of meaning and were a wonderful companion to me as we moved from lament into rejoicing.
Now for more online truth, goodness, and beauty, I’ve enjoyed this week. I hope you enjoy the new streamlined format - 10 categories gathered under 3 umbrellas: Worship God, Love People, and Enjoy Beauty!
Brian’s Easter Sunday sermon at Church of the Apostles via FB
I love to listen to Brian’s sermons, yet rarely listen to them more than once. This sermon from Easter Sunday I’ve had on repeat and it’s helped me remain present to the true character of God, seen in the resurrected Christ, even as the world seems to be crashing and burning. I highly recommend - if for no other reason, than Brian’s interpretation of Christ’s response at the tomb as seen in minute 38:30-39:30.
“We don’t talk in sentimental terms this morning because there is nothing sentimental about death. It is ugly and strong and comes after us…. Jesus didn’t meet death with a nice song; He met death with life. He met death with death. He walked into it and put it down for good. … Because there is nothing sweet or normal about death, there can not be anything sentimental or wistful about resurrection. … In resurrection, Jesus is roaring like a mighty lion.”
Resist Despair: Spiritual Rhythms for Quarantine by Justin Whitmel Earley via The Common Rule
“Habits of hope for a moment of fear: Your household is at an incredible moment… Everything you have ever known about household rhythms is now disrupted, which means this is an incredible opportunity to form new rhythms that guide you towards God’s power in a time of humanity’s powerlessness. … that guide you towards a household gathered in love, rather than scattered in fear.”
Caim, A Circling Prayer by Nancy Nordenson via The Livelihood Project
My friend Nancy reminds me of this beautiful prayer known as the Caim, or circling prayer, from the book Celtic Daily Prayer “When I do not know what to pray”.
Interview With NIH Director: ‘We’re on an Exponential Curve’ by Peter Wehner via The Atlantic
Francis Collins speaks about the coronavirus, his faith, and an unusual friendship. In “quarantine time” this is an old article, but the story of Francis Collins’ vocational and faith journey as well as his friendship with an unexpected philosophical opponent makes this article timeless. If you haven’t read it, please do!
A Body of Work by Curt Thompson, M.D.
“In the language of interpersonal neurobiology, the mind is understood as an embodied and relational process. As Christians what this is hinting at is the fundamental reality of the Genesis account of creation: that God “formed the man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7). We are dirt, and we are breath; we are embodied and we are spirited. Take either one away and we stop being fully human. And what we are experiencing is the act of living disembodied lives. … Our bodies are hard at work. And although we are in a season in which we are asking them to work differently and harder than usual, know that you are not alone, and your work is not in vain.”
My sister’s Holy Week reflection about caring for her family and for her own relationally-disconnected soul during quarantine by Alicia Hill Nichols via FB
“I think because in this season I am so aware of my hunger for relational connection as well as my inability to meet my own needs (especial emotional... need for stability, safety, sanity...), I have been stuck meditating on the Upper Room. A series of meditations and connections with photos have represented the connection between my longings and Jesus' presence in the Upper Room. “
Easter with Arcabas by Alan Jacobs via Issue #75 of Snakes and Ladders
A beautiful collection and reflection on the luminous renderings of resurrection by the late Jean-Marie Pirot (1926-2018), universally known as Arcabas, a great painter in our time of biblical scenes.
A Spell In the Library with Malcolm Guite series via YouTube
The beloved sonnet-writer (and surely, related to Bilbo Baggins himself?!?), Malcolm Guite has been inviting friends to visit with him over a cuppa in his library to chat about his favorite books and authors. The series is completely unpolished and the more perfect for it. It may be my favorite thing from quarantine. Start with what I think is the first episode “A Spell in the Library: including a Sonnet called ‘Spell’.
The Hobbit: a review by my friend Walter Wittwer via Chains Gone
Speaking of hobbits, our church’s reading group (Apostles Reads) read Tolkien’s classic together for Lent. We haven’t been able to meet for our discussion yet which makes me even more grateful for Walter’s astute and authentic observations. For example, this little concluding gem of a sentence: “A little like people I know. Some days you want to give them a big hug and other days you want to…..not give them a hug.”
Bonus: A few random items that I’ve been enjoying and think you might, too.
For binge-watching: McMillions docu-series on HBO
A fascinating true crime story that doesn’t leave you feeling icky and hopeless. I shared this story with you all back in 2018 after reading an article (out loud to Brian) in The Daily Beast and I knew someone would have to turn it into a documentary. Executive Producer Mark Wahlberg and team tell the story in six-parts and Brian, Natalie and I watched every second of it.
For warm-fuzzies: Thank You and A Loud Applause To All the Health Workers via Pinzelledes al món, an online collection of illustrations that I love. Don’t miss this post either: What We Do At Home
For laughs until you cry: QuaranMEMEs curated by Natalie Murphy via Instagram
Natalie’s coping mechanism for getting through this unexpected six-plus week “spring break’ stuck at home with her parents in chilly Connecticut has been to curate the best of the best quarantine-themed memes on the internet. She may have saved our sanity several times over. See it all (but I recommend pacing yourself!) in the highlights section of her IG account: 1, 2, 3, and 4.