Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

My Friday tweet for November 21 st :   #TGIF #Gratitude   For one minute name what you are grateful for - people, places, things, seen & unseen. Go! ~~Breathe In~Breathe Out~~ Even when life’s current happenings may be tough, there is always room for gratitude.   If you take up my challenge, I suspect that one minute won’t be enough time to even name the tip of the iceberg of what you are grateful for. Here are some of the “gratitudes” that came to me right now: by name - my Sisters, friends near and far, ministry colleagues, freedom to vote, those who come for spiritual direction, my spiritual director, places I have traveled to and the people I met there, and many other people, places…and at the end…chocolate! A lot can be named in 60 seconds. What will another minute bring? Already ideas flood my spirit. Gratitude is the work of the Holy Spirit. In the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, so gratitude get a chance to be center stage.   Yet to ...

This is the season of giving thanks!!   On Saturday those of us who had been in membership ministry during the past twenty-six years gathered to honor and thank our secretary, (who was with us over all those years) Mary Ellen Schonhoff, as she retired.  Over those years, she knew all of the women who were welcomed into the congregation during those years while also working with 50 of us who were involved in the ministry!  That’s a lot of people!! It was touching to hear and read the many tributes to Mary Ellen in the memory book that the current Relationships for Mission team put together – that’s what membership ministry is known as today in our congregation.   Through it all, the many changes in name and personnel Mary Ellen was gracious and present to every person.   She understood that this ministry is about relationship and held the office together over all those years. Ritualizing significant moments in our lives is important.  How have yo...