Talked to my adult daughter yesterday about a conversation she had with her supervisor. He asked her how she felt and she "didn't know,"..."didn't want to talk about it"..."didn't think it was important"...or some iteration of the above. (We accuse my 80 year old mother of making stuff up all the time...I understand why she does...you can't remember the actual happenings!) Anyway, the point was that she didn't feel like her feelings were as important as other peoples...she didn't want to to burden people with her feelings...she would rather focus on others. Ummmmm...Mama's little girl. Didn't really mean to pass down that inheritance.

In our defense (because one's own position is always eminently defensible!), some of that is good. It is tiresome to hear incessantly how someone feels. I know our thought process...OK, so you feel that way...what are you going to do to improve/get over/move past/fix it! But I also get the idea that always denying your feelings as insignificant is not so good...

Felt plenty in worship Sunday. Magnificent Sunday...one of those services that surrounds you with reminders that the Spirit of God is at work in our lives and the world. Should have bought stock in Kleenex before the service. My mother just kept handing them to me...wish I could cry like movie stars with all tears and no snot...

We "remembered our baptism" which always takes me back to the baptism of our first child. I had always been taught that for a baptism to "take," it had to be chosen by an adult. Learning the reformed perspective of baptism as a sign that God has already chosen us...already acted on our behalf before we could act on our own behalf...that was (and is) one of the most powerful statements about God's grace ever. My salvation doesn't depend on me. (Whew!) God has taken care of it. Watching water being poured over my son's head was my life-changing moment.

We tied prayer quilts for three children who lost both parents to domestic violence. The prayer knots reminded me that God has them in God's heart already and always. We sang (or tried to sing in my case--singing and crying is difficult) a remarkable hymn that starts "I was there to hear you borning cry, I'll be there when you are old. I rejoiced the day you were baptized to see your life unfold." God is with us, already and always. The sermon was an artistic reminder that God loves us through our weaknesses and sees in us the complete, most beautiful self we are in his love. God loves us, already and always. We recalled the words spoken at baptism and watched a child of the church who is walking the path to ordination lead the liturgy. We touched the water that points us to new life as those who know God's love for them. We were sent into the world to be messengers of that good news for all people...God saves us, already and always.

I don't feel that intensity often...if my faith is up to what I feel, then it is on shaky ground. But I celebrate those intense reminders of how be-loved we are...the real us...inside out...to God what we feel and who we are is significant always. God's love is our foundation. God's love is real and lasting. God's love is real life and faith.