missionaryMAC

Greetings in the name of our crucified, risen, and now ASCENDED Lord. On Thursday, I attended a TRI-lingual Ascension Day service organized by my missionary colleague Rev. Charles St-Onge. Charles lives in Montreal, Quebec, where he pastors a multicultural SELC congregation coincidentally called Ascension when he's not island hopping in the Caribbean. Portions of the liturgy were spoken and sung in French and English, and one of the readings was in Mandarin! Over here in my corner of the Hispanophone world, we're in Phase 1 of reopening. For me personally, this means very little. The missionary team is still working from home. Churches aren't permitted to reopen until if and when we successfully transition into Phase 2. That's scheduled to roll out on Wednesday, June 3, but even then, services and other activities will be permitted on Sundays only. Things like non-essential errands and slowly widening our circles will be navigated with extra grace over the coming weeks

Or so goes the chorus to " Quarantine Life " by Matthew West (for the sake of something new and different to listen to, I "attended" a free [virtual] concert sponsored by the Thrivent Member Network - Heartland Region on Friday night).  It's day 62. And while I haven't hated every second of sheltering in place - I've even enjoyed many aspects of it - I'm eagerly awaiting the green light to resume corporate worship, switch back to in-person movie nights, hold a team meeting, walk at my beloved botanical garden, go to Lunes de Jazz, get dinner or paletas or Sweet Frog with friends.  Which is why I was encouraged by last night's presidential address. It IS all alright. We still have a curfew, but instead of 5 pm to 6 am, seven days a week, it's now 7 pm to 5 am Monday through Saturday, and 5 pm to 5 am on Sundays, through June 1. Evening walks have been reinstated!!! I didn't hear much of what was said after that.  I can t

To a cat. I successfully recreated a Facebook video of someone playing tic-tac-toe with a cat (by placing cat treats in each square), and Freddy beat me without my even realizing it at first! Sheltering in place for 51 days has made us all a little crazy. I'm inclined to blame it on the "same old, same old," but that's simply not true, as LAC's regional chaplain reminded us at Tuesday's weekly all-missionary check-in meeting: God is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). Because I am in Christ, I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). In joyful response, all of creation is exhorted to sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 96:1). And, somehow, I keep coming up with new  things to blog about. My revised home service plan is still very much up in the air, but one of the congregations I was planning to visit invited me and a few others to present via Zoom on the Church's work in the DR