Look for a Trail – Isaiah 2:1-5

04 Dec Look for a Trail – Isaiah 2:1-5

Diana: John, we’ve been on many trails together. Which one is the oddest one?
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John: You told me that you couldn’t marry anyone who was not a Methodist minister.
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Diana: Yeah. That was strong, right?
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John: Yes. Overly strong, I thought. But I dutifully went off to seminary, not quite knowing what I was doing.
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Diana: And I didn’t realize what I was asking for.
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John: Right! When I finished seminary and PhD, I became a Louisiana pastor.
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Diana: And I became a “Parsonette.” (For everyone who’s not a United Methodist Cajun, that means a pastor’s wife…)
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John: After two years of numerous cold calls on people I didn’t know, the call of God got very loud to return to academia, and for the next 36 years, I did just that.
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Diana: Bully for you! And in the meantime, I gave birth to two children, led music and dance ministry, and finally found myself in seminary, sitting at the same table where you had sat, taking Hebrew from your old professor. Glory be!
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John: The winding path continued to wind as we followed our children to California and now live in a garage.
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Diana: The Garage Mahal!
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John: God works in nefarious ways, God’s blunders to perform.
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Diana: I never liked that joke from our Hebrew professor. Why not instead say: God is in those liminal moments when a door opens and you step through, trusting the darkness?
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John: May our church community trust the darkness.
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Diana: And delight in the mystery of God.
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John Holbert is a 73-year old, bald, grandfather of two. His favorite pastimes are reading and writing. Diana Holbert is a tired United Methodist minister. And is also retired. Both of these scatterbrains love Westwood UMC, and are thrilled to find themselves and their granddaughters embraced by the family of the Church.