inventing love

-One of the teenagers helping with the children's club by teaching the kids about prayer and friendship with God by asking, "Who's a better best friend than the One who invented love?" Amazing.

-Jonee bought some pretzels at the Polish shop near our house (there's a suprisingly large Polish community in Belfast) and instead of "legendary snack" it says "legendarny smak!" on the package. I'm not sure if this is gibberish or Polish, but it made me laugh.

-Finally, finally finding a frame for my ordination certificate and hanging it up on the wall. Looking at the slightly crumpled (from its journey across the pond) piece of paper, I realized that ordination is so far beyond a certificate (but's it's nice to have that piece of paper, all the same).

-Sitting in a pub with friends, having a laugh and a glass of wine. Sometimes, when I pass by windows of pubs or restaurants and see people laughing and talking, I get a wee bit jealous and miss friends at home. But while sitting there talking with people who have come to be important to me here, I realized that I was one of the people in the window.

-Hearing John Bell from the Iona community teach about music in worship. From the beginning when he prayed to God as the "Midwife of change" to the constant interactive, powerful singing to the unabashed directness of his words mingled with pastoral love and a passion for the church, it was a holy and "thin" experience.

-Teaching the kids about the rich young ruler and asking them to give him a name so I could tell them the story (because the Bible didn't say what his name was). One child recommended "Mr. Everything" and it worked perfectly in telling the story of Mr. Everything who needed the one thing he couldn't buy: God's love in Jesus.

-Sitting in a cafe listening to a solo guitarist, eating Irish stew in a Belfast bap, getting the applause going after each song, having deep and meaningful conversation, walking in the sun and even climbing inside an old hollow tree. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon.