The Theological Panda Bear

 Over the weekend, our writing group was given the prompt to write about any American myth.  Here's what I wrote. We Americans love our freedom of speech. We think our freedom of speech is n...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2022/11/american-mythology.html

  It must be a relief to our weary worn souls To sing arias in the shower To paint pictures on anonymous rocks To dance with the vacuum cleaner To write poems for the trees With no fear o...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2022/11/unseen.html

  I have not blogged in years, but after spending a week in a writing class, I am feeling the urge to write again.  I’d like to write about Ireland.  Or, our week at the John C. Campbell F...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2022/08/writing-again.html

If you know me, you know that St. John, USVI is my most favorite place on this earth – not just because of the blue, blue water, not just because of the lush, green mountains, not just beca...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2017/09/la-jolla-caribe.html

I was recently chastised in the nicest possible way for not having updated my blog in, well, let's just say a very long time.  It's not that I have not been writing, but I have not been typing o...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2017/07/thats-church.html

EPIPHANY SNOW DAY (We will have an Epiphany do-over next week, but in the meantime, here is a little something to encourage worship tomorrow even though we will not be in our sanctuary togeth...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2017/01/epiphany-snow-day.html

I had uncharitable thoughts toward Franklin Graham this week.  Those thoughts are nicely summarized in 2 words.  Shut up.  Then I added a third word.  Shut up, Franklin.  Then, my third wor...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/12/ihad-uncharitable-thoughts-toward.html

Recently, I was asked if I thought our nation would heal after such an antagonistic campaign season.  I had to think about that.  I’ve heard calls for unity, for coming together…and that i...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/11/advent-after-election.html

With all of our election news, I am struck by how often politicians end up apologizing for words that they have spoken or actions that they have taken. In my ponderings, I've had an epiphany!  F...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/10/apologies-and-epiphanies.html

I got a bee in my bonnet this week.  A new church is starting in an adjoining town, and they've put up yard signs in our community...of course, that is their right.  However, within a 3 mile ra...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/09/bee-in-bonnet.html

We've had lots of painters and tilers and builders in the church over the last few months.  We are working on a kitchen renovation that has been a long time coming.  Yesterday, the painters sho...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/09/never-seen-woman-preacher.html

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now.  I read obituaries.  I am interested in which parts of a life get tagged as “important enough” to consume another line in a ridic...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/05/churches-and-ageism.html

This has been a full week of church!  Kitchen renovation committee on Monday (thankfully, my attendance was not required), Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, HOPE meals on Wednesday followed by our...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/02/church.html

Over the summer,  I took our "church ladies" on their annual retreat to Christmount - one of our exercises was a writing exercise based on the poem "Where I'm From."  You can read about the poe...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2016/01/where-im-from-word-made-flesh-edition.html

On Christmas Eve, I sat outside our sanctuary with my mother - she was playing piano for our service that night - and we wondered about how the other half lives on Christmas Eve.  For those who ...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-eve.html

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," mainly because I like that last verse about "God is not dead nor doth he sleep."  But, after hanging out on facebook ...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/11/peace-on-earth.html

Every day counts, but some days, that truth seems especially salient.  Today was one of those days. Early this morning (OK, it was 8:15 AM but that counts as "early" on a Saturday), I met seve...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-day-that-counts.html

I have just returned from a 24-hour retreat at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center.   I had decided to attend this retreat back in June when I received an invitation from my spiritual director.  ...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/08/silence.html

A few nights ago, I watched a moving documentary on PBS about JFK's assassination and the reporters who covered the story  (and the difficulty in trying to get their stories straight without sma...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/08/in-end.html

We just returned from our eighth annual women's retreat.  Our first exercise was based on a poem called "Where I'm From."  This first poem is my example to our rockin' church ladies. The sec...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/07/where-im-from.html

In worship today, we - and when I say "we," I really mean "I" - talked about dividing lines that separate people.  We used the Ephesians 2:11-22 text as our starting point.  To set the tone of ...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/07/do-overs.html

Good for nothing.  Those are the words that came to mind on a warm, hazy afternoon last week.  I was on vacation in St. John, USVI with a group of friends.  We do a lot of snorkeling in St. Jo...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/07/good-for-nothing.html

I guess I have been blissfully ignorant for most of my adult life, because it never occurred to me that the Confederate flag was being flown in any official capacity until the shootings in Charle...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-southern-heritage.html

I have been in a writing workshop all week.  Each morning, we find a prompt posted on the board.  We begin the class with 15 minutes of silence while we write in response to the prompt.  This ...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/06/waking-up-white.html

Every Sunday of worship is special.  But, there are some Sundays when the Holy Spirit seems thick in the air.  Today was one of those Sundays.  For one thing, we baptized five people and welco...

http://theologicalpanda.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-day-of-hope.html