News, of a Kind
As part of the Pastor’s Roundtable at One Hope Church, I have the opportunity to give the message two-three times a year. Today, I talked about Romans 9:16-33. I had so many thoughts on these verses and chased down so many Biblical references, from Genesis through Galatians (didn’t get to Revelation, but probably could have), that I had a hard time keeping it a decent length. It was challenging, but I love the imagery of the clay pots in the potter’s hands, which is a reference to Jeremiah in the Old Testament, and a few other places as well.
(Prepping the sermon took some time and many, many screens and tabs)
But, before I run down a long reconstruction of a message I gave this morning, I’ll stop there. If you really want to see what I said (and agree, argue, or conversate with me about it), you can check out the church’s Youtube Channel later this week when it goes from the streamed worship service (you can view the whole thing right now), to just the message on Wednesday. One Hope Church of Gig Harbor on Youtube. The message is entitled Clay Pots and The Cornerstone.
My social media fast (only Monday through Saturday) has been tough on some days. I have a Wellness app on my phone and I have it set for five minutes. You do not want to know how many times I touch that button during the day, and then back out. I feel like the toughness of the challenge has made it all the more worthwhile as a Lenten practice (lots of prayer needed to fulfill it), and I am relearning how to live without social media on a daily basis.
I found out this morning when I checked my messages from Facebook (I am actually using Messenger more often than the app), that I became a Great-aunt again for the ninth time. I have a seventh great-nephew and he has a wonderful name, Theodan. Yes, that’s right. Theodan. I love his name, and from the picture, he looks as cute as all of my other great-nephews - so super cute! I have two super lovely great-nieces, too (just in case they read this and feel left out of that “super-cute” statement). The idea of being a great-aunt used to make me feel super old, even if my husband is the youngest of his siblings and our daughters are younger than their youngest cousin by several years. I remember my great-aunts as all being retired, white-haired, and prone to serving perfect peanut butter cookies with Tang or traveling about in an RV and always bringing KFC to the table when visiting. By the way, all I have to do is say Tang and I can taste it and the peanut butter cookies with it (and it’s a nostalgic flavor combo for me), plus from those years, I believe KFC should always be served with coleslaw. It’s funny how the memory affects even our sense of taste in retroeffect.
Speaking of memory, I have been listening quite a bit to The Huberman Lab podcasts lately, and I recently listened to an episode on music and how good it is for our brain and our bodies. In summary of the points I grabbed (there are more), ten minutes of music listening a day can stimulate our physical systems in a way that invokes memories and improves our heart, our breathing, and our motivation to move and do. I don’t know that I needed more reason to listen to music, but it’s nice to hear what I feel in my gut being discussed in scientific terms.
(The episode I’m talking about can be found HERE.)
I have been reading some good books lately. I’ll be doing a summary of those in a few weeks.
Next week, I’ll be going to the Emerald City Comic Con partly on my own and partly with a friend I’ve known since I was eight (that’s over forty years of friendship, peeps - so if you ever wondered if that’s possible, it is). I have some friends from the worship team at church who will be doing Cosplay and I hope to meet up with them there, too. I have never been to the ECCC, even though I have wanted to for years, so I am excited. I hope to meet some authors I admire there, and just soak in all the fun of it. If you are going to ECCC, let me know in the comments and maybe we can say “hey” and meet each other in person.
I miss some of my social media friends these days. It feels like I’ve been gone forever. But I will be around Sundays to touch base for short bits of time.
Super Short Fiction
Hint fiction, fiction of 25 words, was new to me several years ago, and then I went on a hint fiction kick and wrote an entire series made entirely up of short episodes of 35 words or less, not quite keeping with the original rule, but staying close to it.
I’m still a fan of the form. Titles don’t count in the word count, so there is a bit of room to “cheat” and get more words into the story through them.
Here is a sample of three episodes from the series Ashes Burn:
1: OFF THE MAP
He was lost.
Off the map.
It was just where he wanted to be, so he took off his shoes and waded in the stream.
2: THUMBPRINT
Teresa tugged the charred map out of the ashes.
A thumbprint on the ragged edge caught her eye.
She would find him.
3: A KING
Newly-crowned King Bryant tore the map away from his Scout Master’s hands and ripped it to shreds.
He didn’t want his brother found.
As always, you can find me through this link tree: Tyrean’s Tales – Tyrean’s Tales (tyreanstales.com)
I've been off Social as well, unintentionally, but it's been wonderful. And to be honest : I've hardly thought about it. In fact, I didn't even realize I hadn't been on Instagram until earlier this week my Mom told me she hadn't seen me on Instagram. "Have you been writing?" She asked. I laughed. Hard. Funny when the media detoxes you!
Oh, and for the record, KFC should ALWAYS be served with coleslaw and TANG will forever make me think of astronauts from the 80s. Love it! Have fun at the conference! Is it appropriate to add an "off to see the wizard" reference here?
A social media fast is a unique choice for fasting during Lent. Certainly would be a sacrifice for me. I think you love researching for your messages. I love research too. Thanks for sharing the super short fiction! And I thought 500 words was difficult!!! Sounds like ECCC will be fun. Enjoy!!!