A Revelation Friday Five

From Sally at RevGalBlogPals...

With this Sunday's gospel reading in mind, that wonderful revelation of Christ to the companions on the Emmaus road, I wonder where you might have been surprised by God's revelation recently.So with no further waffle I offer you this week's Friday 5:

How has God revealed him/herself to you in a:

1. Book: Right before Easter, I read those chapters in John where Jesus is saying goodbye and trying to prepare his disciples. It's like he's trying to make sure he's said and done everything he needs to do before he leaves them.

I was really touched by that, it felt like looking into his heart.

2.Film: There's a scene in Brokeback Mountain, toward the end, where Ennis goes to Jack's house and meets his parents. The tenderness and concern offered by Jack's mother and the way Ennis found the shirts both seem like the hand of God in Ennis's life.

3. Song: The music at my church frequently moves me. Most of the time, it's the expressions on each person's face. Their vulnerability, their transparency, the way they make a gift of themselves during the performance.

Well, on Easter Sunday, my pastor was one of the men who sang the song I mentioned in a post a week or so ago. The video is there, too, if you'd like to see what I mean. When he sang, it was like looking at his heart! But it was like looking in one of those weird mirrors--I saw his heart but I also saw God. And what a beautiful sight!!

4. Another person: Earlier this week (also, mentioned in another post), my son reminded me all day not to forget to "call the lady" to find out if we could buy her washer and dryer. Well, it turned out that the buyer she'd expected did, indeed, show up to buy it as planned.

When I told my son, he burst into tears and said, "I really wanted that for you!".

The surprise I felt is just like the surprise I sometimes feel when it dawns on me that God loves me purely in just that way.

5. Creation: I marvel each Spring as everything sprouts and blooms and makes itself new. Just yesterday or the day before, I was thinking about how reassuring that is about God's faithfulness in our lives in general.

Bonus answer: your choice- share something encouraging/ amazing/ humbling that has happened to you recently!

The fullness and the generosity of my son's love humbles me every day!

My Aunt's Homophobia

My mom and son and I went out for lunch this afternoon, and had a great time!! I had apricot tea and quiche and lemon cake for dessert. Yum!

But then, I asked my mother about talking to the aunt who had called her just to say that she didn't want to be confronted with my homosexuality. I asked her if she'd talked about it with her since then and she said that she had. Apparently, my mom called her to talk about it, to clarify that she had meant to make as strong a statement as she seemed to be making.

Well, they seemed to have cleared it up to my mother's satisfaction. But not to mine! And I am pretty sure now that I will not be going to the family reunion.

My aunt clarified that she has nothing against us personally, she just dislikes the issue, and doesn't want to deal with it. So if my wife and I were ever to see her together, she wouldn't want me to introduce her as my wife.

Guess what! She needn't worry.

My Sweet Son

I have such a sweet son!

I have been keeping my eye out for a washer-dryer set because my apartment complex does not come with them, just a coin-operated laundry room. Well, I saw an ad for a washer-dryer set for an incredible price and when I called, the lady told me a guy promised to bring money for it in a few days and to check back after that in case it fell through and then, I could have it.

Well, when I called, the set was sold. Ah, well!

But when I told Jonathan, he burst into tears!! "I really wanted them for you!"

And it took him a few minutes to get past the disappointment. I didn't even know he was holding it so close. I was quite moved by that.