Author Archives: Pastor Catharine

August 1, 2021 When I watched the Wizard of Oz as an adult, I was realized I had missed a very important  lesson embedded in the Wizard’s encounters with Dorothy and her friends.  The Wizard’s chamber, with its flashes of light, mighty rumblings, and the huge ferocious visage projected on a screen terrified the group andContinue reading “Random Musings: Toto’s Revelation and the Pathway Home”

July 18, 2021 It is amazing how all of life intersects. Though the intersections may catch us by surprise, they always can teach us the most transformative lessons if we will just pay attention.  For example, I have learned a lot of life lessons over the years through things as simple as jogging and cycling. Continue reading “Random Musings: Commit and go!”

Ever wonder how glass is made?  Me neither…until it became a random musing for me this week.   I had no idea that making glass requires sand to be melted – something that can only happen at 3090°F!   Before the melting process begins, the sand is mixed with sodium carbonate and calcium oxide and, depending onContinue reading “Random Musings: The Shattered Made New”

June 20, 2021 “If you are healthy, wealthy, and wise, you are blessed!”  “I am a favored child of God, just look how God has blessed me!” These statements are common remarks made by adherents to the prosperity gospel; the implications being if you AREN’T blessed in these ways, obviously God doesn’t like you so much.  Continue reading “Random Musings: The Responsibility of Blessing”

June 6, 2021 I love the way God teaches, corrects, transforms, and affirms our lives through the unending osmosis between the holy and the human if we will only pay attention and get with the program in this thing called life.   Why? Because I believe these teachings, which often come in the most benign ofContinue reading “Random Musings: Lessons of the Four-Way Stop”

May 23, 2021 This last year and a half has been a time of pandemic insomnia and consequent random musings.  For this news junkie, my musings have been informed by the pervasive questions of: “Where is God in the Midst of All This?” “Why, if we claim to believe in God, why don’t we takeContinue reading “Random Musings: What if We Took God Seriously?”

May 9, 2021 Today I am going to begin a new blog series called Random Musings: Matters of faith that I am seeking after as I continue to ask questions, seek answers, and deepen in my own faith. Yes, I am a pastor, though now retired.   Yes, I have both a master’s in divinity andContinue reading “Random Musings: ‘Wrapping our Minds Around God”

May 2, 2021 Seems to me that 2020 began as a droplet of concern, became a rivulet of worry, then a tsunami of anxiety that continues to flood 2021!  Yet, last year’s challenges could’ve become a time to hit pause on the anxious lifestyles of overwhelming commitments and ‘to do’s” of life we have allowedContinue reading “Who’s Anxious?”

April 18, 2021 Children are my favorite humans.  Children see the world through the lens of endless possibilities. They see no reason why the things they dream cannot become reality.  For a child, the world of pretend isn’t a figment of her imagination to grow out of; it is the world as he knows it canContinue reading “Uncle Walt, Stone Soup, Loaves and Fishes”

April 11, 2021 Don’t know about you, but of all Jesus’ disciples, I think Peter is my favorite.   As one of the three disciples Jesus chose as His apparent inner circle (the other two being James and John), Peter was always present with the Lord in His most profound and intimate moments.  At one point, dependingContinue reading “Peter’s Lesson in the Midst of Messiness”