counter-top picnic

It was a regular week night at our house, only, it was not a good day for my son. He was disappointed I hadn't bought him all 5 books on his "wish list" from the 'book fair' hosted in the basement of his aftercare. A book fair that none of the parents picking up their kids knew was going on, by the way. Therefore, upon arrival we were ambushed by excited and optimistic children, cerain we were buying their wish list. I explained Christmas was coming, but that he could get 2 on the list, but only 2. It took some work, but he finally got it down to the 2 he really wanted. And then on the way to the car he dropped his backpack and got it dirty - at which point, the tears started to flow. And, I got the neon sign clue that he was also tired.*

On the way home, I tried to think of how best to handle the rest of the night - it was already late, due to negotiations over books, cleaning a backpack, traffic - could nothing go right? Dinner, homework (was there homework, oh, not tonight, please!) and bedtime was the agenda. Think, Think, Think...

What about a special place for him to read his book while I get dinner? Maybe that would work. In the car, I start to lay it out for him, telling him I think I have the perfect place for him to read his special new books to be close while I make dinner. He's curious and when I tell him it's a secret and I have to show him when we get inside the house...

Inside, coats and shoes come off, and I carry him to the countert-top in the kitchen next to the stove - a wondering look from the child as we have a pretty strict "no sitting, walking, standing on tables, chairs, well, basically nothing other than the floor..." rule in our house. So, I say, it's ok, I think you need something special tonight - just for tonight. I start dinner; he looks through his new book - the world one he's chosen with the tabs you push/pull up and down, out and in to make something neat happen - moving parts. All of a sudden - cries of anguish - a torn tab...oh, my - hugs, assurances - tape, tape, tape will help, it really will...dinner burning on the stove - oh, my...nothing can go right tonight.

Finally, it's time to eat, I don't even remember what, and I tell him we're going to have a counter-top picnic tonight and hand him plate and utensils and then hop up there myself - and, this elicits a giggle and, a "that's cool".

So, maybe a couple of things did go right that night, but I'm sure that it wasn't me, but the Advent of God that inspired, made space, and helped us "just be" - nestled together - up there on that counter as God our Creator nestled us, coming to us just exactly and just how we needed God that night.

And, no, no kindergarten homework was done that night, but we learned something about loving and honoring each other; and, I think there is a Commandment about that!


*read: very tired

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Some thoughts collected from Youtube...check it out:

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-christian

What does it mean to be a Christian to you?

How popular is Facebook?

Well, according to some sources, it is more popular than porn among 18-24 year olds. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1678586,00.html
While there is some skepticism of this research result and the methods used...it is true that Facebook is enormously popular, has eclipsed email even, for most of this age group. For many, this is not news (yes, I realize I'm about a year late with this headline).

The question is what does Facebook offer? Facebook is thought of as a social networking tool, and it does this quite well - - I personally love the status update feature because, rather than sending/receiving an email from/to one person, it goes to all of my "friends" at once. I get a daily glimpse into someone's life that might be near, across the country or across the oceans...
But, daily glimpses aren't enough. Facebook is not a substitute for face-to-face community. I want more than a glimpse into someone's life. I want to be able to sit and sip coffee or tea, or share a meal at table together. I want to 'see' them when they talk about challanges and be seen.

Facebook is a tool that helps us stay connected when life is busy and schedules are not easily put aside, and miles are not easily traversed, but I believe we are created to be relational people. And, I believe our community and world is served when there is face-time for sustaining and building relationships.

And, when Facebook or blogs, etc...are used in ministry as outreach, then we need to talk about how great God is and what God has done for the world, and continues to do in effort to restore creation to wholeness, to bring health and healing to all made in the image of the divine. May it be so, may it be so.

Meditation and...Crickets

This week I sat down to welcome the morning and thank God for one more day. I was not, however, the only one to be welcoming the day. Outside, various sounds - the symphony of birds and insects; inside, without tv, radio, computer or anything going, there was silence - almost.


There had been a few sightings of crickets inside the house before. Jonathan and I had some funny moments of shrieking laughter as we tried to get a plastic glass over the jumpy creatures and slide paper underneath so we could transport God's creatures safely outside. Privately, without my impressionable 5.5 year old son around, a rolled up newspaper worked j u s t fine.


However, one must have escaped our eyes, or re-entered, who knows where or how...and was now making itself known. Ahhh, a good chance to practice - "let all the sounds around you be a part of your meditation; accept them; release them; let them fall through fingers like sand and water...".

rope bridges and elephants...

From Barbara Brown Taylor:

"[Faith] is not a well-fluffed nest, or a well-defended castle high on a hill. It is more like a rope bridge over a scenic gorge, sturdy but swinging back and forth, with plenty of lifhgt and plenty of air but precious little to hang on to excpet the stories you have heard...All you have to do is believe in the bridge more than you believe in the gorge..."

Trusting someone/thing greater than ourselves to get us over the great chasms of life, the deep valleys is faith. It gets hard when it feels like there is an elephant stampeding toward us on that rope bridge...all we can do at that point is hold on as best we can.

caution and comfort

The following cautions me to accept God's mystery, unknowableness, power - understanding that I am the one captured, contained and limited. I am comforted by the Spirit's resourcefulness and her presence with those who suffer.

Once upon a time we captured God and we put God in a box and we put a beautiful velvet curtain around the box. We placed candles and flowers around the box and we said to the poor and the dispossessed, "Come! Come and see what we have! Come and see God!" And they knelt before the God in the box. One day, very long ago, the Spirit in the box turned the key from inside and she pushed it open. She looked around in the church and saw that there was nobody there! They had all gone. Not a soul was in the place. She said to herself, "I'm getting out!" The Spirit shot out of the box. She escaped and she has been sighted a few times since then. She was last seen with a bag lady in McDonald's.

Edwina Gateley,

"Prophetic Mission: Sniffing Out the Kingdom,"

Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets

via Gail Ramshaw's book

Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary

random enemy absorption

This was part of an editorial by Colbert I. King in the Washington Post:

Old Lessons For Obama
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A15

...A story told once before: In 1960, when I was a junior in college, Hubert Humphrey visited Howard University during his campaign in the D.C. Democratic primary. He was also running against John F. Kennedy in the West Virginia primary, where the Massachusetts senator's Catholicism was being assailed.

A government major, I asked Humphrey how he felt about the attacks against Kennedy's faith. Humphrey, not missing a beat, said that although he was seeking victory, he didn't want to win with anti-Catholic votes.

To Humphrey, an enemy of his friend was his enemy, too...

(I am going to name the process "random enemy absoprtion". Inspiring in some ways, but not exactly how I like to live life.)

No, but what did inspire me was the unwillingness of someone to use faith and religion as a barrier or a reason to denounce another person. Far too often, we can use our own beliefs as judgments on others. Humphrey obviously made an impression on Mr. Colbert King. Let us also live our lives to make an impression on others.

signs and gratitude

signs of spring, renewal and new life are welcome at this time of year. while we don't have anything like a midwestern winter, it is nice to:

hear the birds in the early, early morning again (even if they do leave evidence on my car)
see blossoms blooming - tulips, cherry blossoms, lilacs, and surprises in my garden surrounding the house i moved into in november

these creation signs of new life point to the new life that God provides. yesterday i learned that a dear friend from seminary died suddenly. he was a special person, with a depth and many, many gifts he offered to his family and friends, the world and the church. i am sad for us, but can't help feeling that he now is just where he is supposed to be.

today I am grateful for:

having known Kevin Schultz

friends who bring me lilacs from their yard/garden just because I mentioned they are my favorite flowers in one of my sermons

What's In Your Backseat?

Apparently, riding in my car requires an adventurous, observant and humourous nature...

As I pulled out of the parking lot, my water-logged passenger - saved from more water-loggedness, I might add - pipes up with the following inventory:

-a stuffed monkey in a homemade superhero costume
-a full-sized Kleenex box
-a junior sized soccer ball
-a batman umbrella
-a clerical collar

Apparently, adding my purse (adequate for 5 year old boy and any necessary pastoral items), covered a large area of the seat, and made her unable to complete the inventory. Who knows? There could have been a dragon, Bible Man, or jello under that!!!

What's in your back seat??

looooong Good Friday

Perhaps my blog has been in a Good Friday of it's own. Closed off with a stone too heavy to move. Blogs, people, fields, animals...we are not unfamiliar with tomb-like living. There are fallow times for fields, hibernations for animals, and times in life of sitting in darkness and cold, with words, feeilngs echoing off the walls of an empty tomb. Somehow, somehow the stone is rolled away and we are warmed, brought into the light, heal and grow. And we see that, however silent friends and God might have seemed, we were not alone. This is Good News.

funny

I have been encouraged to "just post something don't worry so much about writing the perfect thing". Apparently, my perfectionist tendencies (who knew?), among other distractions, and there have been many over the last months - new house, holidays, an almost impossibly early Lent and now Easter - have kept me from writing here. So, when I came across this while preparing for my Easter sermon, I just had to share...

"I feel a little like the guy who spilled water in his lap -- no matter what he says, no one's going to believe him."
--Paul Bernstein in TWA Ambassador (November 1978)

enjoy!