desert spirit's fire!

Friday Five: LOVE!

2012-02-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today it's a Friday 5 about LOVE! hosted by revkjarla. With her instructions,

It's Valentine's Day on Tuesday.... So, Share 5 Valentines you would like to give this year, and why--but here is the hitch,
Can't give them G-d, Jesus, Holy Spirit...
or your mom, your beloved, your sweet child(ren)...tell us about the other amazing beings in your life.

I was reluctant to play because of the ongoing lack of real community that knows me and where I can participate (oh, I know, 21^st century, southern california and all those factors), yet I'm still able to be thankful for what has been going right and as seriously as I lack (basic life is lived locally and the gospel is something you can hear, touch, taste, smell and see), I still have valentines to celebrate, at least the first two revived due to the wonder of internet communications.

1. I met Heather, another artist, during the time I spent with my mother during her unexpectedly last 18 months on earth. Heather has a currently inactive facebook page and external site for her fine art and she recently began a new journey with Painting Pain.

2. Trisha from A Former City and I reconnected through Facebook; she has several blogs, but I'll highlight clearing the space where she actually referred to me as a "dear friend" in a post a few months ago!

3. Without a doubt I badly need to find a local church that will be a place that will provide a place for me, but still I appreciate the weekly eucharist and outstanding preaching at Church up the Hill from Here. It is very true the liturgy and the sacraments connect me with the people of God in every time and every place, but it's almost equally so that sometimes that's simply not sufficient, though the reality prevails in my head and even in my heart.

4. Jane, my now long-time friend, neighbor, cat sitter and all-around cool person. Her ability to listen, hug, be there and not judge is a rare gift.

5. In the words of that old band Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild, I'll continue to "Take the world in a love embrace" every step along the way and celebrate the Creation that still loves and hugs me back, despite global warming, melting ice, rainforest devastation and urban decay.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone and thanks, revkjarla!

Awaken Your Senses: Taste

2012-02-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Awaken Your Senses Contest on Facebook began yesterday--with Taste!

Brent's intro--TASTE: The sense of the week!

"Have you ever thought about tasting God in what you put in your mouth? The idea that food can remind us of the different attributes, ways and stories of God is a novel thought for most of us. If we are open to letting God teach us the ways of faith through our bodies, though, then we can learn the ways of faith through our taste buds as well as our brain. The sweetness of a freshly baked cinnamon roll can remind us of the sweetness of God's love in the same way that horseradish at Passover reminds Jews of the bitterness of slavery." Awaken Your Senses, pg. 26 (adapted)

I love this idea! Our central Christian hermeneutic is God's incarnation, enfleshment, in a physical body formed from the substance of the ground. My particular Reformation tradition emphasizes the ongoing Divine presence and God's continued self-giving in the sacraments. But baptism and holy communion are far more than something we do in a ritualized way when we gather--they are lively signs to the world of our seeking and working for justice for all peoples and all the earth everywhere. Sacraments also signify the sacredness of all life as they form a microcosm of the promised time of the fullness of redemption for all creation. Real food is not manufactured in laboratory-like factories; real food comes from the earth and for celebrating sacramental ordinances we use flowing water, juice or wine from the fruit of the grapevine and (ideally recently homemade) bread baked from natural ingredients, so we need to be friends of the earth to continue celebrating sacraments. That's my own intro to this series, and here's a reflection on recent tastes.

Although I live in a central city location of a major metropolitan area, I don't often get to any of the nearby farmer's markets, so I've been buying a lot of ripe red tomatoes on the vine from the grocery store. The first thing I savor is the fragrant scent of the soil that still clings to parts of vine and fruit. Or maybe the first thing I notice is the shiny, intense orangey-red color of the tomato fruit that forms a wonderful contrast to the vine's deep green--in color theory red and green are complementary colors, which used adjacent to each other tend to buzz a little in the observer's eyes! Their solid heft and pleasant "just right" weight in my hand is the second or maybe third or was that the very first aspect of these tomatoes I noticed when I picked them up in the store?

But how do these tomatoes taste and feel in my mouth? First the satin-smooth outside skin, next fluid juicy insides along with a few small seeds to add texture. The small meaty chunks barely need chewing, but as I do, hints of sweet and sour and a slightly bitter undertone add up to a lovely tang. I want the fresh tomato experience to last almost forever, but I know there are a few more waiting for tomorrow and the next day, more in the store and more growing out of the ground for when I'm ready.

But there is more! The aroma, the feel, the appearance and the flavors of my daily tomatoes awaken memories of visiting my grandmother and picking a ripe, warm, sun-kissed tomato from her garden and bringing it into the house to slice: for lunch in a tomato or tuna sandwich on recently out of the oven bread; for dinner or supper as part of a classic salad with any variety of garden lettuce, cucumbers, onions and homemade vinaigrette. During this Heart Month of February, I'm loving tomatoes and loving the earth.

my Awaken Your Senses blog and Amazon review

image association 5

2012-02-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Just returned from Big Event 5.0, Songbird hosts an image association 5; here's the drill:

For today's Friday Five, let's have a mini-BE 5.0 workshop. Take a look at these five portions from the gospel lections for this Sunday and next, and share with us the images that come to mind for you. Feel free to use words or pictures.

Needless to say, I'd love to crunch these texts and design my own images, but Friday 5 is supposed to be a quick, fun play and a way to get to know each other a little better--so I won't but I will give it a touch of local context. I love how this instant replay of a chunk of Mark 1 that amounts to only 1/3 of the chapter shows the evangelist's excited and exciting style that will pervade his gospel and become its hallmark. As I worked through these brief pericopes, I realized they do need either artistic images or acted imagery to convey what I'm trying to say, but here's my play anyway.

1. As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. (Mark 1:29-31)

image: A worriedly concerned group of amigos, amigas y familiares gather around her bed, wondering whether she will die or just may live. As soon as the fever leaves and she realizes she's well, Simon's MIL scurries to the cocina and pulls together a fiesta of nachos, fajitas, tamales, cerveza and tortas and serves everyone; as soon as she's able, she responds well to God's first call of hospitality !

2. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mark 1:32-34)

image: "The whole city" is a LOT of peeps and brings to mind some paintings of the Day of Pentecost that feature a crowd gathered outdoors. Close to day's end, a microcosm of humanity from toda la ciudad completely surround in a circle the adobe house where Jesus stays. Patiently, one by one, he touches them with his hand, his word, his glance or all three, when necessary addressing demons and the denomic by name and rendering them without power. As one by one they leave to return to their more normal lives, the ambient air in toda la ciudad entera assumes a sense of the fullness of shalom.

3. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." (Mark 1:35-37)

image: Jesus leaves the adobe house before first light, makes his way to the nearest patch of desierto, finds an east-facing bench and soon becomes intently caught up in prayer. Very soon he hears footsteps and perceives a change in the air. In a sense he feels annoyed because the hombres still don't quite get what he's about, but he's also happy they consider him safe and trusted enough to seek him out whenever.

4. He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:38-39)

image: You know everyone is dressed in Baja Hoodies and obeys the scriptural charge to "wear sandals" as they set out together and although the text has Jesus suggesting "we" and "us" as in together, he also says "that I may proclaim" (sorry this is Friday 5 and I'm not checking the Greek) every one of them excitedly, in the mildly manic style of Mark, begin practicing proclaiming in nearby pequeñas ciudades.

5. A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45)

image: This hombre contemporáneo long has been overcome and overrun with all kinds of health and *other* concerns. This again is a situation of someone's infinite trust in Jesus and Jesus' corresponding joy that someone has come to him. Healing of every kind visibly ripples through the guy and oh yes, on some level he heard Jesus say he only was supposed to fulfill the levitical requirement to visit the ecclesiastical authorities and please, nothing more at this time since Jesus' time has not yet quite arrived, but what incomparably great news has this healing into new life been?! He also wants to practice the gymnastics he'd learned as a niño, so he tells his entire known world of nearby pequeñas ciudades.

remembering dreams

2012-01-31T22:30:00.000-08:00

My Facebook status update a few weeks ago: "writing my own anamnesis... for epiphany? no, for January 2012" my own comment (since no one else almost ever seems to notice or care, I feel like a critter hoping for death at the local kill shelter): as Walter Brueggemann insists, "it all depends upon a memory..." listen to the nearly-incessant charge to "remember" throughout scripture.

These days one needs an online presence, but a local community of recognition, acknowledgment and participation is as essential as food, water and sleep. OK, some kind of shelter from meteorological storms, though my earlier insistence it doesn't need to be a house, apartment, condo, or tent is correct. Without community a person dies. I want my life back. I need my life back.

Look back, take a long, soft glance? I be looking back yet *again* right now, taking a wistful, still cautious overview and remembering as well as possibly anyone can. So very well I know that it's not simply about the style of a parish, congregation, local church; the professional and lay leadership play a huge part in terms of inviting, not inviting, allowing and literally forbidding anyone's participation.

On one of the Thursday Ask The Matriarch - ATM - parish ministry advice columns, someone emphasized do not announce the pastor's or the pastor's wife's pregnancy as a petition in the intercessions! Many many people struggle silently with infertility and would not perceive it as good news--although on another level they would rejoice with you.

I've long been agonizing over a different kind of infertility, with soil prepared, seeds sown, rains given and received, shoots sprung up, all after a bleak long winter that apparently hasn't quite departed yet. I've written about spending time on the land and in the recurrent cycles of the liturgical year, and how they've helped me learn to trust death. To quote Ansel Adams,

Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things. Children are not only of flesh and blood—children may be ideas, thoughts, emotions. The person of the one who is loved is a form composed of a myriad mirrors reflecting and illuminating the powers and thoughts and the emotions that are within you, and flashing another kind of light from within. No words or deeds may encompass it.

Without social context writing and creating has become close to impossible. A few years ago I told someone I was delighted that I got back to writing, and I know that happened because of the online theology forums I started participating in 10+ years ago. Right now my cry and my question is about how to find local community that will want to get to know me? It's not simply a matter of style; assumptions and insecurities of peeps who already are there come hugely into the picture. For sure the feeling and reality of "uprooted" tends to be in the late 20^th, early 21^st centuries, even for people who, unlike many of us, have lived in the same geographical place and in a similar culture.

It's one thing accurately to state most of the theology I do will be online, but real life is lived locally. The online stuff can be wonderful, but it's an addition to the real thing. Clearly I'm an idealist in some ways, but at this stage I am way far beyond seeking any semblance of ideal and happily will embrace a workable reality.

odds & ends friday 5

2012-01-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

Today Sally hosts odds and ends 5 and asks, even in the busyness of the week what has:

1. Colour, pattern, line and design continue to inspire me. I've been updating my suntreeriver design blog and truly enjoying my own creativity.

2. I'm still tremendously challenged by the absence of real life local community and ministry opps and by the lack of human connections who might be able to suggest options and let others know about my needs, background and abilities.

3. After a couple weeks of chilly weather, warmer, longer days have been making me smile.

4. The political insanities in the pre-presidential race in the USA have made me cross and made me need (not just want) to weep.

5. Remembering past experiences of God's faithfulness in spite of me and in spite of everyone else too has kept me going again... scripture constantly encourages - commands! - us to remember and as Walter Bruggemann says, "It all depends on a memory."

Thanks, Sally!

awakening your 5 senses

2012-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ways to reconnect, or maybe truly connect for the first time—with God, nature and self...a workshop and a book! some related sites:

Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God - website

Awaken Your Senses on Amazon

Beth Booram

Brent Bill

To help more of us experience more of the Divine, to be more present to everything in our surroundings and to ourselves throughout each entire day, Beth Booram and Brent Bill offer a handbook of their own stories, reflections, and exercises for activating more of the creative, intuitive right side of the brain and living more fully through tasting, seeing, touching, hearing and smelling. Since God engages us as whole people with bodies, spirits, senses, intellects and histories, to move closer to a "self-disclosing God," we need to engage that wholeness. We cannot do without the more familiar (to most of us), intellectual aspects of faith, but scripture study, prayer, activism and worship are only part of a multi-dimensional experience. A quote from Marcel Proust, "Not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes [noses, ears, skin, tastebuds]" describes a goal of praying, playing, feeling, and working through this book.

Brent and Beth alternate writing each of the short chapters within each larger section titled after one of the five human senses; each chapter begins with a thematic superscription, most often scripture verses, occasionally from a well-known author. The authors' own stories easily relate to regular everyday lives and for the most part, you can do the exercises for each emphasis in the context of your ongoing journey, or you can set aside a time and place to concentrate on one or more that especially appeals to you. I'm not sure I'd have used the word exercise, but it may be an apt one for the kind of practice that gradually leads to near-mastery and I can't think of a better one right now. Some might enjoy taking 30 consecutive days or more (I'm thinking the liturgical seasons of approximately month-long Advent or the 6 weeks of Lent) and making Awaken Your Senses a life- and world-improvement project. Each activity helps ground us in our bodily sensuousness and in the gifts of creation.

It's very true that a tremendous amount of what we plan to do and then do in the course of any day necessarily is future-oriented; for a multitude of reasons, considerations of the past also are essential, but I love the observation that our senses bring us straightaway into real time. There's a feeling of Sabbath, of simply being, drinking in and savoring who you've become thus far in living more fully with - and trusting - your senses! You find yourself smack dab in this very moment, ceasing any thoughts of any of the past, quieting worries or even plans for the future, releasing anxieties about the here and now when you "relax into observing details."

Additional resources for sensory awakening, acknowledgments, contact information and endnotes conclude the book.

my amazon review: awakening your 5 senses

movies friday 5

2012-01-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

Today Jan hosts movies 5. This is a quick, easy play for me, since in general I don't do fiction, film, legitimate theater or cinema--I know, surprising since I am sooooo theological and I know I'm missing out on lots of crappy junk and a lot of sublime interpretive experiences, too.

Thinking of movie-watching, what do you prefer?

1. At home or a theater is fine, depending on the cleanness and ambiance of the theater and related complex. The larger screen is good, too, but never ever movie food (for many reasons) and at home you can pause and restart as well as get food from the kitchen. Short answer: both/and.

2. I'll go with anyone willing to accompany me (I'd be almost embarrassed to say when I last took myself to a movie) since going to the theater always is at someone's suggestion.

3. Right no there's no particular movie I look forward to seeing, but I go for beautiful natural, wilderness, and urban visuals rather than narrative, meaning or consummate acting, so invite me and I'll tag along with you--really!

4. The only two movies I've gone back to the cinema to see again, rented and back in the day actually bought (but haven't considered updating to DVD) were Joy Luck Club and White Nights.

5. For food with a movie, if I'm at home or in someone's place probably none, none ever whatsoever in the theater, but a savory or sweet snack or substantial meal afterwards always rings true.

paradox, hope and revival

2012-01-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

For this first synchroblog ot 2012, Provoketive Magazine is featuring a a synchroblog on hope.

Here's this Paradox, Hope and Revival post on Provoketive.

Hope is the synchroblog theme for this first month of the new year and as I talk about what gives me hope, how I keep returning to hope despite evidence and experience, why not begin by introducing myself for my first post on provoketive?

A few weeks ago a Facebook friend status updated asking about our identity. Mine? I am a daughter of the church, claimed by God in baptism. And I added, "now what?" Last Wednesday evening I let myself into the dark church building to prepare for playing liturgy for our celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. As I always do, I walked toward the entry way and the baptismal font and as always, I signed myself with the cross. What gives me hope? I am baptized, sealed with the sign of the cross forever. Being baptized means an identity and lifestyle shaped according to the contours, demands and relentless grace of the gospel that seeks justice, freedom and shalom for all creation. It is life sourced from Word and Sacrament, modeled by the order of creation, the actions and words of the prophets, the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ.

What gives me hope? That in choosing, claiming and trusting me in baptism, God has brought me into an ecumenical community that is supposed to be home wherever I journey, that is supposed to hold me accountable. In his song "The Ark," from City to City, Gerry Rafferty sings, "We’ll take the road that leads down to the waterside // And set out on the journey // Find a ship to take us on the way. // And we’ll sail out on the water // we’ll meet out on the water // Where are all strangers are known."

I prepared for a life of service to church and world, and surprisingly found myself on the other side of mainstream culture and on the subverse of mainline church for longer than I'd anticipated. In the above paragraph I made a couple of transparent comments about what the summoned assembly of forgiven sinners is "supposed" to be and do, and that simply doesn't always or even often happen.

Abram was an ivri, a Hebrew, someone from the other side. In Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter the God from the exceedingly "other side," who even arrived on earth in a manner very "other" from usual expectations and spent most of his life and ministry on the other side of - or at least on the edges of - established religious and social systems, accredited authorities and conventional cultural boundaries. During his brief public ministry, Jesus invited everyone to become part of his insider circle. In my own baptism, has God not called me to live as an outsider to politely authorized, tamed, predictable structures of most kinds? Is that not how the Body of Christ is supposed to be and to live? As an insider to the way of Jesus?

What brings me hope? Sacraments and liturgy are ways to remember who I am and Whose I am. The eucharistic liturgy that retells and re-enacts the history of salvation brings me into an ordered place within those arrays. Like water in the font, bread on the table, wine in the cup, I am an organic part of creation, birthed out of the substance of earth, sky, sea and air. Liturgy and sacraments remind me that God's presence is not something far off, invisible and unattainable; it's as close to us, as sensibly (smell, taste, touch, vision, hearing) apparent and as paradoxical as water, bread and wine, as the neighbor next door, the colleague at the next computer.

I've found myself on the other side of mainline church and midstream society for a painfully long while. But isn't the covenanted community supposed to be an upside down image of prevailing economic, political (and ecclesiastical) realities? Is it not supposed to challenge and subvert the status quo? Is it not supposed to live counter-culturally to the prevailing culture of consumerism and objectification? "The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World" is one of the PC(USA)'s Great Ends of the Church. The worldview of the bible is open-ended, no longer the endless, predictable recycling of the same thing, yet there is a sense of constancy, of divine design and purpose to the order of nature and creation. Similar to the way hue shifts, layer styles, filters and effects reveal previously unseen aspects of an image I'm editing, the Holy Spirit edits, styles, filters, re-colors and reformats people, communities, and institutions and brings prophetic promises and broken hopes to life. In large part because of the continued liveliness of the Church, the Christ and the Spirit are active in the world.

So I'm hoping to emerge from my current location and back into the embrace of the called-out, covenanted community because I know I cannot do life on my own, cannot revive and reformat my own life; that only can come to me as gift. God has claimed me in baptism; I am a daughter of the church.

Other January Synchroblog Participants on Provoketive and their home blogs:

• The Trouble With Hope // John Ptacek

• Hope = Possibility x Imagination // Wayne Rumsby

• Little Reminders // Mike Victorino

• Where Is My Hope // Jonathan Brink

• Hope for Hypocrites // Jeremy Myers

• Now These Three Remain // Sonny Lemmons

• Perplexed, But Still Hopeful // Carol Kuniholm

• A Hope that Lives // Amy Mitchell

• Generations Come and Generations Go // Adam Gonnerman

• Demystifying Hope // Glenn Hager

• God in the Dark: On Hope // Renee Ronika Klug

• Keeping Hope Alive // Maurice Broaddus

• Are We Afraid to Hope? // Christine Sine

• On Wobbly Wheels, Split Churches and Fear // Laura Droege

• Adopting Hope // Travis Klassen

• Hope is Held Between Us // Ellen Haroutunian

• Hope: In the Hands of the Creatively Maladjusted // Mihee Kim-Kort

• Good Theology Saves // Reverend Robyn

• Linear: Never Was, Never Will Be // Kathy Escobar

• Better Than Hope // Liz Dyer

• Caroline for Congress: Hope for the Future // Wendy McCaig

• Fumbling the Ball on Hope // KW Leslie

• Content to Hope // Alise Wright

• Hope: Oh, the Humanity! // Deanna Ogle

5 recommendations

2012-01-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

recommendation 5 hosted by revkjarla, because she's inundated with requests to write recommendations for future camp counselors, though this 5 has almost zero to do with camps and conferences.

For my first blog post and first Friday 5 of 2012, here are today's 5 recommendations:

1. a favorite worship resource or devotional book, Reflections for Ragamuffins: Daily Devotions from the Writings of Brennan Manning. A single page or less for each day, always something relevant for the current time, place and condition.

2. for a blog I like that others might enjoy, Idube Game Reserve is the most active of several I enjoy from the Sabi Sands, Wildtuin, South Africa. I particularly love following the individual leopards of Sabi Sands Game Reserve; several have their own facebook pages.

3. a fiction book recommendation is a tough one for me, since I read so little fiction, but I'll go with a classic, Light in August by William Faulkner. As someone southern-born, in many ways I resonate with the humanity, complexity and brokenness of Faulkner's characters, but more than anything, I adore his writing.

4. for a favorite recipe/cooking site, I'll highly recommend one of several blogs from Trisha, a friend from A Former City I recently reconnected with (yay, facebook!): food.

5. it's bloggers' choice! Make a recommendation for anything! Of course I'll give a shoutout to my Facebook design page, suntreeriver design. I know lots of peeps from this ring have officially become fans, or "Likers," and I realize a few folks aren't on facebook or don't really do facebook, so given that reality, a second shoutout to my closely related design blog, suntreeriver design on blogspot. Sun, Tree and River are persistent biblical images...

covenant prayer

2011-12-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

Covenant Prayer From John Wesley's Covenant Service, 1780

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
... exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

still waiting for redemption...

2011-12-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

Jesus is here and I'm still waiting for redemption, yes I am! Plus, as I pulled together some scattered thoughts and notes, I realized most of them would work better for another, separate blog, possibly during early epiphany. Absolutely for sure I have a lot to say about ways following Jesus leads us into places and situations we wouldn't have guessed, and truly hope to do so soon.

Christmas synchroblog on wordpress and some [serving] suggestions:

"And Jesus doesn't always give us what we expect either. We welcome him as a cute little baby but if we continue to journey with him, we soon realize that he wants to turn our world upside down. A child born in a stable is much easier to cope with than a revolutionary leader. This month's synchroblog is centered around the unexpected consequences of our journey with Jesus. Where has it led us that we never anticipated? In what ways has it really turned our world upside down?"

Moving from my advent blog, gifts from the ground; hope for the earth to realizing even before the liturgical and popular celebrations of Jesus' birth on 24 and 25 December we've long known so much beyond the fulfillment of the Advent texts we've been hearing...

Before a baby arrives, we usually have a clue about the baby's parents, about some of their other relatives along with their backgrounds and experiences; we have more than a hint about the baby's geographical place on the planet along with their social and cultural milieu. Despite the quantifiable info, there's so much we don't know about ways that baby become child become teenager and then adult will engage the world, make a name in the news or on the street or possibly fade into oblivion. On the surface, the life of Jesus of Nazareth is pretty much parallel to almost anyone else's in that time and place. You know the narrative!

To quote from my Advent blog, "Though it's common to hear Christianity referred to as 'spiritual' practice, the way of Jesus is heavily economic, highly political and hardly ascetic in its celebration of gifts from the ground, in its perspective that insists on the interdependence of all life, in its historical affirmation of human sexuality and in its charge to care for all creation..."

Maybe especially though for sure hardly exclusively, as church bodies that grew out of the Reformation, we engage the public square and live as political, cultural and economic beings every bit as fully in the world as within the gathered assembly of the church. It's not solely "Jesus and me" but more expansively "Jesus and me in the world and for the world!" from Advent 2B: "...in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." 2 Peter 3:13

Unexpected consequences of my journey with Jesus? Like Jesus, I was born into linear time and measurable geography. Forget about Christmas 2011--have I been getting what I expected? No, hardly in the least. I prepared for a life of service to church and world, expecting to participate in the economic, political and not ascetic way of Jesus that celebrates all creation; academically and practically I prepared to engage the public square, to challenge and maybe subvert the status quo; I expected to live at least somewhat counter-culturally. I knew the road would be rocky, but never expected to journey alone for so many years and fully expected eventually to come out on the other side of death into a relatively broad space where my participation would be welcomed and valued.

At the end of my Advent synchroblog, I mentioned "a world that cries out for cooperation, interdependence and redemption." Will no one cooperate with, depend upon me, so I might be redeemed, bought back into the land of the living? How else can we live but with each other? How else will I live again?

other synchroblog participants:

• Glenn Hager, Breathe, Underwear for Christmas

• Jeremy Myers, Till He Comes, Unexpected Gifts from Jesus

• Tammy Carter, Blessing the Beloved, Unstuck

• Jeff Goins, GoinsWriter, Day After Christmas

• Wendy McCaig, Unwanted gifts...

• Christine Sine, GodSpace, The Wait Is Over - What Did I Get?

• M Kettleson, The Real Journey, Following the Baby We Just Celebrated

• Kathy Escobar, pain relief not pain removal

• Ellen Haroutunian, Jesus came, did you get what you expected?...

• Carol Kuniholm, Words Half Heard, What the Magi Found

• Sally Coleman, Eternal Echoes, unexpected...

to-do list friday 5

2011-12-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

to-do list Friday 5

Jan hosts again today and like me she doesn't "...have church services to plan, but there is much left to be done." In addition, she knows, "No matter how organized you are, there must be some things you still need to do. For this Friday Five, tell us five things on your Christmas 'To Do' List. Include anything you have decided to skip doing this year. As a bonus, give us something that helps you remember why this season even exists."

1. I need to display a few more Christmas decorations like this Nauset Lighthouse at Christmas; so far the only one is the starry lights I won a few years ago at Presbyterian bingo that always goes in one of the front windows.

2. I'm trying to remember that it doesn't need to be like this...

3. I've been noticing Salvation Army commercials on tv (not sure if they're locally specific or not) and for sure those people remind me of myself. I'm thinking of trying to connect with the local Salvation Army and try to get some services that will help me stand and walk again, though that likely would be an after Christmas endeavor.

4. Start playing some fave Christmas music CDs again very very soon! A couple weeks ago I began listening evenings to local KyXy radio when I've been home and really enjoy their selections, especially "Mary, Did You Know?"

5. Trying not to count the years, but instead still be amazed at my accomplishments in so many areas despite everything.

bonus To remember the why of this season, I only need to be aware that in the northern hemisphere we're approaching the darkest, shortest days, and the darker it is, the better to notice and appreciate even the tiniest light.

random 5

2011-12-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

At the stroke of midnight revkjarla posted today's random 5, "I invite you share five random things about you, or five random thoughts, or five random surprises in your life." Here's my play:

1. I'm astonished at my abilities to survive and produce quality art and theology despite everything. Oh, of course, I always perform well in public at the drop of a hint, so that one's no surprise, but musical performances do not depend on my own creativity and inner resourcefulness as writing and designing do. As I observed on facebook yesterday, Oprah pointed out to a teenager long ago that no one can do life on their own. Your abilities, dreams, desires and hard work matter not at all, without that others, those others, community and context it's all a no go.

2. I'm surprised to find myself both in the usual countdown to winter solstice (you know how quickly the days seem to get longer with more sunshine!) plus actually enjoying the shorter days and happy to be in an unusual southern californian chill as well as a cool, dry Santa Ana. The stereotypical Santa Ana condition features high winds, low humidity and very high ambient temps. I love celebrating the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun followed by the birth of the Sun of Righteousness a few days later.

3. I'm trying to keep this positive, but the trend of ignoring emails, phone calls, snail mail and other inquiries that once was considered a southern california habit (as in "I'll chillax at this job until surf's up and then I am soooo out of here") seems to have extended to everyone, everywhere and that does surprise me.

4. Although I knew there would be exceptions and way back when during the showdown between our church council and the judicatory staff if you'd asked me closely I'd have admitted there would be many exceptions, I remain astonished at my ongoing inability to connect with opps related to my background (gifts, education, experience), esp since for the most part I've simply tried plugging into existing ministries.

5. I played Friday 5 today, yay!

faith, order & witness opening prayer

2011-11-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

today I offered this prayer to open our Faith, Order and Witness meeting

Holy God, whose Spirit of Life pervades all creation, again you have called us together as a small segment of the church in this county and as people longing for essential unity in Christ yet aware of our denominational differences and distinctions.

Recently we celebrated the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ and look forward to another journey through Advent and into Christmas and on from there. In some ways we think we already now "what's next," we think we've been there a few times before, yet we also acknowledge you as God of astonishing surprises, including the ultimate surprise of resurrection from the grave.

May our prayerful efforts to understand each others histories and perspectives in this tiny, remnant-style group act as small stones cast into a large pond whose ripples reach out to bring others in.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen!

gifts from the ground; hope for the earth

2011-11-29T13:51:00.000-08:00

This is part of the more-or-less monthly synchroblog series.

Advent synchroblog on wordpress and what's going on: "To begin Advent we are exploring ideas that are encompassed in "Jesus Is Coming: What Do You Expect?" ... What are we expecting? How will it impact our lives and our faith?"

I really really appreciate getting a writing (or designing) prompt, something a little more specific than "Advent again!" or "Lectionary Year B again!" and wondering how our expectations might influence and make a mark in our lives and world feels just right. You can read the scriptures on textweek and elsewhere.

The texts for lectionary year B - Mark's year again - are about [God's!] faithfulness and about restoration; about transgression and redemption; about covenant and place. Images of personified nature in action, apocalyptic visions and unconventional human pregnancies. When we're pondering secular history, interpreting the past through the present - historicism - is bad form, but we interpret promises and events in scripture through the present literally all the time. During advent we hear about preparations and predictions and although we already know Jesus was born and Jesus still is here, what does it mean to live as people of hope, people once again awaiting God's promised presence in this early 21^st century year 2011? From scripture, from Jesus of Nazareth's ministry and from God's grace-filled, Spirit-enabled call to the Church, we know nature is not the backdrop, nor is it the stage, the arena or even the means of God's action and self-revelation; in many ways nature is an actor and an end in itself.

The Feast of the Nativity, the first in the trilogy of great trinitarian celebrations with Easter (redemption) and Pentecost (sanctification) to follow is "The" supreme celebration of Creation. Christmas gifts ideally are gifts of creation: cookies; quick breads; pickled herring; mulled wine; homemade candles; hand knit scarves and sweaters. Considering Judaism's and Christianity's affirmation and celebration of the body and of the natural, phenomenological world, is it surprising (or is it possibly not at all surprising?) that at nativity-tide we acknowledge a newborn infant essentially formed from the substance of the same earth that grows crops to nourish us and that's closely related to other animals, "animate beings," that give yarn for knitting, help fertilize the ground, land that grows trees that shade, that gift us with lumber to make houses and shopping centers... we read scripture backwards and realize this baby named "Jesus - Save!" is the start of the New Creation!

Though it's common to hear Christianity referred to as "spiritual" practice, the way of Jesus is heavily economic, highly political and hardly ascetic in its celebration of gifts from the ground, in its perspective that insists on the interdependence of all life, in its historical affirmation of human sexuality and in its charge to care for all creation--in sacramental theology we even speak of the capacity of the finite to contain the infinite! Advent marks the start of a brand-new liturgical year and in these advent texts we again discover nature and the created environment are not the theater of God's revelation, not the stage of history, but integral to God's actions in history.

from Advent 2B: "...in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." 2 Peter 3:13

from Advent 4B: ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place ... 2 Samuel 7

The Feast of the Nativity, the first in order of the trilogy of great trinitarian celebrations with Easter (redemption) and Pentecost (sanctification) to follow is "The" supreme liturgical celebration of Creation; historically Christmas gifts have been gifts of creation.

What now? What do I expect and what am I planning to do for the start of this new liturgical year? How can I live in hope for the earth and for those who make earth their dwelling-place? I'm doing what I can to make my gifts this nativitytide not only gifts of creation but gifts for creation. Like someone trying to sort through accumulated notes, texts, papers and related from a few hundred years of school (that does sound autobiographical?) or similar to doable advice from cognitive behavioral therapy, I'm starting small. Loving where I am and showing it by consuming as little as possible, buying local, bartering goods and services rather than exchanging currency whenever possible. A couple loaves of bread in exchange for a pair of knit mittens? A locally sourced, home-cooked meal for clean windows?

Nature is no more spectator than humans are! In sacramental theology we speak of the capacity of the finite to contain the infinite… whether your theology considers baptism an ordinance or a sacrament, it can't happen without clean, flowing water. Whatever your theology of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, it cannot happen without fertile soil, unfiltered sun, farmers and vintners and bakers, potters and speakers of the word.

I'm starting small this year, by giving gifts of creation to a world that cries out for cooperation, interdependence and redemption.

other participants include
• ron cole at the weary pilgrim – advent: reimagining everything
• liz dyer at grace rules – expect the unexpected
• sarah styles bessey at emerging mummy – in which i’m expecting something from advent
• mix melly at perchance to dream – parousia
• kathy escobar at the carnival in my head – present, humble, vulnerable
• David Perry at Visual Theology – Advent As A Mirror of Possibility
• Christine Sine at Godspace – Jesus Is Coming What Do We Expect?
• Liz VerHage at Living Theology
• Sally Coleman at Sally's Journey – Come Spirit of Advent
• Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – Jesus Is Returning Today
• Glenn Hager – Antithetical Advent
• Tammy Carter at Blessing The Beloved – His Gift … the way of escape!
• Ellen Haroutunian – Remember Our Story
• Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heard – What I'm Waiting For
• Mihee Kim-Kort – Advent Expectations: Keep Awake
• Wendy McCaig – We’re Expecting A Baby
• John Reid at Blog One Another – Undiscovered Advent: The Second Coming of Christ
• Dave Wainscott – For Advent I'm Expecting What I Desire and What I Deserve
• David Henson – Reflections on the Second Sunday of Advent
• K.W. Leslie at More Christ – The need for Advent
• david perry at visualtheology – word, life space and enlightenment

It is good to give thanks...

2011-11-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

"It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
To tell of your loving kindness early in the morning
and of your faithfulness in the night season;
On the psaltery and on the lyre
and to the melody of the harp.
For you have made me glad by your acts, O Lord;
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.

"It is good, it is good, it is good, to give thanks to the Lord on high
To sing of Your faithfulness and loving kindness both day and night
To play on our instruments sweet songs of praise for the things You do
It is good, it is good, it is good, to give thanks to You."

"It Is Good," Psalm 92 by Ron Kenoly

│◥███◣ ╱◥███◣
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│╱◥█◣║∩∩∩ ║◥█▓ ▓█◣
││∩│ ▓ ║∩田│║▓ ▓ ▓∩ ║
♥•°*”˜˜”*°• From our house to your house •°*”˜˜”*°•♥
♥•°*”˜˜”*°•Happy Thanksgiving to Family and Friends•°*”˜˜”*°•♥

Reign of Christ: Eucharistic Prayer

2011-11-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

disclaimer: I wrote this more than four years ago and I've posted it with no changes or revisions.

• The Lord be with you.
• And also with you.
• Lift up your hearts.
• We lift them to the Lord.
• Let us give thanks to God.
• It is right to give both thanks and praise!

Holy God, Mighty Lord, Renewer of Creation and Bringer of Joy,
endless are your mercies and unending your grace!
Maker of stars and Giver of dreams,
it is privilege indeed to acclaim and adore you!

At the dawn of time your Word spoke order out of chaos and disorder, and brought beauty into your glorious light;

You formed humanity in your image and drew us into covenant with you; you called us to be your reconciling Presence in the world.

When we strayed from your path and fled from your presence, choosing idols and intellect rather than Spirit and Freedom, you led us through the wilderness into a country flowing with your extravagant supply.

When rebellion against your righteous law broke us once again, you would not let this world remain shattered, and in Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, born under the law, you lived among us.

You baptized us with water, with fire and with your Spirit;
and sent Bread from Heaven to keep us wholly alive.

Therefore, in celebration with the people of God in all the ages, with all creation and with the angelic hosts of heaven, we sing:

Holy are you, God of Majesty and Awe,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Redeemer and Lord.

Leaving the boundlessness of heaven,
he came to earth, experiencing doubt, betrayal and abandonment
yet bearing the weight of sin and separation,
he carried us into the liberty of your grace.

Bound to the tree of shame on Calvary's Hill,
shedding his innocent blood, he sealed the covenant between heaven and earth.

Broken and dying for all creation's sake
rising to new life from the bondage of the tomb
he delivered us from sin and death,
creating in our inmost hearts the new creation promised by your prophets.

Remembering Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection,
with the Church in every place and every time, we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again!
On the night of betrayal and desertion, our Lord Jesus took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way after supper, he also took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again in glory.

Giver of the journey and Bestower of the gifts,

Send down your Spirit of holiness and transformation,
and sanctify these gifts of bread and cup uniting us to all creation in every place and in every time.

Send down upon this assembly of your creation and redemption – and upon the world – your Spirit of life and renewal;

Calm our anxieties and quiet our fears.

Make us bearers of your grace
that we may be your reconciling embrace for the world, reclaiming, restoring and transforming all creation into the reign of heaven on earth.

Then, at last, when endless morning comes,
when all brokenness is whole and holy,
when all creation once again redeemed,
with all the saints of every time and place
as the family of God in Jesus Christ we will gather around heaven's Welcome Table,

we will sing alleluias to you,
through Jesus Christ, crucified and Risen
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
endlessly into eternity, amen!
forever and ever,

Amen!

© Leah Chang

t-day 5

2011-11-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Since next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day USA, today Jan hosts 5 about giving thanks

1. I hope again to be a little north of here with my friend and neighbor's family of origin.

2. For T-Day-related family traditions or memories , I'll go with "memories." Over my adult years I've experienced many church social hall Thanksgiving feasts, including 2 or 3 times I volunteered to provide background piano music for the community thanksgiving in a nearby beach town. In High Desert City I did a cooperative thanksgiving with neighbors in my apt complex.

3. Last year we had classically traditional turkey, stuffing/dressing, gravy, fabulous mashed potatoes, cranberries and pies. Over the years I've become accustomed to a few ethnic dishes gathered around the Big Bird such as lasagna and ricotta pie when I lived in an Italian-American neighborhood, Soul Food in the inner city, comida Mexicana in the Southwest... but I like it any way.

4. I'm not trying anything new for T-day since I won't be in charge of the happenings but I am trying lots of new things otherwise and in the interest of blogging this won't list thsoe here and now.

5. As of now weather next Thursday is forecast as sunny bright, high of 68, low of 54 for the coast, typically warmer inland, with various permutations for desert and mountains, the other two of our four local micro-climates.

Bonus: For a "Prayer, poem, song, or whatever you choose to exemplify your image of Thanksgiving (giving thanks)" it's always, always, "We Gather Together" sung to Kremser... wonderful memories of singing it in New England, "Let thy congregation escape tribulation..." and serendipitously one Sunday morning at the Roman Catholic St Bavo in Haarlem. Seems as if it's been a late November favorite wherever I've lived.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA and territories, Happy next Thursday, wherever you are and thanks, Jan, welcome back!

All Saints' Images

2011-11-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

I realize these 1^st and 2^nd lections aren't the RCL texts, but they are LBW and that sometimes differs a little.

Isaiah 26:1-4; 8-9; 12-13; 19-21

Revelation 21:9-11; 22-27; (22:1-5)

Matthew 25:1-12

friends friday 5

2011-11-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today kathrynzj hosts time with friends 5... would you believe this topic creates a firestorm in me?! But I'm playing anyway! intro:

For today's Friday Five please tell us 5 things you like to do with friends. Are they local - do you hit a favorite coffee shop or nail salon? What about the friends who come in from out of town? Do you have a restaurant or museum you like to show off?

Real vs. ideal keeps meeting me face-to-face (hitting me over the head); since I'm still trying hard to reweave social and professional networks and still trusting both will happen when I'm not looking, here's a list of what I used to do and would like to do again. BTW, as many excuses as I make for this being Southern California and the 21^st century, those factors must be only minor, since all around me in real life and in online comments and status updates I observe people socializing with friends and living a life not too dissimilar to the way mine used to be. In sage green, here's my 5:

1. Lunch has gotta be first on the list, preferably at a nice but affordable sit-down restaurant, but Mexican fast food will do in a $$$ pinch.

2. An afternoon at the beach. Walking along the shore in cooler weather, talking and snacking under an umbrella or in a cabaña in summer months or early autumn.

3. A day at the zoo or safari park, formerly wild animal park.

4. Anza-Borrego State Park: the desert again, maybe especially when and if it's in glorious bloom, but always at other times to be stripped clean and to know beneath its bleak, crazed beauty life teams, sometimes unseen and not perceived, but remembered, re-called, and trusted.

5. I'm longing to have peeps in my life again who'll simply stop by my place and will be excited about helping me pick out my entry to the next art show, willing to read and comment on my recent theology blog, my latest thrift store find.

What people tend to hear me say is I'm not getting the ministry opps I crave and need, and I'm definitely not, though those were starting to reweave and regenerate a few years ago but then dropped off into a bottomless abyss. Something I can do about the situation is to get out of rationalization and denial...? Spending days, months, years and now decades without real life friends is similar to being without nutritious food. As persistently and wisely as I claim and rejoice in the sacraments and the liturgy that connect me with the whole people of God in every place and time, that simply is not enough. I feel brittle but I know I'm too tough to really break.

Thanks, Kathryn; peace, world!

what lifts you? 5

2011-10-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today Sally hosts an easy and quick what lifts you 5.

"Serving Suggestions" from Sally "...I'd like you to share 5 things:

1. A Scripture: it might be a verse or a whole book! Lots and lots come to mind right away, but for right now I'll choose Revelation 22:1-5 and Colossians 1, 1:17b, "In Christ all things hold together."

2. A piece of music: Something like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... just as for scripture, I could list a couple dozen, but energetic, not-too-serious and danceable is the general style.

3. A place: the beach and the desert and the inner city that carry within them the history of this planet, the history of many people and the power to remind me I belong.

4. A person/ group of people: the assembly gathered around Word and Sacrament... that's been sustaining me during these too many bleak years. A fun party with great food, thirst-quenching drink and intelligent conversation is a close second.

5. something you do: "Designing!" On my facebook page and other places I've quoted from an ad for papers and boards I found in an old design or trade mag, "In the beginning...a small bell chimed. Creativity! It chimes like a small clear bell at the heart of the human spirit..." and it still does!

Have a wonderful Reformation Sunday or Pentecost 20!

energetic anatomy

2011-10-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

Energetic Anatomy by Mark Rich on Amazon

Having this book come my way after I agreed to review it for the author has to be a serendipitous event! I could describe this discussion and application of the human energy system (HES) as east meets west meets east, as an integration or re-integration of traditional, indigenous, tribal and folk ways into contemporary, over-rationalized western life, a combining of natural and spiritual--it is all that and more.

I've been slow writing a review because Energetic Anatomy is full of descriptions and actual ways of helping heal your own body, emotions, spirit and psyche and at the same time helping heal your own corner of the universe and I knew I needed to read through and work through the illustrations, explanations, exercises the author provides. However, doing so will take a long time, and given that I expect to live with this book and learn from it for years to come, I'm posting this review now.

Mark Rich inscribed my copy, "Live in wealth, health and love!" and I hope to begin doing so soon. I'm not imagining a single handbook of 150 pages holds all the answers to everything, but everything I've read so far will help heal mind, body, emotions and ultimately relationships with others and with the earth.

The book is a convenient size to hold and heft, but I wish it were set in a larger type face. It includes a comprehensive index and a list of additional resources for those seeking them.

my amazon review: more than auras and chakras, more than east meets west

blog action day 2011: food!

2011-10-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

This year Blog Action Day happens on world food day, and I'm doing some terra firma theology for the event. In scripture, terra firma on which we and other land creatures spend most of our earthbound lives and where our food is grown by ourselves or by others also is tierra santa - holy land. For this post I easily could draw upon a lot of posts from this blog, since most of my theology is theology of creation, theology of the land, the God and the people who live physically, emotionally and conceptually attached to the gift of land.

Last year for the topic of water I wrote, "As Christians we are People of the Book that begins with waters of the first creation and ends with rivers of the new, a book in which water is a persistent image." In the Hebrew scriptures the journey into the land...into the land...into the land forms an incessant theme; the garden of the first creation ultimately becomes the city of the new creation that begins in the garden of resurrection. From the earliest Pentateuch source we read about God forming the first human from the dirt of the ground and naming him A-dam, after that dirt. Later on the New Testament shows us the new Adam, Jesus of Nazareth, who reveals the divine to us most fully and completely, and like the first Adam is born out of the stuff of the earth.

In the book of Genesis in the Old Covenant scriptures, we read about Joseph's brothers betraying him and selling him into Egypt. After he spends time in prison, Joseph becomes a community leader and sits in authority at the right hand of the Egyptian pharaoh; from that position he helps distribute life-restoring grain to a hungry people. In the gospel accounts in the New Covenant Scriptures, we read about Jesus of Nazareth, who like Joseph is sold and betrayed into the ultimate prison, the ultimate bondage of death and is resurrected to new life before ascending to sovereignty at the "right hand" of God. From there, like Joseph, through his followers he has charged to be his continued presence on earth Jesus distributes life-giving grain to a starving world.

Water was the subject of last year's Blog Action Day and this year it's food! The faith and practice tradition I follow celebrates both water and bread as central to our understanding of God's gracious actions and presence in the world.

Early in the pages of scripture, God gives plants and trees and seeds for food and commands the people to care for and steward the land and the rest of creation. Central to the formation of Israel is the divine promise of deliverance from slavery and that the people would be led to a land "flowing with milk and honey," a place with pomegranates, figs, olives, vineyards, a land they would cultivate and steward in freedom rather than in grueling slavery. Scripture gives human creatures a place within the created order and a call to steward, maintain, treasure and support the rest of creation; the commandments that relate human creatures one to another and to all creation are critical for the planet's survival. The Creator God covenants with all creation, and as creatures in God's image, so do the people of God.

Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. Deuteronomy 8:6-11

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has no national or cultural boundaries; it is "good news" of victory of life over death for all creation, yet the good news must becomes incarnate, embodied and enfleshed within particular local cultures. In the church eating events are commonplace and have achieved close to a level of caricature. Potlucks, Christmas Teas, Ice Cream Socials, Barbecues on the Bay, monthly Friday evening parties or potlucks...

Through its witness, scripture brings humanity a call to help initiate justice and redemption for all creation and an ultimate vision of the eschatological feast in which the entire earth is healthy and restored, living in mutual covenantal dependence. The Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist - sometimes simply referred to as "the sacrament" - is the proleptic, preliminary yet full realization of the time of redemption of all creation. It's a vernacular meal and a nutritious one! The eucharist is slow food, it's cooperatively grown and produced food, it is nourishing and it is memorable. Just as waters and rivers become holy water in baptism, in the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, solid earth, terra firma, becomes holy land, tierra santa.

Scripture moves from the waters of the old creation to the rivers of the new; the narrative of scripture moves from the garden of the first creation to the city of the new creation. That "end time" of the no more of cycles of war, violence, famine, hatred, deceit and deprivation will be a time of the fullness of redemption for all creation, not solely human creatures. The eschatological, "final things" feast of the Eucharist is sign, symbol, realization and reality of "will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" When the disciples asked Jesus that question, he told them to wait right there in Jerusalem (the center of the known world at the time) until the Spirit engulfed and engaged them with his power to enact redemption on earth. [Acts 1:6-8] The pre-exilic writer who's sometimes referred to as 1^st Isaiah, Proto-Isaiah or Isaiah of Jerusalem brought a necessary vision for whole food and covenantal living:

In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:2-4

Body of Christ, Amen!!!

twitter hash tags: #BAD11; #food

october synchroblog: down we go

2011-10-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

Synchroblog time! Here's the Wordpress blog and the Facebook event.

I'm yearning for the dignity of participating in life to an extent related to my abilities and I'm longing for the redemption of love...

On to this month's topic with introductory ideas from the page and site:

Independence. Success. Upward Mobility. Security. Comfort. In subtle and direct ways, many of have been sent a message by the world (and sometimes by the faith systems we have been part of) that life is about moving up–away from pain and suffering and toward comfort, stability, and put-togetherness. This kind of living is much different than the kind of life Jesus calls us to in the gospels. ... Jesus consistently modeled going down... into the low and messy places of people’s experiences–intersecting with the lepers, the lonely, the outcasts, the marginalized. He calls us to a life of humility, love, and interdependence. ... Where do you see Jesus calling you downward? What does it mean to you? How is your faith being stretched and challenged on the journey down? ... Are there paradoxes to be explored?

"Are there paradoxes to be explored?" I'm living in a huge paradox as I look back at the past too many years and try to fathom how I got to where I am (in terms of my level of accomplishment) and cannot imagine how I *ended* up so lonely, without opportunities and without the sense of hope Jesus' death and resurrection demonstrates and Christianity calls us to. I wonder if my heart ever will mend. Pain, hurt, loneliness and praying for death. What is hard? Almost everything, yet how many times have I told myself and anyone who'd listen for a moment that in spite of everything, in every area of endeavor I've accomplished far more than ever I'd imagined I would?

Most often I type my posts in TextEdit, which sometimes auto-corrects in embarrassing ways, sometimes in interesting ways. I thought I was typing are there paradoxes to be explored, but likely got at least one letter wrong and it changed to paradises to be explored! Given that the biblical paradise is here, now, and earthbound, I'm wishing and hoping that was a sign of the future, esp as I work through a blog for this year's Blog Action Day, with Food as the topic!

I did go "into the low and messy places of people's experiences" with trips to the plasma center, hanging at the day labor place (okay, only 2 or 3 days there, not only was it cold winter and I had to be there by 6 a.m. they had almost nothing for women), figuring out the food distribution schedule at all the charities and a long string of other fun, enlightening, not-fun and sometimes denigrating activities that I'm still here to remember. As part of an intentional plan, I'd start worshiping and hangin' out some at a local church where I'd read the bulletin and the newsletter to find ways new to me and proven by me that I could serve and contribute, and almost constantly got comments like,"it would be better if you didn't; we can't let you; someone else is going to do that; we're not going to do that; you don't want to..."

When simpler, less complex, people remind me, "God laughs at our plans," I can tell you some downward movement was good for me. For example, though I hadn't always had good jobs, I'd never had a crummy job. But God calls us to live out our baptism in community, and no, contrary to what assumptions a few folks have made, I haven't waltzed or jogged into one local church after another and announced my background, interests, qualifications and immediately started volunteering to do everything. I've taken it slow and easy, usually trying to connect with groups and activities that might interest me and where I know I could contribute. It's not at all that I need people to be my cheerleaders; it's that doing any of the activities I feel called to do require an invitation or at least permission. Even if I were someone who enjoyed playing the piano for recreation, fun and pleasure, with the years I've spent practicing, the teachers I've had, the repertoire I've learned and my sheer joy at performing for an audience, how can it be vain and idle to want to do so again? I'd love to teach art again... teach and preach again. Is it so impossible to allow and encourage me to design a few Sunday bulletin covers? I did more music and more design when I was on pastoral staff than I've done since!

Recently I've watched Amanda Knox come "home" to Seattle. She'd gone to Italy as an exchange student where instead of doing much school she was tried and convicted of a crime, incarcerated for four years and then exonerated on appeal. On the one hand I've been amazed at the amount of human support she's received, but on the other hand, no one can live alone, no one can survive without community to hold them up, to be a mirror (distorted or not) to help show them who they are... This is a military town and we frequently see homecomings and farewells as part of the news and in all this I get the message we're supposed to be attached to other people, to love them, to miss them, to be excited about seeing them again. Part of being human is to have people in your lives who are attached to and love you, who think of you and miss you when you're apart, who long to see you again and who are excited about reuniting with you whenever that happens. At almost every graduation, ordination and related event speeches thank those who've journeyed alongside the graduate, the ordinand or the politician, explaining the success, achievement, accomplishment isn't theirs along; it's shared and it's been possible because it's not been solo and solitary. Everyone has rough patches, many if not most of which fade into near-oblivion when things start improving. Downward mobility?

As scripture reveals, as the history of the people of God in every time and place demonstrate, and as this month's intro insists, God "..calls us to a life of humility, love, and interdependence." No one can be themselves without the mirror of a faithful, loving community that's not threatened, not threatening and that's unafraid to tell the truth. God calls us to live out our baptism in community and in the world; our lives begin and keep returning to the assembly gathered around Word and Sacrament. Interdependence. Jesus asked the guy by the Bethsaida pool, "Do you want to be healed?" And the guy replied, "There is no one to pick me up and put me in the pool after the angel stirs the waters." My situation exactly, and the lack of community literally has been dehumanizing. Another paradox that's both gift and not-gift is that most likely no one perceives me as someone whose life is in tatters and splinters. Of course, if someone was close enough to me, spent time enough with me and heard enough from me...!

To conclude I need again to quote from Robin and Linda Williams' "Don't Let me Come Home a Stranger":

When the ties no longer bind. Lord save me from this darkest fear
Don't let me come home a stranger
I couldn't stand to be a stranger

In this place so far from home, they know my name but they don't know me
They hear my voice, they see my face; but they can lay no claim on me...

"they know my name but they don't know me...

What does this feel like? What I imagine a cat or dog abandoned at the animal shelter and expecting a death sentence feels.

...I'm longing for the redemption of love... and I need to learn to tell my story. Amen? Amen!

Other October synchroblog participants:

Alan Knox – How Low Can You Go
Jeremy Myers – Seeking The Next Demotion
Glenn Hager – Pretty People
David Derbershire – Reaching The Inner City
Tammy Carter – Flight Plan
Leah Randall – Jacked Up
Leah Randall (her other voice) – How Low Can We Go
Liz Dyer – Beautiful Mess
Maria Anderson – Down
Christine Sine – There Is No Failure In The Kingdom of God
Leah Sophia – Down We Go
Hugh Hollowell – Downward
Kathy Escobar – We May Look Like Losers – Redux
Anthony Ehrhardt – Slumming It For Jesus
Sonja Andrews – Diversion and Distraction
Marta Layton – Down The Up Staircase
Wendy McCaig – A Material Girl

What am I Wearing?

2011-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

On Segullah, Kellie wrote about What Are You Wearing? ...and that's what I'm considering.

The site name, "Segullah" - סְגֻלָּ֔ה - in the Hebrew Bible is a valued possession, a treasure.

What's my online brief "about me" ID these days? Usually something close to "life in beta--living baptized, bringing a vision of the New Creation, shattering stereotypes, scattering ideas ... outsider theologian and insider designer: 'theology is my worldview; designing for the desert is what I do.'"

Remember "you are what you eat"? In many ways you are what you wear, at the moment you're wearing it and in the way your style often sums up a lot of your ethnic, class, economic, religious and other culture. Without much doubt your total style locates you at a time and place in history, within your own individual history and the history of your ethnic, class, economic, educational, religious (if any) and other (if any) groups. Aspirational? Sometimes! I've described my typical style as including and conveying hints of coastal, seashore, urban, retro, funky, casual, vintage, preppy, prairie... I love blue denim and more often than not I wear cargo pants or a short denim or skirt. I love hoodie sweaters and jackets; I love long skirts and long dresses, too. The color palettes of most of the clothes in my wardrobe are desert and beach hues: brights, pastels, or natural colours, never black, almost never darks. This is Southern California (didn't I mention coastal? and whenever possible I wear sandals instead of real shoes. After an African-American tradition, I always wear a silver bangle baptismal bracelet. I am what I wear: I am baptized; I am in Christ.

When I wrote about Ted Kennedy I said a little about what it means to live baptized, to wear your baptism. In that blog I explained,

baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are dressed in forgiven, sinless righteousness and each of the baptized wears a baptismal calling to a life of justice, a call to a journey to the cross if - "when" - necessary; to speaking and acting prophetically against the political, economic, social and cultural establishments. In the Spirit God calls and enables us to talk the talk and walk the walk. Figuring out and discerning a specific career path can be tough, scary and difficult, but we all receive the same baptismal call to lives of justice and equality, to living the Magnificat...Luke 1:51-55

But unless I'm dressed for church or a rare out-to-dinner or party event in a favorite dress or skirt, I'm usually in casual clothes that probably are typical for this beachside coastal desert. After all, I'm a designing, urban Californian. I wear a silver bangle bracelet that constantly helps me remember "I am baptized." Baptized into a gospel without national boundaries, a way of being and of living that can be and needs to be contextualized into local culture and expressed in local spoken languages and ethnic (class, educational, aspirational...) accent. In scripture, the Pauline and especially the deutero-Pauline movement is not from a solitary, isolated atomized individual into an undifferentiated gather Body of Christ; it's from solitary, disconnected individuality to uniqueness and particularity within the gathered Body of Christ.

What does that mean? I can wear cargos and sweater, someone else can wear dashiki or dreads, a stetson or a kilt. Whatever we wear and however we live out our baptismal call to serve wherever we find ourselves, God's call and gracious invitation to help enact justice in the world, each of us brings varying abilities - "varieties of [practical, spiritual, intellectual, creative and lots of other] gifts" - for listening, for programming, for administering, for teaching for cooking or baking; all these have a place in some places, many of them in most places. Each of these needs to be spoken - contextualized! - with a local accent!