Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice!  Let the sea and everything in it roar!
Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate!
Then all the trees of the forest too will shout out joyfully before God
because God is coming! (Adapted from Psalm 96)


Neill and I traveled to Boise, Idaho for a family event last week.  It was my cousin and her fiancé’s “Almost Married Celebration” and ended up being a wonderful opportunity for Neill to meet pretty much my whole family (on my mom’s side anyway) before we get married ourselves.  Some families live mostly in the same state or even town, but that’s never been the case with mine.  We tend to be nomads, and happily so! 

I love to travel.  Life is short and the world is wide after all.  Though traveling while observing covid regulations was certainly a new experience.  We had someone on our flight from Hartford to Denver who was non compliant with wearing a mask.  The captain made an announcement to encourage compliance and even specified that our names and seat numbers were known by the airline.  If we didn’t wear our masks, law enforcement would be waiting once we got off the plane (since not wearing one violates a federal regulation)!  Whoever the person was that was causing issues seemed to stop after that stern clarification.  Though this is exactly what I wrote about before I left!  There’s all sorts of different pandemic rules and regulations from businesses, schools, churches, restaurants, airlines, etc.  Most people are doing the best they can.  Let’s treat one another the way we want to be treated.  Amen?

Although our trip had some strange moments, once we arrived in Boise it was a glorious celebration.  It did my heart so much good to be with my family, especially since I haven’t seen some family members in years.  Moreover, Boise is a beautiful place!  The wide expanse of Western skies always makes me happy.  As the Psalmist reminds us, “Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate!”  Glad to be back too, of course.  And hope to see many of you on Sunday as we celebrate being all back together in worship. 

Love,
Pastor Lauren

Photo by Rev. Lauren Lorincz.

Thursday Thoughts 6/3/21