Its funny how some things- some pieces of language, to be precise in this case- never really leave us. They remain a part of us even when we think they have long been forgotten...
Yesterday afternoon I sent an email to a friend inviting her to join me for a "study party" at a coffee shop. The idea is, of course, that if we are studying together, we will have someone to keep us on task, preventing further procrastination via avenues such as Facebook, Snood, or blogging.
The slip came when I was typing, and unexpectedly, I realized I had written, "What are you up to this arvo?" Arvo. I haven't heard someone use that in years! Its a slang term in Australia used to mean "afternoon." During my time there 3 years ago, I heard it used often, mostly from my good friend David. It usually came with last-minute plans for the day as we tried to sort out something to do over AIM. He used it a lot... but its not a term I myself used- maybe ever? Which begs the question- why all of the sudden did it slip out today!?!
The people, beauty, destinations and memories of my time there have been on my heart lately with thoughts of Jane as she visited, Rosie as she mourns, Katie as we recently spoke for the first time in nearly 2 years... and of course Bec and Nat as I look forward to seeing them in April! But all of them (except Jane) are Americans... and I am confident they have not used it (at least not in conversation to me!) within the past year...
Anyway, it was a "mistake" that made me smile and reminds me of the great times I had there, the amazing folks I met, and the unimaginable memories we created. I really do hope one day I am able to find a reason/way to go back with a few of the aforementioned folks by my side. To take time to share in one another's company again, going back to our home away from home and visiting the "Mothership" once again as we live like tourists and catch up with old friends who have stayed- or moved- there.
I hope memories like this one never cease to run from my mind. They might pop up only ever 3 years, but but that makes it all the more memorable when I am reminded of the many small things I miss about that beautiful country.
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
An Ongoing Celebration
Easter has finally arrived! Christ is Indeed Risen!
It has been a long journey through Lent this year, and so I welcome Easter with open arms, an open heart, and open eyes to see and hear and experience all that the Risen Christ has to offer us.
Saturday afternoon I was fortunate enough to have a lovely meeting for coffee with a long-lost Australian friend who is studying abroad in DC (and is in Chicago on Spring Break). Our time was far too brief, but it was nice to have the short time we did to catch up and share in the simple gift of one another's presence.
I had to cut our time together short when I decided to go to the Easter Vigil at the Chicago Temple (a United Methodist Church downtown). I had been told what a beautiful service they have, and that it would be well worth my time to check it out. So I went- and was relieved to be celebrating the risen Christ long before our morning services the next day! The service was nice... but felt a bit like a marathon as they rushed through it to get through the entire service in only 50 minutes. I have never heard prayers, sermons, or Scriptures read so fast in all of my life! Fortunately, I ran into my friend Kristin there, so we were able to share in the service together, which made it a much more blessed experience.
Sunday morning was beautiful. Easter MUST be the BEST day to work in a church and go to both services! The music, worship, proclamations and praising of God were overwhelmingly beautiful and joyful! Both services were full, too, which made the experience all the more rich. There is nothing like a full house of clapping, dancing and singing for the glory of God to start off a morning!
Complete with new members and flying water (or pitchers of water during the Hallelujah Chorus!) that we might remember our Baptisms, Easter is indeed a day of celebration. I hope that this is only the beginning of many celebrations to come, though. For yesterday was only the first day of this new season, the day which we celebrate the Risen Christ... but we as Christians are called to celebrate this every week. Therefore, I hope we can remember, as Laurence Stookey reminds us, that it is not that "Every Sunday is a mini Easter," but that "Every Easter is a Great Sunday."
Let us remember to proclaim with boldness, then, the great news that Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, Indeed! Hallelujah! Amen.
It has been a long journey through Lent this year, and so I welcome Easter with open arms, an open heart, and open eyes to see and hear and experience all that the Risen Christ has to offer us.
Saturday afternoon I was fortunate enough to have a lovely meeting for coffee with a long-lost Australian friend who is studying abroad in DC (and is in Chicago on Spring Break). Our time was far too brief, but it was nice to have the short time we did to catch up and share in the simple gift of one another's presence.
I had to cut our time together short when I decided to go to the Easter Vigil at the Chicago Temple (a United Methodist Church downtown). I had been told what a beautiful service they have, and that it would be well worth my time to check it out. So I went- and was relieved to be celebrating the risen Christ long before our morning services the next day! The service was nice... but felt a bit like a marathon as they rushed through it to get through the entire service in only 50 minutes. I have never heard prayers, sermons, or Scriptures read so fast in all of my life! Fortunately, I ran into my friend Kristin there, so we were able to share in the service together, which made it a much more blessed experience.Sunday morning was beautiful. Easter MUST be the BEST day to work in a church and go to both services! The music, worship, proclamations and praising of God were overwhelmingly beautiful and joyful! Both services were full, too, which made the experience all the more rich. There is nothing like a full house of clapping, dancing and singing for the glory of God to start off a morning!
Complete with new members and flying water (or pitchers of water during the Hallelujah Chorus!) that we might remember our Baptisms, Easter is indeed a day of celebration. I hope that this is only the beginning of many celebrations to come, though. For yesterday was only the first day of this new season, the day which we celebrate the Risen Christ... but we as Christians are called to celebrate this every week. Therefore, I hope we can remember, as Laurence Stookey reminds us, that it is not that "Every Sunday is a mini Easter," but that "Every Easter is a Great Sunday."
Let us remember to proclaim with boldness, then, the great news that Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, Indeed! Hallelujah! Amen.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Life Is Now.
I am in a very reflective mood today. A lot of things have played a role in bringing me to where I am: the weather, recent conversations, hearing from long-lost friends unexpectedly (and joyfully!).
There are a lot of things running through my mind. Things that are a part of me that I'm not sure any one person could ever fully understand. It reminds me of the pros and cons of being a traveler. That with every new place I visit, every new person I meet, they get to know a new part of me. Then as the day comes and I have to leave, a part of me is left behind. Only to be reclaimed in part if and when I return there. It is a wonderful gift to have been able to share so much of myself with the world as it also shares itself with me. Yet it is also hard.
Its hard because it also means that as I have experienced so much in so many different places with so many different people, I have also left pieces of myself that are not meant to be reclaimed. Pieces that I really miss. Pieces that even those I have shared my entire life with cannot understand. It means that no one knows me inside and out like my own family used to, like I thought my friends did in high school....
Some of- no- THE best times of my life have been spent abroad. Today, I am thinking of my time in Australia. This week marks three years since we first left. Since I first met that random group of girls in the airport in LA and discovered we were all going to the same study abroad program. Since I made some of the best friends a girl could ever hope for, had some of the most exciting and life-giving experiences I could ever ask for, was given insight to my future in ways I never anticipated. It was in Australia that began the journey of more fully realizing the vocational importance of international missions and community development. While there I developed the practice of keeping Sabbath for the first time, and from that discovered my own call to go to seminary and spend my life in ministry. I studied, I traveled, I volunteered... I loved, I hurt, I played... I cried and laughed and loved and... more than I ever had before or ever have since (with the exception of maybe South Africa) ... I LIVED.
I am reminded of my blessed life I lived there today. For today, I was able to finally catch up with one of those friends who helped me to live so fully while we journeyed to the other side of the world. No doubt, it was just as intense and life-changing for her, and as such, we were able to live, grow, laugh and cry together. And today, we have our friendship, and even though we live over a thousand miles apart, the simple sound of her voice or a thoughtful 2-line email puts this part of me at ease.
Today, we shared in memories lost and gone and distant, yet vivid and real with intense feelings still attached. And today, she reminds me of the power of words. That we should tell one another how and when we are encouraged by one another. That we care. That we are thankful for our friendship. Why wait until tragedy strikes, until someone leaves or is lost? We must live now. "Life is now." We must live today, not waiting for a, b, c to happen so we can do x, y, z. You're right, Rosie. Life is now. It begins today. Even through our frustration, confusion or anxiety of what the future holds, the reality is, what happens today could change that. So live for it. Don't forget to live today fully- don't forget that if you don't, tomorrow may never happen.
Life is now. That first day we met in LA, we had no idea what we were in store for, how life changing the next 5 months would be. The same could be true of today- of this semester. Maybe the next 5 months will be the best of my life- we'll never know unless we live them. So while I am heart-broken with missing friends, places, and opportunities of far-off places, I am also thankful for them. I look forward to what this new year will bring.
Thank you, Rosie, for being such an inspiration and a great reminder of all that life is- and can be.
There are a lot of things running through my mind. Things that are a part of me that I'm not sure any one person could ever fully understand. It reminds me of the pros and cons of being a traveler. That with every new place I visit, every new person I meet, they get to know a new part of me. Then as the day comes and I have to leave, a part of me is left behind. Only to be reclaimed in part if and when I return there. It is a wonderful gift to have been able to share so much of myself with the world as it also shares itself with me. Yet it is also hard.
Its hard because it also means that as I have experienced so much in so many different places with so many different people, I have also left pieces of myself that are not meant to be reclaimed. Pieces that I really miss. Pieces that even those I have shared my entire life with cannot understand. It means that no one knows me inside and out like my own family used to, like I thought my friends did in high school....
Some of- no- THE best times of my life have been spent abroad. Today, I am thinking of my time in Australia. This week marks three years since we first left. Since I first met that random group of girls in the airport in LA and discovered we were all going to the same study abroad program. Since I made some of the best friends a girl could ever hope for, had some of the most exciting and life-giving experiences I could ever ask for, was given insight to my future in ways I never anticipated. It was in Australia that began the journey of more fully realizing the vocational importance of international missions and community development. While there I developed the practice of keeping Sabbath for the first time, and from that discovered my own call to go to seminary and spend my life in ministry. I studied, I traveled, I volunteered... I loved, I hurt, I played... I cried and laughed and loved and... more than I ever had before or ever have since (with the exception of maybe South Africa) ... I LIVED.
I am reminded of my blessed life I lived there today. For today, I was able to finally catch up with one of those friends who helped me to live so fully while we journeyed to the other side of the world. No doubt, it was just as intense and life-changing for her, and as such, we were able to live, grow, laugh and cry together. And today, we have our friendship, and even though we live over a thousand miles apart, the simple sound of her voice or a thoughtful 2-line email puts this part of me at ease.
Today, we shared in memories lost and gone and distant, yet vivid and real with intense feelings still attached. And today, she reminds me of the power of words. That we should tell one another how and when we are encouraged by one another. That we care. That we are thankful for our friendship. Why wait until tragedy strikes, until someone leaves or is lost? We must live now. "Life is now." We must live today, not waiting for a, b, c to happen so we can do x, y, z. You're right, Rosie. Life is now. It begins today. Even through our frustration, confusion or anxiety of what the future holds, the reality is, what happens today could change that. So live for it. Don't forget to live today fully- don't forget that if you don't, tomorrow may never happen.
Life is now. That first day we met in LA, we had no idea what we were in store for, how life changing the next 5 months would be. The same could be true of today- of this semester. Maybe the next 5 months will be the best of my life- we'll never know unless we live them. So while I am heart-broken with missing friends, places, and opportunities of far-off places, I am also thankful for them. I look forward to what this new year will bring.
Thank you, Rosie, for being such an inspiration and a great reminder of all that life is- and can be.
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