I got a lot of reaction from last Sunday’s service on the “Holy And.” It seems that many of you could relate to your own Holy Ands and I feel honored that so many of you shared them with me. Some were very straightforward and some were very deep, while some were about your family or relationships and many about your faith. I encourage you to continue to think about all the ways the AND lives in your lives.
After service, Walt Doherty came up to me and recited IN LATIN a quote from the Roman poet Catullus, who lived in the 1st Century BC (appproximately 84-54 BCE).
Ōdī et amō. Quārē id faciam fortasse requīris.
Nesciŏ, sed fierī sentiō et excrucior.
Experts translate it as such:
I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask.
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.
Walt has his own translation, which I also prefer because of how it relates to our entire human experience:
I hate and I love. How do I do this you might ask.
I don’t know, but I feel it’s so, and it hurts.
In these early weeks of 2025, especially in the days before the inauguration, I know that many are feeling a lot of conflicting emotions. I invite you to feel it all and know that you are fully human and holy in your experience of it all.