New Eyes and New Mantra

Yeah, yeah, I've been quiet lately. The church internet was down last week. Last week's church lesson? If you are rather dependent on internet and server access, don't plug the router directly into the wall because you might have an electricity surge. Turns out that surges are bad for routers.

Here is a story I would have shared last week. On Mondays in Lent, we have Eucharist at 11:30, and then we have soup and salad lunch, and someone reviews a book they read. Its really a nice hour and a half. We usually have a handful of people for service, mostly the retired crowd who can take the whole hour and a half. As we were saying the Creed, I was surveying the small gathered group, and right as we got to the line "of all this is, seen and unseen" when my eyes landed on "Kate", an older parishoner who is blind. Until that day, I have always thought of that line "seen and unseen" as parallel to "maker of heaven and earth" - that the unseen creation refers to spiritual and heavenly things. But, today, I started to remember that there are many many earthly things that are unseen. For Kate, it is everything - she hasn't seen books or flowers or mountains or the faces of her friends with her eyes, yet she knows that God created them and blessed them. What about those things - and people- that we do not see with our own eyes? Now, this is probably not what the good men of the Council of Nicea had in mind. But the idea that the Creed calls us to recognize our unseen neighbors as part of God's creation has crept into my head, and I hope it stays there for a long time.

In other news, I have a new mantra thanks to an IM conversation - As long as Christ rises, nothing else matters.I can use it like this: "What? I was supposed to mail those VBS registrations two months ago? Oh well. As long as Christ rises, nothing else matters."

I don't suppose it'll go over well all the time. Maybe it'll just be a mantra for my "inside voice".

Irish Coffee

Happy St. Patty's Day! I am celebrating by listening to my One of the Girls cd, since I cannot make the live version. If you are in Chicago, I suggest you try to make one of the gigs.

In other distractions... this is from Beth, who just left this morning. Armed with a travel mug.

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

The Night That Paddy Murphy Died...

... apparently, I was drinking this.

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

In other news, Beth is coming to vist today! I'm so excited. Thanks be to God for spring breaks, even I don't really get one. To celebrate, we're going to go see Great Big Sea in Ann Arbor, and maybe try and make Guiness Ice Cream. Yes, I actually have a recipe for this. Isn't it nice how all of this connected? I love when my life makes sense.

Decade

There was a meme going around recently with questions like "where were you one month ago? five years ago?" Well, I'm just going to answer one of them.

Where were you ten years ago?
Sitting in a friend's living room, talking with one of my best friends about what it would mean if we decided to date. It was one of those friendships where we had sort of danced around "liking each other" for a few years, but the timing was always wrong. For some reason, the time was finally right. We decided not to tell people for a little while, just in case it didn't work out - you know, being such good friends and all.

Now, its been ten years. Ten years of laughing, sharing, talking, kissing, crying. For nine of those ten years, at least one of us has been in school. We've gone to weddings, baby showers, funerals, hospitals. We've gone to Chicago, Ireland, New York, Boston, California, Florida, Mississippi, New Orleans. And, of course, we got married in there.

Marrying your best friend is a wonderful thing. So is celebrating your relationship with a vegetarian by going out and ordering a steak.

Word Search

Alright, all you living-thesaurs types. Luke and I need your help. Over the last few weeks, we have been looking for the right words to describe a couple of relationships. Can you help us?

1. What do you call the person who is an academic muse and intellectual mentor, but you've never met them or worked with them? For example, if I ever did pursue that Bible PhD, I might want to follow in the tradition of say, Phyllis Trible*. Her writings would be a kind of standard for my own work, I would want to review her work every few years to renew my own track - a kind of "follwing in the footsteps." What word do I use to describe her in that case?

2. What is the word for someone who is doing exactly the kind of thing you want to be doing at this point, except that they are actually doing it? Its like encountering your more-accomplished, more-ambitious twin. "Nemesis" comes to mind... but that definitely isn't it.

I miss boot camp on days like these.


*In case anyone is wondering, Dr. Tribble is only an example. As much I think her stuff is brilliant, its not actually the tradition I would place myself in.

L is for...

In a little over an hour, I will preside at my first Ash Wednesday service as a priest. I've been doing a little reading this morning to prepare. The thought with which I wish to enter into Lent is this: Beyond penitence and mortality, more than fasting or other disciplines, Lent is about love. God's deep, abiding love for us, despite our constant failings and imperfections. So, I share these two quotes with you, and wish you a holy Lent. In whatever ways you choose to mark this season, may it bring you deeper into the knowledge of God's love.

“To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something youd o as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, “I’m sorry,” than to the future and saying, “Wow!”
-Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC

And I don't know
How you show
Such gentle disregard
For the ugly in me
That I see
That for so long
I took so hard
And I truly believe
That you see the best in me
I'm in love
We all love
And that thought
Sets me free

Free in you
Got no worries on my mind
I know what to do
That's to treat you right
And love you kind
Thank you ever on my mind
Love is just like breathing
When it's true
And I'm free in you
-Indigo Girls, Free In You