As one door closes, another opens. Or so the saying goes. Yesterday, I decided to remain present. The door of attending divinity school has closed because I just could not wrap my heart around the path of Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas. Western philosophy and theology were dull to the palate, and I longed for some living water to satiate my thirst.
Ministry takes other forms and other flavors in my life; the aromas of home are intoxicating: roasted beets from the farmer's market bleed on my hands. Camille forms a perfect 'a' with her pencil. Elisa and Camille are cuddled together in bed tonight--two peas in a pod--after receiving Mom's "love medicine".
Today we read "The Everything Seed"-- a story of creation, of how all life came from a tiny seed. It is a story of beginnings. Camille is fascinated by "Grandmother Sun". She remembers how yesterday in reading Pocahontas, we were introduced to "Grandmother Willow". Her questions about death are real, and we balance these with the story of beginnings.
Beginning, ending, and cycles of rebirth. Questions and stories. These are the religious lessons which are emerging in our conversations together. It is October, the month of mystery and awe. We will celebrate Halloween--with skeletons and graveyards and ghosts. We will wear costumes and march in parades and carve jack-o-lanterns into pumpkins and tell stories.
What is religion but this? The telling of stories about our ends and our beginnings. Yes, I may have left one path behind, but fully embraced another more in line with where I want to be in the here and now.
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I've been back and forth on whether or not I can do parish ministry myself. I am glad you decided and are at peace wiht this. There should be training that is accessible to those who cannot bear the dry theology but love the compassion of ministry.
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