The soup du jour for our last day of class was Pentecostalism. Hallelujah! This was a fun one for me. We watched a little history of the Azusa Street revival of 1906. I fully enjoyed it. I found it to be a really interesting thing to watch a video and hear a lecture on what I consider to be my primary faith expression. In ways it was liking hearing someone else talk about your family. It was kind of affirming just to have my experience and tradition being discussed and it gave new language to what has been so common place to me. It reminds me of when a funny and articulate woman was renting a room at my parents’ house. She described my Mom as “deep and random.” Man did she hit the nail on the head. I always had sort of just considered my Mom to have a penchant for zoning out in thought. But “deep and random” better encapsulated her delving deep into thoughtfulness and returning with treasures from which we didn’t know the source or context. And there was that sense of seeing family resemblances too. Like hey, that’s where I got my nose from and great aunt so and so liked to holler too. Except the resemblances had to do with diversity, egalitarianism, worship, and gifts of the Spirit. It also felt something like looking in the mirror after the getting a haircut, it was familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time. I wanted to yell out in proud affirmation. Kind of like, “Hey that’s me! Would you look at that?” All in all, it was a rather sweet note to end on.
P.S. Life has consisted of much more than just classes this past quarter. I’ll shoot out some updates after finals.
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December 11, 2009 at 6:32 am
Mom
I am so glad to know that you recognize that something thoughtful was coming out of those “GMS” (Mosgofianese for Gale Mosgofian Syndrome) times. Wait until you have four kids, and need an apron to put over your head like Suzanna Wesley, so you can think beyond “brush your teeth,” and “don’t forget your lunch!” =) Love you heaps – Mom
December 26, 2009 at 1:37 am
Maura
Hey joy!!
Just stopped by to see how you’re doing-thinking of you and your family in this season. Looking forward to reading life updates! Missing you always…
January 17, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Leilah
Hi Joy, its me Lei. Your writing flows well, and I love the humor. I’ll continue to read.
May 28, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Dora Simms
Joy, I love your description of your mom and how you connected the dots in an indirect way as you experienced “pentacostalism”. Hum deep and random — a mysterious term. Had a good talk with your dad and mom recently. So good to hear their voices and connect again. Many blessings to you and David as you look forward to July 17th! God bless. Dora Simms