Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
Connect with Us!
  • Home
  • Being Church
    • Crops For PROP
    • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Fellowship >
      • Women's Retreat
  • Children | Youth
    • Nursery
    • Sunday School (Preschool through 7th grade)
    • Especially for Families
    • Rooted (3rd - 4th grade)
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Middle School Youth (Grades 7-8)
    • Confirmation (8th-9th grade)
    • Higher Ground (10th-12th grade)
  • Music
    • Adult Music Opportunities
  • About EPUMC
    • Worship
    • Staff
    • Notes from Pastor Becky Jo
    • Lay Leadership
    • A Reconciling Congregation
    • Tumbleweed Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Annual Report
    • Calendar
  • Prayer
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Weekly Memo: Moments that take away our breath

8/2/2018

Comments

 
I want to tell you about something that metaphorically took my breath away and caused my heart to skip a beat.
 
My nephew Nathan and his wife Mindy have been expecting their first child.  Last week Mindy gave birth to a little girl, which in my tribe of the Bryan clan is a bit rare.  And here is the thing:  they named her Georgie.
 
Georgie is not a very common name, but it was my mother’s name. I never expected Nathan and Mindy to choose Georgie.  I heard about it from my baby brother, the proud grandfather.  He was “deadpanning” it and when I asked the name and he told me, I went silent on the phone. I was so grateful to Nathan and Mindy, and I was so moved by an unexpected, deep emotional connection that I felt not only to this new addition to my family, but well… to my long-deceased mother.
 
My daughter, Anna, is visiting Georgie and the rest of the family right now.  I know that to most of you that last sentence is nice enough, but to me it transcends time. Let me tell you what I mean. Anna was on the phone telling me that she was holding Georgie and remembering Grandma Georgie at the same time. When she said that, my heart skipped a beat. I stopped breathing for a minute as an image came to me of my daughter holding Georgie in one arm with Grandma Georgie sitting close on the other side of Anna with her arms around them both.
 
When things like this happen to me, I really don’t try to explain them or describe them but just be with them.  Maybe that is why telling all of you about this now is a little awkward.  You don’t know what my daughter or either of the Georgies look like, so you can’t possibly paint this picture in your head. I am not going to photoshop together this precious moment…so why tell you about it all?
 
Here’s why: My guess is that most of us have had an experience like this: We hear some news that for the rest of the world is a nice piece of information, but what we hear goes beyond that; it transcends the boundaries of our mental deliberations and reaches down to a place that some call our heart and others call our soul. It lands so deep within us that we are unable to control its impact, and then our hearts skip a beat or breath is taken away…When this happens, my friends, it is God’s heart beating within us…It is the breath of God stirring us to claim that, as the poet reminds us, “love is bigger than anything in its way…”
 
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
Comments

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Connect with us!
office@prairiechurch.org
(952) 937-8781

15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Picture
Picture