Barbara's Creative Projects
On the second Sunday of Easter I shared my journey through Volker’s death in the service at Bloomingdale Mennonite Church. For more context to my talk you can visit the church’s worship blog — the recording is at the bottom of the page after the scripture readings.
Or listen to it here:
Isn’t it funny how sometimes events bunch up? Something happens out of the blue and then it happens over and over in a short period of time. I had that kind of experience this past week.
On Friday I decided to sew a new coat for my skinny little dog with little fur to keep her warm. I wasn’t entirely happy with the end results and still have not put the closure on.
Then, on Friday evening I got a text from my downstairs neighbour, asking if I wanted a coat for Billie. As we had a family dinner that night Gina brought up several brand new coats and a sweater she’d been given on Saturday.
Then, on Sunday, Cheryl brought to lunch at Heritage House, a doggie coat that she’d bought for her Maggie that didn’t fit. Happily, one of the coats Gina gave me is really too big for Billie, so I can pass that one on to Maggie. So suddenly we have an abundance of coats.
(more pictures to come)
April 5 – With the temperature at -12 I thought we could try out the little parka. Billie was not impressed. It’s too big, so needs a bit of alteration.
And so we reach the end of Lent, the fortieth day. We are asked to evaluate our journey to this day, our experiences of generosity, to see if God is asking us to make a permanent Lent-type sacrifice in order to have a closer walk with God.
One of the most significant things for me has been to become more conscious of strangers I interact with in my day, people I meet in the stairwell, service representatives in store, etc, to make more of an effort to really see them, to smile, to make a personal comment. I think I already live a fairly generous lifestyle, and I want to continue on. It been a worthwhile journey.
Today, being Maundy Thursday, our challenge is titled, Washday. We are encouraged to wash something – something we don’t normally do, simple (coffee cups) to more complex (graffiti on a wall).
Bloomingdale Mennonite Church had a Maunday Thursday potluck supper and service planned for this evening, which would have included foot/hand washing. However, we are in the midst of an ice storm, so it has been cancelled. This week has been so busy, that I had actually planned not to attend before I received news of the cancellation. So I will only be doing the usual washing up today.