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Dear Friends,
As I write this note to you the sun is setting and the voices of my children and husband float into my office as they are reading their bedtime stories. I’m surrounded by a few of my favorite things: a candle, pictures, a piece of pottery, inspirational quotes, and letters from friends and family. Each object has a story and connects me to people and places. Isn’t that such a gift of our belongings? They bear witness to our lives, loves, and where we’ve been. It’s one of the reasons I love to host Show & Tell nights. Yes, just like in elementary school.
While I was on a church internship in Milwaukee a group of women would meet throughout the year for show & tell nights. We’d meet in our homes, share food, and open our hearts to one another. I still can picture the women gathered in a circle in my small apartment. Each story offered became a part of me. Since that time I’ve continued to gather women together and thanks to technology, 20 of us virtually shared in a show & tell night last month.
A group of women from Exhale Creativity (a place on the internet for creative mothers) joined me - in their homes, offices, cars, bedrooms, at the kitchen table - surrounded by bookshelves, couches, piles of clothes, and baby toys. I could feel the connections across the screen with laughter, vulnerability, and tears. Objects were lifted up, bearing witness to where the women had been and where they hope to go. One by one we shared our items:
A favorite cookbook, a black purse, a framed picture, a jewelry box, a well-loved book, letters, a yoga mat, a favorite drink.
Simple objects, really. But if we let them, our objects can tell a powerful story of faith and belief. A story of our lives and a story of the God who created us and the world.
This is the lesson we learn at church over and over again: simple, tangible objects can and do contain the holy. We touch and taste the bread and wine. We feel the water on our forehead marking the sign of the cross. Bread, wine, and water show us what it means to be transformed by our objects.
Bread, wine, and water.
But it’s never just bread, wine, and water.
With each bite of bread, sip of wine, and splash of water, we are reminded that God comes to us in the most intimate, personal, and tangible ways.
With each bite of bread we proclaim that Christ is with us.
With each sip of wine we trust that forgiveness is ours.
With every splash of water we teach that grace is unending.
This holiness is all around us.
Look around your house, what objects will you not discard?
What are the stories behind your most precious items?
Sit down with a friend or family member, show them your objects, and tell them your stories. Bear your heart. Be vulnerable. Show someone what’s most important to you, and then hit reply to this email and share with me. I’d love to hear your stories.
With gratitude,
Kim
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My Favorite Things
"Every Holy Week and Easter, we hear the same stories. We relive the last days of Jesus’ life—the washing of feet, the final meal with the disciples, the betrayal, the pain, the violence and death, and finally the resurrection. Can we still find ways to be surprised and delighted?” Read more from my latest Growing Together column from Living Lutheran. It include prayers, practices, and a service opportunity.
"You are loved. I love you.
Love.
It’s all there was.
It’s what remains.
It’s what sustains.
Love will see us through.”
Read more from my latest blog post about the letters I’ve been writing to my children throughout the pandemic.
My friend Erin wrote a beautiful poem offering advice for all of us during this stage in the pandemic:
"Be gentle with yourself.
Listen closely
to your heart
to robins' chirping
to neighbors, far and near.
Speak slowly,
and with intention.”
What’ I’m reading: This may be bold to say with it only being April, but I believe Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet will be one of my top books for 2021. It’s historical fiction about Shakespeare’s family. Ultimately it’s a book about grief, love, marriage, and the natural world. You don’t have to be a Shakespeare fan to appreciate the book (or actually remember anything you read of his!)
My friend and author, Glenys Nellist, has a new Easter book, Twas the Morning of Easter, perfect for telling the story of hope and resurrection.
I will not turn anything away with almond flavor. This Lemon Almond Cake was delicious and paired well the next day with coffee.
Anyone else watching WandaVision? I am in no way a fan of the Marvel world (I’ve never seen a movie or read the comics) but I saw so many people taking about WandaVision that I had to give it a try. And they were right. If you have Disney + it’s a brilliantly written 9 episode series.
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Thank you for reading! I’ve been writing a lot by hand recently delighting in the sheer act of putting pen to paper. I love looking back at journals full of words, hopes, and dreams. But I equally love putting words together for this email. I’m honored to share my stories with you and love hearing from you.
To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. -Kurt Vonnegut
Thank you for this place and space to grow our souls together.
Peace be with you.
P.S. Did a friend forward you this email? Click here so you don’t miss the next one. If you know a friend who’d appreciate my newsletter, please share. I’ll see you again on the first Wednesday in May!
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