This is not news to many of you: I love the Olympics! It doesn’t make much sense considering how very un-athletic I am, but I have been drawn to the Summer and Winter Games since childhood. There is something about watching people who have spent years training for one moment. I’m always so proud of…
Category: Rev. Barbara Dunlap
Word, Service, Compassion and Justice
“I’m a Deacon.” That’s a sentence I have said or written many times over the past few years. It’s often met with confused looks because “deacon” means different things to different people and within different denominations. As deacons across the world celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Order of Deacon in the United Methodist Church,…
What Are You Learning?
Some of what we’ve learned was just for a time…But I hope that, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we keep the long-term things we have learned – how to love God in unforeseen circumstances and how to love our neighbors in new ways.
God Meets Us
God Meets Us In Our Big Feelings: Can God REALLY handle ALL of my Big Feelings?
How a Rat and a Dream Brought People Together
Just over a month ago, our family sat down to watch a musical together. This isn’t a really rare occurrence for us; we love musicals. What made this musical different was that it was a musical created entirely during the pandemic by amateurs and professionals. Yes, we were watching Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical. TikTok is…
Perhaps Love
I grew up with A Christmas Together, an album with John Denver and The Muppets from their TV Christmas special…My favorite songs on the album have changed over the years, and “The Christmas Wish” is currently in my top two. When Kermit sings “I don’t know if you believe in Christmas, or if you have presents underneath a Christmas tree, but if you believe in love that will be more than enough for you to come and celebrate with me,” it hits me right in the heart.
Turtle Power
The turtles were named Judas and Zoboomafoo. Because who doesn’t name their pets after the disciple who betrayed Jesus and a lemur from a PBS program from the early 2000s?
Summer Reading – #OwnVoices
#OwnVoices is a movement that began in children’s literature and has expanded to all literature. I know that many people are currently reading non-fiction about racism in America. I am as well, but I always come back to fiction to get a fuller picture of the lived experiences of people.
Soundtrack for Social Distancing
Sharing what I’m listening to these days may help someone else find a way to recognize some Big Feelings…
Waiting
Lent forces us to wait, forces us to sit in the not yet.
Mister Rogers: Why Him? Why Now?
His show was all about affirmation, building people up, making people feel that their feelings matter, their ideas matter, that they matter.
Once More, With Feeling!
Two weeks ago, I attended closing night of White Christmas at my niece’s high school. I went to support my niece in her work as the sound designer. The bonus is that White Christmas is one of my favorite movies. I was excited to see how it was adapted for the stage and I was…
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