August 8, 2017 By Chris Sorensen, APM Program Chair, Pastoral Minister, Church of the Risen Savior There is something deeply universal in Dorothy’s words, “There’s no place like home.” Each summer I try to return to my home state of Massachusetts. For me, it is a return to my roots. It is the one place I can go where no one asks, “where are you from?” because my accent is the native one. It is where I can sit by or submerge myself in the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean and return my pulse and heartbeat to their proper rhythm. The ocean is a place where it is easy for me to go deeper in prayer. Its enormity and grandeur are tangible signs of the Holy for me…actual soul food.
It is where I reconnect with people, both family and lifelong friends, who have been a part of my personal story. These are people that are part of, or knew, and have fond memories of, my family. Some were classmates in the growing pain years of college who helped me to become the ME I am today. As a very relational person this piece is of great import to me. I carry Massachusetts in my DNA even as Minnesota has become my home over the last 28 years.
Over the slower paced days of summer I consider myself blessed to have the opportunity to reflect on my life and all of those instances and people that have shown the face of God to me in so many ways.
During the year when I need to slow down, reflect and breathe in and out, I will pick up a stone on my desk that I have carried back from the shore of the Atlantic, click the heels of my ruby slippers together and praise God for the gift of it all.