Hi Friends, I don't know about y'all, but February flew by for me. I sat at my computer yesterday and after I read this week's Shield, I realized "Oh no! I only have one day of February left to blog!" So here we are. It's always good to be e-connected with y'all. And I'm excited to be in Denton next week! I'll miss being with y'all at church on Sunday. I'll be worshiping with my family at FPC Dallas because my dad will baptize our niece at her home church that day. But maybe I'll run into you around town while we're visiting 😀
At the end of January I preached at my internship about our call as God's children and how that intersects with each of our vocations. That hit home for me!
At the end of February I preached about partnership as part of our call as disciples. I preached on the book of Philemon, which is just one chapter. That was hard work --- I wanted to do justice to the text and I also wanted to address the harm that interpretations of Philemon have caused in the USA (in regards to how Christians have used the book of Philemon as an affirmation of enslavement). The sermon seemed to land well with folks. I'm grateful for how God worked through the congregation and through me as we reflected on the apostle Paul's letter to Philemon together.
*The sermon recording is linked here and starts around 18:00.
During the month of February I also worked two hospital shifts as a PRN Chaplain. Each of the two shifts had a couple of extremely difficult moments and a couple of marvelous moments. Each time I'm at the hospital I'm reminded of what a gift it is to be alive and to be in relationship with each other.
Another big part of February was getting myself organized as the Final Level Student Representative on Richmond's Student Government Association. I coordinated a meeting, sent lots of emails, and am now working with a few other Final Level students to coordinate our Final Level Gift, which is part of the tradition of Final Levels leaving some sort of legacy for the UPSem community. As I continue this work, I'm also preparing for my third and final UPSem Board of Trustees meeting where I serve as the Richmond Student Representative. That meeting is in April so I'm working with my Charlotte counterpart to put together a listening session with students so we can write a report for the Board that {hopefully} represents all students.
Below are glimpses of the month of February as a Final Level seminary student who has just 6 weeks of classes left!
February began with a Saturday lunch hosted by our friend who cooked homemade Southern & Northern Indian food for us.
The following weekend we took our friend out for our favorite burger in Richmond --- Cobra Burger.
We have Chapel every Wednesday on the UPSem Richmond campus. During February, one of our chapels was a Lunch Chapel which centered on the Table. It was a beautiful spread of Mediterranean food and great conversation.
During Spring Break we traveled to Tampa, FL to visit Charles' Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. We went fishing, relaxed by the pool, walked every day, and watched Charles' cousin play soccer in the state quarter-finals (he scored a goal that helped them win!). We also got to visit friends of ours from Fairfax who live in FL now with their two little girls.
We enjoyed our long weekend getaway to warmth and family!
We arrived home from FL to snow in Richmond a few days later. We didn't let the snow stop us from attending our first VCU Men's Basketball game last week. This week we went to a VCU Women's Basketball game with the VCU Hospital's Spiritual Care Department. Fun was had by all!
I hope y'all are able to care for yourselves in ways that are most meaningful to you. 2025 brings a plethora of changes for all of us as we witness the work of our elected officials and the impact that so many folks are experiencing.
I hope you're able to find moments of joy and peace amidst all that's going on in our country and world.
With Love & Gratitude,
Caitlin
