Theresa F. Latini Last night at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center, Katie Dahl played an outdoor evening concert for sixty of us. Dahl is a Door County folk musician (a singer songwriter to be more precise) who inspires, comforts, amuses, and challenges her audiences to live and love with humility and gratitude. Her lyrics,Continue reading “The Meaningfulness of Coming Home”
Tag Archives: God
Blessing Masks and Those Who Wear Them
Theresa F. Latini Masks. I read about them a lot these days. Which means I think about masks a lot. I remind people to wear their masks at our retreat center. I make jokes – admittedly not very funny ones – about wearing my mask. I have two hooks by my front door for masks.Continue reading “Blessing Masks and Those Who Wear Them”
Taking out the Trash
Becca Ehrlich “The Human Starter Kit” In an episode of the TV show The Good Place titled “Best Self” (Season Two, Episode 9), the immortal being Michael is named an “honorary human” by his human friends and given a “Human Starter Kit” as a gift. He is thrilled. “Car keys! So I can lose them andContinue reading “Taking out the Trash”
Values to Live By: Lessons Learned in L’Arche
Pastor Rebecca C. Freeman Twenty-two years ago, I packed up a couple of bags, boarded the train to Seattle, and began an adventure that forever changed my life. I entered the Lutheran Volunteer Corps and was placed as an assistant in the L’Arche Noah Sealth community. I didn’t know anything about L’Arche and was somewhatContinue reading “Values to Live By: Lessons Learned in L’Arche”
Surrounded by Love in Death
Carol Throntveit It does hit the heart, doesn’t it? The thought that we or a loved one might die alone, a victim of the coronavirus, quarantined, and unable to have loved ones sharing words of support and love. This feels devastating. When these thoughts strike me, I am moved to tears. And yet, I findContinue reading “Surrounded by Love in Death”
A Strong Bridge for Scary Divides
Theresa F. Latini Earlier this week Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center hosted an online mini-retreat, Daring to Pray in the Time of COVID. Fourteen of us gathered together through Zoom to remember that God listens to us, that God is moved by compassion to act on our behalf, that we are invited to prayContinue reading “A Strong Bridge for Scary Divides”
Mother’s Day Mourning (and, Celebrating)
Theresa F. Latini Today I’m remembering my first day on the job as executive director of Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center. It was Mother’s Day 2019. Three hundred people streamed through our doors, enjoyed a veritable feast while laughing and reminiscing, and relaxed outside amidst beautiful flowers, soaking up the warm sunshine. Over twentyContinue reading “Mother’s Day Mourning (and, Celebrating)”
The Gift of Mindfulness
Theresa F. Latini Three weeks ago, I felt my first spike of anxiety about the coronavirus. The retreat center was taking inquiries about cancellations. Pastor friends were deciding whether or not to close their churches. Family members, a number of whom fall into that high-risk category, were postponing previously scheduled, non-essential medical care. And thenContinue reading “The Gift of Mindfulness”
Daring to Pray
Theresa F. Latini “Prayer is a very precious medicine, one that helps and never fails.” Martin Luther penned those words approximately 500 years ago, and they are as true today as they were then. Life has changed drastically for all of us in a very short period of time. Words like disaster and catastrophe andContinue reading “Daring to Pray”
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