PCC News for Tuesday, September 23rd:
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Image ID: In a bed of green grass, a small thin fox stretches its little jaw towards the sun as it scratches with its back leg. Could be a smile, could be face of "ahhh, that feels good." A small pocket of quiet stretches around this fox, who knows where it's going next?
This little guy was in our backyard last week! J snapped this shot before it trotted away, it rolled around and scratched in the dry late summer grass for about five minutes. Kazuki properly lost his damn mind, he wanted to make a new friend. (Not safe, pup.) Journey on, little fox! May we do the same.
May we scratch our ears in the sun as the leaves fall, may we find our little pocket of space where we can rest.
~ Chaplain Sam
Tonight: Board Games!
Schmitt Interfaith Center's Skalny Room
5:00 - 6:30ish
DnD with Jeremiah is gonna get bumped to our fifth week of September, so extra games today! We'll bring big games and small, could play as a group or choose our own adventure.
Bring a friend, this will be the perfect time to stow away stressors and annoyances to rediscover a sense of play. God teaches us to play; God reminds to play!
~*~* Christianity is Magic*~*~
SPEAKING OF WHICH! I was reminded of God's abundance because of a dinosaur painting. (This will be the last time I write about the wedding... I think?)
My college gal pal Lizzy was in my wedding party -- she's a phenom social worker in Minnesota with her partner and 2 cute kids. She's a great leader, spicy as hell, really smart but savvy. As a brilliant Californian woman she chooses the energy she brings to situations, reads the room better than anyone I've ever met.
Lizzy, in college, went to a thrift store as she often did and bought this painting for 75 real human dollars:
Peter Von Sholly's magnum opus in which a small boy in a tux conducts a dinosaur choir. The dinosaurs are in a choir, there's no audience. ART!!!
I remember seeing the piece in her apartment and being obsesssed. Spiritually overwhelmed. I screamed something like: "This is the best piece of art I've ever seen! I need you to give me this as a wedding gift!" According to Lizzy it was moreso ownership, I don't remember being that bold but the quote might have been "This painting has always been in my heart, I am glad you found it but it will live with me someday." We don't really remember, except Lizzy's special.
Here's where the God part came in. I've always had a small hum of remembrance around the painting -- wistful funny memories from half my life ago -- but Lizzy had a plan. Two weeks before the wedding she went home to her childhood place in Central CA, helped her mom with a few projects, and shipped the painting to Western NY. At great cost (far more than the painting itself lol) and through high stress, she mailed me the dino painting. She called my BLUFF! Twenty years after the fact she decided "Yeah, college Sam said a dumb-bold thing but I guess I'll prove him right instead of keeping this work of art for myself." She shared it, and forgave / understood what I was trying to communicate back before I had the skills.
This is the divinely silly, effervescent spirit of God: The fact that the painting exists in the first place. A friend who calls your bluff for a decades-long goof, a dino painting in its forever home in the home office above the garage, twenty years of dinosaurs singing, (I love the tiny pteradactyl mirroring the boy's body language most, I can't explain it with mere human words) -- all in perfect harmony. God has revealed herself in my life through this painting and through a friendship that's even more rich and absurd than it was when we were your age.
God exists in the funny-mundane and the big gestures. God's in the silly goofs. Blessed be.
Coming Up:
- Want a fun, relaxing way to engage with PCC? Join us on discord for geeky conversation, spiritual reflection, and new ways of thinking about faith.
- Join our lovely TABLE Community on Sunday nights for worship and dinner! Been collaborating a lot with Pastor Craig over the years, he's an amazing guy. If you're curious about details, PCC co-president Atticus can help.
- Drop-in Counseling is happening today! See you 2:30 - 4:00 at my office just off of Fireside Lounge. Put your name on the dry erase board and knock if you want to wait in line, can't wait to catch up.
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Our email address is: sjksrl@rit.edu
Chaplain Sam can be reached at: 714 299 8420 in case of emergency or for counseling appointments on Tuesdays.
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