RGBP'S FRIDAY FIVE - ROYAL WEDDING
With kathrynzj's help, here is a Royal Wedding Friday Five:

1) Will you be watching? If so, is this your first royal wedding?
Nope. Not getting up that early. Saw Diana & Prince Charles' with my
great-aunt when I was visiting my grandma in Switzerland.

2) The bride has chosen as her wedding cake a fruitcake. Where do you stand on this pastry?
Best used for a doorstop! Although, they are having the biscuit cake
as well. If it's anything like the one my nephew & his wife had at
their wedding with no flour, just chocolate, pound cake & cookies and
covered with Cadbury fingers, it will be mighty tasty! Should get that
recipe!
3) The dress code for royal weddings has not seen the same sad decline as that for most other weddings. If you could design your own royal wedding hat, what color would it be and what special decoration would it feature?
Probably sage green or a royal blue. Feathery things and a flower!

4) Any chance the Archbishop of Canterbury is using a Sustainable Sermon (tip of the mitre to the Vicar of Hogsmeade)? What would you tell the couple were you offering the homily?
Faith is a foundation for marriage and will see you through the best
and worst of times together. Love each other well. Laugh often. Be
kind and gentle with one another. Don't go to bed angry.
5) Believe it or not, kathrynzj is getting up early mostly to see the wedding dress. By the time this post is up, the world will have seen it. Did you like it?
Too much lace for me. It was pretty understated not much sparkly. I
liked that it wasn't strapless like all the gowns shown here which
is not flattering on everybody. I thought Diana's (although the train
was much too long!) was a fairy-tale princess dress and yes, dated
by today's standards. As long as the bride loved it and her prince
thought she was beautiful, that's all that really matters.

ALTERNATIVELY: If you don't want to play this, and think we are goofballs, that's okay. Instead of telling us we're goofballs, why don't you tell us something fun you're going to do this weekend. We promise to get around to visit all of you eventually!

SMILING JESUS AT TABLE -

Since we are celebrating Joy Sunday and it is the first Sunday of the month which is Communion Sunday, I thought it would be meaningful to have a picture of a smiling risen Jesus at the Emmaus table. No such luck.
When I think on that scene, breaking bread with Cleopas and follower, I can imagine the delight in Jesus's eyes and a smile on his lips, as they recognized him and he played this little surprise on them.
To all you artists out there. Consider a smiling Jesus at the Emmaus table and post it so it can be used with church power points.
Just a thought in my humble opinion.
And just for fun:
Today's gas prices are higher than a dog's hopes at a church picnic!

The Swiss are known for being scrupulously clean and efficient.
Here's proof:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/multimedia/video/Mountain_clean_up.html?cid=7319646

In the midst of Holy Week,
a wee spark I might offer and perhaps, a bit of fresh air, for the hurried and harried, and burdened.

"I stuck my head out of the window this morning and
Spring kissed me
bang in the face"
(Langston Hughes)

May not only Spring but Easter, the Resurrection, kiss us bang in the face!

RGBP'S FRIDAY FIVE -BIRTHDAYS!

Jan notes, How about you? What do you think of birthdays?

1. What are your feelings about celebrating birthdays, especially your own?
It's nice to celebrate one is still alive and kicking. Enjoy receiving
cards, the occasional gift and dinner out!

2. Do you have any family traditions about birthdays?
Growing up we used to say what we'd like for dinner. Mom cooked it.
Then there would be cake with candles and the obligatory off-key,
"Happy Birthday to you..." song!
3. Is it easy to remember friends' and family members' birthdays? If so, how do you do it?
We're not a large family so I can remember the birthdays pretty
readily. As long as I don't forget to send out the birthday card!

4. What was one of your favorite birthdays? (or your unhappiest?)
My unhappiest birthday was when I turned 7. We moved two blocks up the
same street on my birthday and I couldn't have a birthday party with
my friends. I missed out on a party, cake, and gifts. I did get my
bedroom and didn't have to share one with my sister anymore, so that
was kind of a birthday gift.
My favorite was my 50th - my sister surprised me with a cruise to the
Bahamas along with my niece. IT was fun and beautiful. Enjoyed mango
coolers on deck, walking around Nassau to the historic sites and just
having a girls' weekend while it was cold, snowy and grey in OH.

5. Post anything else you want to share about birthdays, including favorite foods, songs, and/or pictures.
Usually, LH and I just go out to dinner for our birthdays. Since he
provides my birthday cake it ends up being a Hostess chocolate
cupcake with a candle in it. No left overs, no muss, no fuss. One
year we drove to Princeton Seminary for a Con Ed class on my b-day.
Spent the entire day in the car. We hurriedly light the candle on
my cupcake and blew it out fast so as not set off the sprinkler in
the room!!!

"Longing remembrance is born when there is love and absence."
Rubem Alves

Seems this dark night of the soul is indeed about longing remembrance. Longing remembrance of God's loving presence and my spirit and God's Spirit joined as one, breathing together as one.
There is within me the imprint of the gracious love of Christ, of what has been and is now absent.
My spirit desires, longs, yearns to return to that time. Did not the disciples feel the same as they grieved and mourned the death of their Lord?
Did they not live with longing remembrance?
It seems that I will live with longing remembrance for more time to come. It hasn't really abated nor changed. A restless spirit that seeks but cannot find, though not for a lack of trying, or a lack of prayer. I keep plugging along with this longing remembrance ever a part of my heart and my being.
And I cling to that longing remembrance, as though awaiting its promise of return and a hope that cannot be fully explained.
I touch and eat bread and inhale the perfume of the wine and drink it, and although I know my Lord is present there, I am filled with longing remembrance within my soul.
I miss the joy of my salvation, my delight in the Lord, and I cannot recreate it. It must come from outside of me. It must come from God's Spirit, which cannot be controlled. So I wait, with longing remembrance, soulful, sad, hopeful despite the time it is taking. I miss the passion, the joy, the delight, in all of its fullness. I am learning how to be content with thimblefulls. But still the desire for more is there. The more I used to know and have and live within.
Perhaps, with the passion of Christ so close, perhaps, with the my time here coming to an end, and nothing new as yet on the horizon, I am grieving, and filled with longing remembrance even moreso.
There is the greening of the grass and fields, the greening of the woods, and my insides groan of the winter's bleak, brown, still unawakened landscape within me.
With longing remembrance I cling to the love I've known and had and still have, but feel not. It is lonely with the Great Silence. But I wait, and do and serve...all with longing remembrance.

You'll Forgive Me...
if I don't check in as much while running around looking and wailing like Edvard Muench's The Scream!!!!!
Not only working on Maundy Thursday with communion and Tenebrae, but also this Sunday, Palm Sunday which is also a candidate for called pastor preaching and congregational meeting date. I will also be moderating this congregational meeting. Then I am to work on Easter Sunday, Joy Sunday following that one with meetings all next week, a Mother-Daughter-Sister-Friend banquet, and a National DAy of Prayer Service thrown in for good measure.
I am making sure that the candidate looks as good as possible and the congregation is ready to move forward and I confess, I am ready to live at home again. Only I cannot rest and have to actively seek a new position. I don't even have time to update my dossier at the moment.
Exciting as the candidate is and it making for a joyous and celebratory Easter and Easter season, it will be a whirlwind of activity, not the least being, cleaning out the office, eventually and cleaning out the apartment. Uh!
I remind myself, one day at a time. That is how God has graced us, grace sufficient for each day.
I will ride off quietly into the sunset of who knows what will be next. I will need to grieve leaving this congregation as well. I have loved them and been well-loved, perhaps more than I deserve.
It will make for an interesting Holy Week!
I will most likely be here another 9 weeks, but they go in a hurry.
So, forgive me in this season of forgiveness, grace and mercy, if I am somewhat absent. I will do my best to keep my head firmly on my shoulders, and listen to the still small voice from out of the mighty blustering whirlwind of life at this time.

RGBP'S FRIDAY FIVE: QUICK PICK EDITION

I am asking for five quick picks of things that are good in your life. And as a bonus, 1 pick for a thing you could do without.
If you want to describe them? Great.

1. Jett is still with us and celebrating his 10th birthday today!!!

2. Ladies' NO. One Detective Agency DVD set, I am presently watching
and reliving the books all over again!

3. There is still some Swiss chocolate left and one bag of Milk Chocolate
Clodhoppers from Canada. If only they'd market them here. Maybe not a
good idea. Can't afford to gain any more weight!

4. I have most of my services planned out until the 2nd Sunday of Easter.

5. My sister and my best friend. Also LH, my partner and best friend.

BONUS: I can do without all the cold and would welcome more spring-like temps!