Wondering Presbyterian

  Some of this may sound familiar; I've written about the root of pattern before. I hope as you read this, you hear it anew and imagine it in a new way.             About fourteen years ago, I learned how to quilt. My mom is a quilter and I always swore I didn’t have the patience for it, but one day I wanted to make something and from that day on I was hooked. I do love to quilt. I enjoy the puzzle of putting fabric together and imagining how a pile of folded cloth can become something so completely different.             I admit I do better with a pattern. I like having the structure of a pattern. I like that the pattern tells me what to do next. There’s some safety in that, I guess.             Recently, I looked up the definition and etymology of “pattern.” It comes from a Latin word that if you are a Harry Pot...

                Have you heard of Phoebe 1 ? Very little is actually known about Phoebe, but she is a woman of valor mentioned in the Bible. We read about her in Romans. Paul writes, “I commend to you our sister, Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae 2 . I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me” (Romans 16:1-2). That’s really all we know about her. She must have had some wealth to be a benefactor. She had some standing in the community, even as a woman (almost unheard of back then!). And she was a deacon.             Phoebe is the only named female deacon in the Bible. The fact that Paul “commends” her to the Romans might be that she was even trusted and able-bodied enough to carry Paul’s letter to the Romans  physically...