tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296087082024-03-07T14:13:34.350-05:00signs-along-the-wayAs an inukshuk points to good hunting/fishing grounds, safe passageways, and are message centers, so do I seek the signs of God's presence and grace along my way in this life. I try to point the way to God's presence and grace as well.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.comBlogger868125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-58763302243988767152022-01-25T12:56:00.006-05:002022-01-25T12:56:49.493-05:00Where Will I Go From Here...<p> only God knows. Found out the Call Committee of L church is having a second interview with a candidate next Mon. evening. I should be given 30 days notice after the call has been issued and accepted.</p><p>So conceivably, this interim could end within 8 weeks. That still means having Ash Wednesday service but I would be gone before Lent is over. More's the pity, I would've loved to see the sanctuary all repaired and repainted. I might still be able to slip in to see it.</p><p>Where I go from here will be anyone's guess. I pray God has one more interim for me before retirement. I pray that it will be less than one hour commute. I pray I still have something to offer. </p><p>I am tired and weary and know this interim lasted far too long. They need to move one and so do I. But it will be bittersweet as usual. I've gotten to know and love them. I've gotten to feel comfortable in the worship space and being there. I've gotten comfortable with the short commute. But it's time. Ministry is never really about feeling comfortable for too long. God keeps us moving lest we get too complacent, too full of ourselves.</p><p>I have a whole bunch of stuff to clean out! Not my favorite thing to do, but things have accumulated over time. Sigh. I'll get there. Just hate to leave the confirmation kids 3/4 of the year through, but that's the life of an interim, you don't always get to choose the timing. They will survive.</p><p>I just pray that God will provide another position for me, just one more. </p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-72490154024501865632022-01-18T12:34:00.004-05:002022-01-18T12:34:31.238-05:00A NEW YEAR<p> already. The fall flew by with Thanksgiving and Advent and Christmas! Certain activities were ot held due to Omicron surging everywhere. L church did still hold their Christmas Concert somewhat pared down, but didn't the organist/conductor/organizer end up with COVID just in time for Christmas Eve? Thankfully, a local organist who plays for the Episcopal church was available for our two services and the Sunday after Christmas.</p><p> The M church gave us the week after Christmas off (unpaid time off). I did work on Tuesday delivering a couple poinsettias to care facility people - one whom only I know and the other too far for others to drive plus its just 20 minutes from my home.</p><p> Didn't have our New Year's get together with my sisters-in-law, as one of them had exposure but thankfully in the end, tested negative. We'll be getting together this Friday for lunch, afterall it was a 10lb ham for just two!!! Need to use the leftovers!</p><p> And now it's time to think of Lent and what to do and what might we be able to do and what is Omicron going to look like by then. No one knows! I had thought the call committee of L church might have a candidate for pastor and I could ride off into the sunset before Lent. But I haven't heard anything yet. Sigh. So, what do I plan or not plan? They are supposed to give me 30 days notice, so there's that. The L church's sanctuary is under repair and repainting. After all the roofing was redone, and windows re- tuckpointed and sealed, and the water damaged walls dried out in 3 years, finally, the sanctuary is getting fixed. Thanks to a very generous estate gift! The repair is very costly. It looks like a construction zone with plastic covering everything - organ pipes, piano, and half of the sanctuary pews are moved to the other side. But so exciting to see this repair and repainting happening! Sign of new things to come and new things God will be doing, hopefully!!</p><p> I'm ready to move on and so are they. This has been a 5 year "interim"! Actually, more like a state supply situation. It has been nice to have such a short commute. </p><p> So, I'm thinking Lent and need to mull it over and pray for divine inspiration! It will be here far too quickly. But for now, I am content to look out on the snowy landscape that looks like winter should. We have looked like November up until this Izzy storm hit. Now, to stay warm as we stay in the 20's for week or longer...</p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-54907782901488381922021-10-05T10:30:00.004-04:002021-10-05T10:30:33.610-04:00A DIFFERENT GOSPEL<p> So, apparently, one non-denominational storefront church merged with a local baptist church and moved out of their store-front. Then another non-denominational church bought the building and renovated the inside to fit their needs - sky painted floor and all black walls in their worship area for their fog machines and screens. Their pastor noted that he became a pastor because he didn't know what else to do. Now there's a real call to ministry! It is a church for people who aren't traditional church people. I get that.</p><p> I just notice that our town's first Friday event - every first Friday of the month businesses stay open later and the event is often themed - to bring people downtown. We at L church have been participating for the last 3 three years. Although last year, there weren't as many due to the lockdown and COVID. The theme for Oct. was Fall Fest. This church offered a scavenger hunt with a chance to win a Disney vacation! This is the same church that rented a helicopter Palm Sunday weekend to drop 30,000 Easter eggs on the football field giving away a chance to win - an xbox, play station, big screen TV.</p><p> Now, I don't know what gospel they believe and read, but it apparently is a different one. Nowhere in my NRSV Bible does Jesus say, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavily burdened and I will give you a Disney vacation." or "Come, follow me and I will reward you with an xbox and big screen TV."</p><p> What am I missing? Can that be any more crass consumerism in the Christian faith? Do we come to God, have a relationship with Christ our Lord, because of what we can get? Or are we drawn to a love so profound and great that it is so compellingly irrestible that we can't turn away form it? Faith cannot be bought or earned - it is given to us by the very grace of Christ and the work of God's own Spirit. I find their crass consumerism of the gospel disconcerting, misleading and appalling. I can't imagine what Jesus would think. It is not the gospel I know and love.</p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-22473244394539602712021-08-24T12:04:00.003-04:002021-08-24T12:04:56.872-04:00TIRED<p> I'm sure I'm not the only one who is feeling tired these days. I'm hoping it's not because of my age! But with the pandemic seemingly unending as the Delta variant sweeps across the world and young children testing positive, it's hard not to feel tired of it all. Over a year and half of dealing with physical distancing, masks, hand sanitizers, a world lockdown, and trying to return to "normal", here we are still dealing with it all. Just when I began thinking of putting my masks away, I'm still reaching for one when I go out, although, there aren't as many people wearing them and all the stores and businesses that the news said wanted people to wear masks, only the employees seem to be wearing them.</p><p> I really believe my tiredness is a fatigue of all this. I had hoped that with vaccines, by now most of this would've been behind us. Put vaccination rates are lower than expected although rising some with the Delta variant on the move.</p><p> Trying to deal with this fatigue and to help others with it as well. Sometimes, I think we are impatient and expect instantaneous results. The 1918 flu pandemic lasted 2 years until there was very host left and it died out. We're only a year and a half in this and we have a ways to go, if it doesn't mutate yet again. So, we have to stay encouraged and hopeful even when we're sick and tired of it, tired of hearing about it and dealing with it all. </p><p> Then there's the shortages sometimes of various items, or production of appliances and equipment, and of help in businesses, restaurants, etc. No one seems to want to work any more and yet getting back to "normal" means you have truck drivers get your product to stores and servers and cooks for all who are more than ready to eat out again. Things are moving ever so slowly, which after living in a fast-paced lifestyle this slow down seems to be on-going.</p><p> So how do we deal with this fatigue and help our parishioners with it as well? I, for one, am open to ideas. Anybody?</p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-91010596588462618022021-05-29T10:42:00.002-04:002021-05-29T10:42:50.288-04:00OH VAX-A-MILLION<p> So the first drawing was held for the state's vax-a-million. Abbey, a 22 year old became the first winner of a million dollars. She was going to look for a used car when she got the call informing her of her win. She said that she might still look at used cars. Sounds pretty grounded to me. However, with a million dollars, she would be wiser to get a new car and save on repairs. She also mentioned giving some to charity - which would be nice. Abbey, then said, "What better incentive is there to get vaccinated?!" Really?</p><p> Like one's life, staying out of the hospital and off a respirator is not incentive enough? We in the great state of OH, now have to bribe people to get their vaccine. That is a terrible state of affairs. Are we so shallow, so low of morals and ethics and doing the right thing, that we have to be bribed? I, for one, am not participating, even though I am eligible. Why? Because I'm against being bribed, and using bribery to get people to the right thing. I believe that the money being used for this Vax-A-Million could've been given to small businesses who have taken such a hit during the COVID pandemic, who are struggling to survive, come back and hire employees. That would be money well-spent rather than bribing the populace to get their vaccination. I refuse to stoop to being bribed. I fear for our nation's morals and ethics. It saddens me greatly. Yes, the chance of winning a million dollars is enticing, tempting - who wouldn't want or could use a million dollars. But I will not sell out for a million dollars. I believe my life, staying well and off a respirator is incentive enough for me to get vaccinated as it should be for all who are medically able to get vaccinated. There was no such measures taken when the polio vaccine became a available. People just went and got the vaccine. </p><p> I have been appalled by people's selfish attitudes with this whole pandemic. My faith tells me not be a stumbling block to others. That though all things may be legal not all are beneficial. I will wear a mask for the sake of another. Yes, it's an inconvenience, yes, it's uncomfortable at times, yes, it can be a pain, but it is a small sacrifice for me not to infect someone with this deadly virus. Yes, I will honor physically distancing and not intrude on your 6 ft. because I believe it is important to both of us to stay healthy. Maybe a little less I have the right, which we all do, and show some concern for others. It isn't a huge sacrifice to make and it is temporary. How can you call yourself a Christian and so assert your own self over another? Christ our Lord didn't do that - he emptied himself for our sakes, he gave his life for ours. He sacrificed himself. Believe it or not, the Christian life is one that entails sacrifice, that gives of oneself for the sake of another. How deep is your faith if you can't understand and try to live a cruciform life? A cross-shaped life? A life to which Christ calls us to live? It isn't just feel good music, I am loved - which we so profoundly are - it's about living a cross-shaped life, and sacrificing our will, our selves at times and at varying degrees for another.</p><p> So, I wish Abbey, blessings with her new found wealth and to stay grounded. A million dollars won't last as long as people think. But I would've hoped she got vaccinated because it was the good and right thing to do and not for a chance to win some big bucks. I would like to see the people in our state get vaccinated because they see the need to and not because they may become a millionaire. I pray that humanity in general will be touch with integrity, morals and ethics and that to live by them is the right, good and Christian way to live. If we take our faith seriously, we will live ethically and morally as well.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-90204543356219368172021-03-23T11:27:00.005-04:002021-03-23T11:27:59.533-04:00CRUNCH TIME<p> begins as we head into Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Perhaps, one blessing of the whole COVID lockdown last Lent was that I had Good Friday service and Maundy Thursday mostly planned out and done and then didn't have services. So, I am able to use them this year and that saved me a whole lot of time and anxiety of what to do this year! I am grateful. Just have to work up a children's sermon for kids that haven't been showing up in church services yet. I am working on Easter Sunday sermon and children's sermon. I will put together little snack bags with some Easter give-aways for the children who attend Easter morning worship. I've also been working on our Joy Sunday, again which we didn't do last year with everything so topsy-turvy. Usually, we have an open mike for folks to share a good, clean joke, but given the COVID circumstances of physical distancing and wearing masks and my having to hold the microphone to them, it didn't seem like a good idea to that. So, I worked up a newscast with Miriam Mirth the news anchor on the different repeated sightings of the risen Christ. The cast(all me with props) will feature the Traffic Report with Luke Skywatcher, a commercial for Peace of Heart Financial Institution, a preview of a new cooking show, What a Dish with Julia Wild and a last breaking news report. I had fun with it and for the traffic report, commercial and cooking show - used resources by Martha Bolton that I tweaked a bit. I'm hoping that not only the bits are funny, but just my going from space to space in the chancel and putting on my props will garner a laugh or two! I think we all need Holy Humor or Joy Sunday especially given the past year of pandemic and our slow emergence for the darkness into the light of new life. It will do our bodies and spirits good to chuckle and be reminded of the joy that Easter brings and the risen Christ brings us. Joy should be a part of our faith, always, even in the midst of the pandemic, there were those with a great sense of humor and I pinned many of the funny observations. I did use those funny observations in my newsletter article last year - in place of Joy Sunday, knowing folks still needed to be reminded of the joy of Easter and the joy of our faith even in times of struggle and hardship.</p><p> Having time to be creative and to have fun has been good for my soul. May you, even in this crunch time, know the joy that is ours in faith in the risen Christ. That is something to truly celebrate!</p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-46364664967881968962021-03-06T11:10:00.004-05:002021-03-06T11:10:56.740-05:00I SCORED...<p> a vaccine appointment! After hours and several days of trying various sites, I have an appointment for next Saturday for my first of two shots! I feel like I won the lottery!!! Finally! It has not been easy here in NEOH to get an appointment. The downside is that my second shot is on Easter Sunday following an early morning with 2 services. I will be exhausted before getting my second shot and that includes a drive of 35 minutes to get to the site. But I will soldier through. That has to be the worst day for a minister to get a shot - Easter Sunday! But, I will take it and survive.</p><p> We are resuming in-person worship next Sunday and then Sat/Sun the following week after a hiatus since mid November when we went virtual. It is with some mixed feelings. It's always better to worship in-person, better energy and good to be physically present and see one another. It's also been nice to have a shorter service, get in later on Sunday mornings and not be tired afterwards after Confirmation class. There has been a slower, more gentle pace during this time of virtual worship which has been really nice. But the empty pews have been sad. I will need to write a communion invitation again every week for Sat. service. I've enjoyed the less hectic pace. I guess I'm getting older, well., I did have another birthday and just qualified this week for the vaccine based on age! At least we will have half of Lent together, Holy Week services and in-person Easter services this year. Now if I can think of what to do for Easter, it would be great!</p><p> In the meanwhile, I'm just basking in the glow of my soon-to-be vaccine! Who knew one would be so eager to get shot and look forward to it, even with side-effects! I pray it gets easier and easier for folks to get vaccinated so we can put this pandemic behind us and move forward and onward. It has been such a long and difficult year. There have been blessings, like I mentioned above: time, slower pace, but I've missed travelling, going out for a dinner, hugging my family when we do get to see each other, not wearing a mask - but that will be awhile yet. I've missed folks in the sanctuary for worship and even the Tues. bible study - which has really eased my time, missed visiting folks at home and in the nursing home. I've even missed, dare I say it, shopping - to just go and look around. Now I dash in and hope to pick up what I need and get out of the store. The twin's birthday and my other great niece and nephew's birthdays will be coming up and I still need a couple of things for them. Administrative Assistant's day is also looming and I need to find something for two of them. The pandemic has impeded my ability to just bump into something! </p><p> May your Lent be graced with hope knowing that resurrection is coming! New life awaits us! </p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-3613685592049679342020-12-21T10:54:00.002-05:002020-12-21T10:54:58.382-05:00CHRISTMAS<p> will soon be here and it will be the very first time since Seminary that I will actually be home Christmas Eve. This year we are recording our Christmas Eve service on Wednesday evening which makes it easier for our 4 choir people to be here to sing the carols.</p><p> It will feel weird to pretend that Wed is Christmas Eve and it will feel weird to be home on Christmas - just the greyhound & I. LH has 2 in-person worship services that evening when he is used to just one. I usually have 2 worship services Christmas Eve but this year just one. I'll play some Christmas music, maybe light a candle and check on the M church service - also pre-recorded.</p><p> LH and I are used to quiet Christmas Days, lounging around, unwrapping gifts, grazing on snacks, making calls to family, and taking an afternoon nap. Very relaxing. M church has given the staff the week between Christmas and New Year's off - no phone calls to make or cards to write. I wrote about 52 cards for Christmas to the homebound and care facility people, as well as staff and some who live alone. I'm taking the Sunday after Christmas off (that makes 2 out of 4 Sundays I had off this year), so this will be I pray the most laid back end of year, ever. After, 36 years of ordained ministry - it's kinda nice. But weird.</p><p> I got the family packages wrapped and mailed, the Christmas letter in English and German done and sent along with Christmas cards. Just have one bag of gifts to be-ribbon and bow, and one last little gift for LH to wrap and ribbon. Staff gift bags are done and all but one delivered. Everything got done in time.</p><p> LH got a gift card from the church he is serving as an interim. I, as usual, get nothing from this Lutheran church. They are lacking in generosity and giving. I've tried during my time here to be an example of that - but somehow they just don't get it. If it weren't for me neither the secretary or organist would receive a thing. I can't afford more than $25.00 eatery gift cards when there's 3 at my church plus LH's secretary. That's a hundred bucks out of my pocket and the church does nothing. It is so very sad that they have not learned to show gratitude and appreciation. There are times I weep for them, because until they learn gratitude they will continue to struggle, to complain and feel they never have enough or are enough, though God tells them are enough. 4 years I have been here and have preached and been an example and yet...Congregations are slow to learn, to change, to overcome their DNA. I pray for them. Maybe in the New Year, I will leap around the chancel to show how free I am being grateful and thankful and what joy it brings to the soul! They would probably call the Bishop's office to report me and have me committed!!! But it might be fun to try.</p><p> So, as weird as it will be this Christmas Eve, I am grateful for a quiet, contemplative Christmas Eve where I can make my way to the manger and behold the wondrous gift of God's love born to me and to all the world in Christ Jesus. Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a hopeful, healthy New Year.</p><p>Peace and Joy to all.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-40433862251336729452020-11-02T16:13:00.002-05:002020-11-02T16:13:57.462-05:00NOVEMBER<p> and time is quickly moving towards Advent. Still working on my Christmas Eve service and liturgy, and hoping to have sermons in Advent based on hope, peace, joy and love. Theming - Light in the Darkness. It seemed appropriate for this year. </p><p> Working on an Advent kit for families to do at home, with a sticker Advent calendar, coloring page Advent wreath, Jesse Tree scriptures, prayers and ornaments to color, and a list of things to do together as a family for Advent. Since we have so few families, it is a manageable thing to put together.</p><p> My dining room table is an utter mess since I've been using it as an office and has piles of notes cards to send out to folks, books, cloths for Saturday evening worship small table serving as an altar, an unused lunch bag since I'm not going in to M church on Tues & Thurs. and some sundry items that are buried underneath the other things. Sigh. Thanksgiving is coming and we'll be eating on the table!! Major decluttering to happen this weekend! </p><p> Then our PC too ill and today, my gmail was unaccessible and new passwords made. I hate that, you finally put together a password you can remember and boom, it doesn't work anymore for whatever reason. I hate it. I can't remember 1/2 of them anymore and have to write them down somewhere and then remember where I wrote it down. </p><p> I'll be glad when the election is over. I don't understand such bipartisan anger. I think most of it is fueled by the media. Whatever happened to being good losers? So your candidate didn't get elected, deal with it and move on and work together to better some things. But pity parties and wasting people's money on investigations that come out with nothing is a big waste of money, time and energy that could be spent on actually legislating programs or help that make a difference in the lives of our people and in our nation. In 4 years, you have an opportunity to cast your vote for new candidates and hope for a change. You don't have to riot, loot or resort to violence, or being mean-spirited and intolerant. That is spoilt child behavior and not adultlike. Any President can only do so much, Congress has most of the power. We can respect our differences and honor another's view point. It's about human dignity and that we are more together than we are apart. That we hold freedom close to us. So many flee their country to come to the US because of that very freedom. We have taken that freedom for granted. </p><p> Well, anyway, I'll be glad when the election is over and pray that we can work together, do so with honor and respect and peacefully - whatever the outcome.</p><p>In the meanwhile, Advent is at our doorstep and more than ever we need the light of Christ to shine brightly into our lives, and into this murky world.</p><p><br /></p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-28415634343226662172020-09-01T11:36:00.004-04:002020-09-01T11:36:42.664-04:00On Another Note Altogether<p> is anyone else struggling with how to do Christmas Eve services this year with COVID19?</p><p> Normally, where I serve we do a lessons & carols service with either a short sermon or reflections with each lesson. I have found that most people simply want to hear the message of Christmas through Scripture and beloved carols. </p><p> With the pandemic, we cannot host 187 at a worship service and there can be no singing - which really impacts the close of worship with candlelighting and singing, Silent Night. </p><p> I'm hoping to hearing ideas on how to make Christmas still like Christmas given the constraints we live under at this time. so comment or direct me to creative ideas. They would be gratefully welcomed. I am at such a loss.</p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-76521649551821262462020-09-01T11:29:00.005-04:002020-09-01T11:29:51.030-04:00AM I THE ONLY ONE<p> who wonders what is happening in our world?</p><p> Such tragic deaths that were preventable, if only the person complied. Why, not just comply and if there is a mistake of identity, or wrongful arrest, which can then can be cleared by the courts, the death, for the most part would be prevented?</p><p> None of these individuals had clean records, which doesn't mean a person can't change and are trying to live a clean life, and yet, they are canonized. Yes, their death is tragic, yes, their death was preventable, yes there are bad cops out there, but none were as innocent as they are made out to be. </p><p> What does it take for people to be honest and to take responsibility for themselves? To be able to say, yes, I screwed up, yes, I have a rap sheet, yes, I am not a saint, but am willing to take responsibility for my actions and to comply. </p><p> Leave the drugs alone, finish high school, go to trade school or college, work hard, watch who you hang out with and for the most part, you won't find yourself in trouble with the law or otherwise. </p><p> I found it interesting that the protest victims in Kenosha who were shot by a teenager, were not mentioned much in the media. I think it's perhaps because they were thugs with rap sheets and a child sex offender. Yet, these are ones protest groups hire and who loot and riot. Really?</p><p> I cannot back such groups. I can back grieving families who've lost children through senseless shootings. (But were there drugs involved or abusive relationships involved?). I can back true injustice when people of color are not hired when they are qualified for a position or are paid less than their white counterparts or male counterparts. I can back programs and organizations that work with families of color to get them the help they need for housing, medical, food, education, & employment, to get them from being homeless and back on their feet. </p><p> I cheer for every child who gets to college or trade school despite having been homeless or mired in poverty. I know they have had to work so much harder and have truly struggled to reach their goals and desire for a better, more stable life. I applaud their parent(s), their teachers, their school counselors who have helped them along the way. I believe a faith life changes us, shapes us and transforms us.</p><p> I think, until people learn to take responsibility for their actions and lives, we will be living with unrest, a truly stretched truth about individuals, and sadly, tragically lost lives. We are all flawed, we all do stupid things that shouldn't result in death, but we need to own up to it, and confess that we are indeed flawed and do foolish things. That's basic to our Christian faith and belief. But, with all the noise that is out there, I think I'm the only one, who feels this way, and understands this. </p>St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-86408840611995377362020-07-16T15:56:00.000-04:002020-07-16T15:56:19.832-04:00QUITE A SUMMER<span style="font-family: inherit;">it has been. COVID19, deteriorating race relations, and rioting and looting by anarchists. So very sad, disturbing and troubling. My soul has felt the weight of it all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I grew up the first generation of immigrants, in a very white Italian town, though we were not Italian. I was baptized Presbyterian and went to Sunday School where we sang and were taught that Jesus Loves the Little Children - all the children of the world, no matter their color. I guess I grew up believing that God loves us all. Our small congregation had one black family, and two Filipino families. Our church had a day care center that catered to low-income families many of whom were black. No one thought anything of that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> In my grade school, the special education teacher was black, Mrs. G. She offered Sign Language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">classes before school for anyone interested. A few of us took the class and I had much admiration and respect for her. I liked her a lot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> In 5th grade, I took up flute (after 4 years of piano and continued with piano as well). I played in the district band composed of several grade schools in two neighboring towns, the other town had many black families. We all got along and looked forward to seeing each other every week and making music together. The girl next to me playing flute was black and there was a black boy who played flute as well. We ended up in the same high school. The girl who played flute beside me even gave me her grandma's chocolate chip cookie recipe which my family enjoyed and the same one I still use today. (better than Toll House). We even shared a hotel room together at some music event. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> My high school was a totally integrated and I became a Thespian and a member of the Speech Team. In all the plays we presented, color never played a role. The best performers, whether black or white got the lead roles and they deserved them. There was never animosity between any of us. We celebrated one another's wins at Speech meets and cheered one another on. I thank them for from them I learned of Langston Hughes and James Wheldon Johnson. They expanded my world and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> And I will always affirm that All Lives Matter. No one will guilt me into being racist for affirming that. Everyone's Life matters. All should be treated with dignity and respect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I resent being called racist for believing that. My faith tells me otherwise. I will not be made to feel guilty for being born the color I was nor will I ever make some one else feel guilty for the color or nationality they were born. I had to work hard at my schooling and a couple less than stellar teachers in public school. But I learned even from them. I got into college on my own merit and worked to pay half of my tuition. I had no car when I went away to college in my junior year. I either took the train home over breaks or shared a ride with others from the Chicago area. I lived in the dorm. There were no Starbucks or spring break vacations. I lived simply and frugally. My first 2 years of college were at a community college taking required courses for a lot less money and living at home and working part-time. It was a big deal to get a pizza every couple of months. I never went hungry eating cafeteria fare, although, I did hit the salad bar a lot. I even worked at the school cafeteria, doing dishes and serving food during the last two years of college. Made barely a pittance, but it paid for that pizza once in a blue moon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Most young people in college expect to live off campus, drink their expensive coffee and go out to eat - Panera and the like. Many have cars and expect to go on spring break vacations. They are the privileged. Or their parents indulge them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I would support Black Lives Matter, but the fact that they are funded by anarchists, socialists and Marxist makes it difficult for me to do so. Most of the rioting, looting and chaos were caused by these misguided people who just want our nation to become socialist. I don't know, the last time I've studied socialist countries, they aren't doing too well, they have no freedom of speech and opportunities to better one's life are nonexistent. If those young people are so disenchanted with America, they should go to Cuba and live as the Cubans do. It would be an eye opening experience for them to be sure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Yes, our country is not without flaws, not without some history that shames us, but we strive to do better and be better for all. We cannot forget or erase our history, but learn from it and do better. There are people from other countries (many of them socialist countries) that want to come to America, because opportunity is provided for a better life, for freedom to be themselves and express themselves. We do not guarantee that every one will be rich, or have a trouble-free life. But we</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">provide opportunity for education, innovation, business, etc. Working hard and being responsible</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">are a part of that opportunity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Being given everything for "free" is sadly, a mere pipedream. Not possible in this world. Sure things can be "free" if one is willing to pay 80% of their salary in taxes. yes, issues of health care,</span><br />
cost of medication, and education need to be addressed and worked on - but free college? Not everyone needs or should go to college. Some folks are better off in a trade and make a much living at it than I do with a Master's. I would hate for my car, airconditioning/heating/ plumbing not to work<br />
properly. I depend on these skilled professionals as well as many others in manufacturing the products and appliances I use every day.<br />
Free college? I believe that when you pay for something, when you work for it, it means so much more, you value it more, you put more of yourself into and the investment. Habitat for Humanity has<br />
shown that is so. Rather than being given a house outright, there is a small mortgage and hours of<br />
sweat equity required. And the satisfaction and pride a family feels when they move in is because it wasn't just free.<br />
I pray for our country and nation, for understanding between races, for hatred to be turned into genuine care for others and not simply condemning them because they don't believe exactly as you. That doesn't make any of us more right or wrong, that's what freedom is about, and these angry<br />
socialists and anacharists don't see the intolerance they have toward others even as they complain<br />
about intolerance. Defacing public property, destroying small business that serve neighborhoods is counter productive. Let's address civilly those injustices, the things that wrong (choke holds) and<br />
bad police officers and make changes that matter.<br />
Those who are not content, give them a ticket to Cuba and let them live and experience socialism<br />
on a daily basis.<br />
But don't make me feel wrong when I believe all lives matter, yours as well as mine, no matter what color your skin is or what nationality you are.<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-15473948007945526232020-06-22T12:47:00.001-04:002020-06-22T12:47:22.556-04:00WHERE DOES TIME GO?Here it is well into June with July soon to come and time has gotten away from me.<br />
Which seems, perhaps, a bit ironic since my schedule is no where near as hectic now as it was<br />
before COVID19.<br />
Somehow, I guess we just settle into a new routine.<br />
We've been live streaming our simple worship on Facebook and are looking to reopen in person<br />
worship on July 5th. We will social distance, strongly encourage masks, no singing, and we have<br />
sealed communion wafer and juice cups. It will be different and I wonder how many will actually<br />
come. We are holding off on Sat. evening worship, since we projecting the bulletin and responses, hymns, etc. on the screen. It's not fair to ask that person to be there every Sat & Sun.<br />
I'm putting together Staycation VBS with PC(USA) material I found and low cost. Will stuff them with some small take-aways as I customize for each family.<br />
Still have July newsletter article to write, although I selected the hymns for July! Yay! Done!<br />
The worst has been that I caught my right fingertip in the sliding door of my van.. It just kinda<br />
rolled closed, not a hard slam, but enough to hurt like...uhm...I'm not gonna say it! I shook it off,<br />
went to the office typed on it, etc. for the next few days. Then I noticed a growing hematoma, on<br />
my fingertip a bit under the nail. Oh, good Lord, how my finger would hurt, as it came in waves of intense pain. It didn't help that sometimes I bumped it while doing dishes, or against a counter, or<br />
whatever. It hurt worse and worse sometimes it was all I could do not to pull my hair out. After 2 weeks, I went to the Doc. - antibiotics, e-ray; revealing I broke a chip of my finger tip bone.<br />
Another visit to Doc, who used local by shot 3 times into my hurting finger and grubbed around, but<br />
little puss. MRI and more antibiotics. Got referred to hand Dr. who didn't think I had a bone infection, just nerve damage along with the chipped bone. Pain meds that work pretty well for the most part and finger therapy exercises and vaseline on the damaged/healing tissue. It is getting better, although still so painful. Some of the calloused skin peeled off revealing new - like baby skin and it is soooo tender.<br />
This has hindered my typing, weeding, and doing all sorts of things so I don't bump my finger.<br />
I do do dishes wearing a cleaning glove. It is now heading into week 7. Cripe! Who knew it<br />
would take so long, although I am mostly thankful that there wasn't a bone infection as my Doc thought from the MRI. What a major relief!<br />
Things will pick up a bit in July - reopening worship a wedding and a baptism. Confirmation will be in August with 4 youth. Kinda glad it's so late as we had to wait on backordered crosses and the<br />
other place only sent 3 of the 4 we ordered. We will recognize SS teachers in August as I get their<br />
thank-you bags together.<br />
I'm so ready for a vacation! But very limited in where we can go, so to WI, the land of cheese and brats we go and visit with my sister and BIL. Just a few days to get away and have a change in<br />
scenery. I want to do nothing but read and soak up a little sun and see the ever-changing Lake Michigan which is so high they have lost beach access - if there was a beach anymore. Still,<br />
cedar trees and the lake are soothing.<br />
Time goes by whether we stay at home more or are running at a hectic pace. May God bless<br />
our time and may we not waste too much of it.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-80381991252936715782020-05-04T12:07:00.001-04:002020-05-04T12:07:25.314-04:00SABBATICALSo, I've always envied (I confess and have asked for forgiveness) those clergy who have been given and granted sabbaticals. In my nearly 37 years in ministry, I've never had a formal sabbatical.<br />
I was out of any positions for a year and mostly spent my time pursuing a position, cleaning house and cooking, praying for a position and lamenting that I didn't have any place to serve. Not the most<br />
productive of times nor use of an unintentional sabbatical. (Yes, I did do some reading and was in a Spiritual Direction Program - where I had directees and papers to write, and supervision meetings. It was a 3 year program so I was in a way, working, just not drawing any kind of salary.)<br />
So here we are in this stay-at-home and work remotely time. When I can't make visits in the afternoons, when I have less to prepare for concerning worship on Sat. evenings and Sunday<br />
mornings, no confirmation classes or Tues evening Bible Study classes, no making visits on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the other church. You can only call so many people only so often or write and send out those cards.<br />
One would think this is a bit of sabbatical time. One. would. think. Sigh. There are books I'm still reading and haven't finished. There are projects left undone. I haven't cleaned my windows yet. The books piled haphazardly on the den floor that slip down, hasn't been gone through, and books put in the basement. I haven't had any brilliant flashes of great insight. I spend way too much time yelling NO at the dumb greyhound we have that doesn't ever learn and for whom NO means nothing. I have been cooking more and there's always dishes afterwards - wooden salad bowls, wooden handled steak knives, serving bowls that take up too much room in the dishwasher, pots, pans and coffee pot.<br />
So, in a way, I could see this time as a sabbatical in way. I have loved the slower pace, not having my week go by in a blur, having time to breathe, to take a nap if I need to, to weed, to stand on the porch and watch for what is coming up in the flower bed: flower or weed, to not feel so stressed.<br />
However, my scholarly work has come up short. Sometimes, I start reading on the couch and<br />
after awhile the eyelids droop and I'm out for an hour! I haven't worked on my writing either or been<br />
very creative. (I did make LH and I, no sew masks out of T shirts.)<br />
I guess I need to be more intentional about this time, for it will not come again. And perhaps,<br />
to appreciate this slower pace of life, which the Europeans have long practiced although not so drastically as with this pandemic. Maybe, not every moment of the day has to be filled in order to be considered productive, nor everything accomplished, not that it ever is in ministry. Perhaps, just being with God and resting in God's presence and love, of appreciating the gift of each day is<br />
simply enough. Maybe, I'm just looking forward to retirement in 5 years, good Lord willing.<br />
But this has been a blessing in a way. I think had I been younger and more in the midst of my<br />
\ministry, more substantial work would have been accomplished in a sabbatical.<br />
But I will take this one, unintentional and unconventional as it may be. And I will start back in the one challenging book I started.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-52254823555007752342020-04-21T15:26:00.001-04:002020-04-21T15:26:14.587-04:00EXILEIt certainly feels like exile. I miss the people I have been called to shepherd, love, care for and lead. I miss seeing their faces in familiar places in the pews. I miss seeing them on Sunday mornings in worship, singing together, communing together as the body of Christ, sharing coffee hour and confirmation classes with the kids. I miss making visits to our care facility people and homebound.<br />
I miss it all. Well, most of it. Mostly, I miss seeing people and being with them.<br />
It's one thing to record a simple worship on Sunday mornings with no one present, except for the one taping me, and a whole other thing to worship with everyone physically present.<br />
And it seems like this will continue for quite some time to come. The one blessing of serving a smaller congregation is that we may be able to worship together sooner than the larger congregations where gatherings are limited to a certain number.<br />
I am mulling over how to do Confirmation in June. I have 4 youngsters getting confirmed and I am thinking that each will come forward one at a time (physical distancing) and when they say what they believe - the Apostles' Creed - they can be 6 ft apart spread across the front of the sanctuary. One by one, they will come to the center chancel steps, and I will hover my hand over their head (as the Spirit hovered over the waters at creation) and pray for that one. They will go back to their place, and the next one will come up. Until all have been prayed over and for. They need to be confirmed and to celebrate this milestone in their faith journey. It's been 2 years of instruction and classes.<br />
I haven't come up with much else, and am thinking this is way to do it this year.<br />
Usually we have a cake and coffee afterwards. I don't know about that yet, but our social hall is huge and immediate family can sit together (afterall they have been staying at home together all this time) and we can really spread out. I will not be able to sit at tables with them, or anyone else. So we're together, but still apart. Sigh.<br />
Will just have to wait and see how we ease back into gathering again.<br />
I so want to recognize our Sunday School teachers as well.<br />
Still mulling over communion as well, since L church observes communion every week. We have order the sealed communion cup/wafer combo. I can place those sealed cups on the communion rail and people can walk up (6 ft. apart) in a single file and take their cup back to their pew. just giving things some thought.<br />
Any bright ideas out there anyone?<br />
In the meanwhile, I miss seeing my folks. Yes, they can be tiresome, petty, selfish, and quiet, but, oh, I still miss them and their faces!<br />
And I pray that God holds them in God's gracious and loving care, that they will stay healthy and well, that they will grow spiritually from all this, that they may grow in caring for one another and in<br />
seeing how we need one another to be the body of Christ both scattered and gathered. I pry for wisdom, imagination, patience and openness to the new normal we will need to plan for and experience. And I pray for a hurting, anguished world that cries out for mercy to the Lord. May God hear our prayers and be gracious to us all, and every single one I miss seeing and being with.<br />
<br />
St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-23077744114652900192020-04-03T10:55:00.002-04:002020-04-03T10:55:18.258-04:00SPRING 2020Ahh, spring your beauty of grass as green as green can be, purple crocuses with bright orange centers that have bloomed, periwinkle anemones with their white star center, cheery yellow daffodils, bright yellow forsythia, tulips with buds still wrapped in green sleeves, trees with buds just waiting to burst in flowers, sun that shines warm and days that grow longer, all belie the terror of the unseen enemy and bringer of death. How you are so different from all other springs I have known in my life.<br />
Full of rebirth, renewal and yet...not among us. You try to fill us with hope, but with each morning we wonder, are we next, is this my last day to enjoy, to savor, to give thanks for?<br />
Each night we give God thanks for another day of life, to see the beauty of creation around us, to be<br />
together.<br />
It should start feeling like Easter, but it feels like Good Friday or Holy Saturday that goes on far longer than it did for our Lord and Savior. Oh, how we long for Easter. Oh, how we long to survive this modern day plague of coronavirus. Oh, how we long to celebrate Easter with our parishioners. There will be no Easter Egg Hunt for the youngsters. No Easter breakfast. No majestic organ sounding out, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today." And yet, He is risen. And yet Easter comes. Our celebration will be more subdued. But may we shout out in the face of death around us, Christ is Risen! Alleluia! May hope come and nestle within us. May we know that resurrection life is ours as well. No matter what happens, Christ has won for us eternal life, new life, life everlasting forever with God whom we so love and who loves us so deeply. There will be those who survive. But I cannot say for sure that I will be among them. I pray that I am but so are all the rest.<br />
Trust. Hope. Believe. Have faith. Stand firm with God. And love, each day and every day, every breath, every beauty, every meal shared together with spouse and family, every phone call and conversation with family, friends whom we cannot see or be with at this time.<br />
Spring such a beautiful time, help us, O God, to savor each day, each budding and blooming. Tot trust the promise of Easter fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord. To still shout out, "Alleluia! Christ is risen", for such a time as this, for us, for all of creation.<br />
St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-90008821881911521852020-03-26T10:45:00.000-04:002020-03-26T10:45:00.254-04:00LAST DAY TOGETHERin the M church I serve was sad. Although we are meeting remotely every Tuesday morning, it is hard not to be together in person.<br />
The Thursday before our last in person meeting, I had visited 3 parishioners in a care facility where I had my temperature taken and before it was closed down to all visitors. I am so thankful to have seen them both the husband & wife, and another woman and was able to bring them communion.<br />
When I arrived home, I emptied my communion kit and cleaned out the plastic bottle that held grape juice. That act of emptying the communion kit and eventually putting the top back on the plastic bottle really hit home to me that I wouldn't be able to serve parishioners the grace of the Lord<br />
that we all so desperately need. Especially as we head towards Holy Week with Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday celebration.<br />
It seemed like such a final act. There would be no communion for quite some time, whether at L church or M church. We wouldn't be joined to Christ in the same way. Yes, by our faith, by our love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ we are joined together. But in this act of Christ Jesus giving himself to us in love is what I will miss.. That tangible act of tender love and giving of himself that I can share with the ones I serve is just so profound.. It makes God's love for us in Christ Jesus<br />
so real - a way to smell, touch, see, taste and feel.<br />
I wept in my heart and felt the lump in my throat as the reality of our present situation and the threat of COVID19 become so very real.<br />
I pray for the day when the threat is over, people have recovered and we can once again rejoice<br />
in being joined together in Holy Communion and taste again the utter grace of the love of Christ.<br />
After this unintentional fast from Holy Communion, may it taste ever more satisfying than ever before, more filling, more loving and dripping grace and joy. May it so fill us with the goodness of Jesus' love that we could burst for sheer joy, so filled with love for one another and for all the world that our hearts can scarcely contain it.<br />
But until then, we fast and long.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-81994002431510013762020-03-23T12:14:00.002-04:002020-03-23T12:14:24.570-04:00EVEN MORE QUIETtoday than over the weekend. There are no school buses running to pick up kids noisily gathered on corners to go to school. The kids are all home as we are. Moms and Dads aren't shuttling their kids to school buildings, they are home. For some there is no commute to work, they are home. For others, there is no work, period.<br />
And as we stay at home, it feels so oddly strange. As if we are waiting for the angel of death to pass and to pass over us. Every evening breathing a sigh of relief that we made it another day and stayed healthy. Every morning our first thought and prayer is for health. "Lord, may I not have the virus and may I have not spread it to anyone."<br />
Is this how the Israelites felt that night in Egypt when the angel of death passed over their homes and yet was all around them. This will be a long night for us. Every day watching for symptoms, taking our temperatures, hoping and praying, I am not one. Anguishing with those who are and with all the doctors and nurses who are overwhelmed already and don't have adequate supplies. Praying<br />
every time we go out to the grocery store that we won't get ill. Hoping our supplies last long enough.<br />
It's the uncertainty of it all.<br />
We are gripped in this pandemic and it feels like passover. Even our faith does not make us immune to falling ill or even dying.<br />
May I give thanks to God for each day. I give thanks to God for the love I've known and known in Christ my Lord. I gave thanks that up til this present moment, I can still work, still serve. I confess my sins, my failings, my falling short, when I doubt or don't trust enough. That I wasn't a good enough pastor or wife or friend. Wasn't giving enough, loving enough, forgiving enough.<br />
Ahh, but there is resurrection. In the midst of this Lenten darkness, we make our way to the tomb and discover, RESURRECTION. New life, eternal life. I pray for that day. Easter will come, not<br />
just the date on the calendar. But EASTER, itself. I pray that I will be here to celebrate it, to revel in the joy of it, to breathe again and anew. But if I cannot, I will be still be celebrating the resurrection life with my Lord. For Jesus is the resurrection and the life. I will be more than merely a statistic, I will be home with my Lord forever. And I will be waiting for the rest of you to join in the feast of the banquet of life already happening and taking place where all God's faithful are gathered.<br />
In the meanwhile, we live this passover each day, with the Lord by our side, ever with us, ever<br />
loving us, grieving with us. Prayers are with you all and for all the world.<br />
<br />
St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-44941384376249628592020-03-16T20:48:00.000-04:002020-03-16T20:48:04.305-04:00TODAYthe 2 mile drive to church was eerily quiet. Traffic was so light, not many cars for a Monday morning when the school buses should have been making their rounds and moms and dads driving their kids to school. Sunday morning traffic was near non-existent.<br />
Yes, we had worship Sunday morning with 21 folks and made changes - no passing of the peace, no passing of the offering plates, communion was forward with little cups, not tables, and there was no handshaking following worship. We forget to tell the the couple who did coffee hour not to do so. So there was coffee and snacks. Several stayed even a physician and her husband who were visiting from the next town over where their Lutheran church was closed.<br />
I find that I am having to navigate differently in this strange landscape of isolation and separation. We are in exile, the diaspora of the faithful in the 21st century. I will be working with the church office administrator to try posting a facebook video and putting out website and facebook devotional minutes and thoughts, trying interactive where folks can post photos or comments on where they see grace in their day or week, things they are doing while social distancing, etc.<br />
I have some learning to do!<br />
I pray for our churches and faith communities as we find ways to stay connected and remember one another. To deliberately isolate and distance ourselves from one another is unnatural and moreso in our congregations when so much of who we are is about community. We have to redefine community or at least how to be community in this strange and threatening time. I pray God's Spirit be at work within us and all around us.<br />
Funny, our Tues. night Bible Study just finished Presbyterian Women's Horizon study on God's Promise: I Am with You. It was such a rich, full, satisfying, encouraging study and generated good discussion reminding us of God's promise to be with us from the Old Testament through the New Testament. I can't think there would have been a better study to prepare us for this trying, challenging time than to hold fast to God's promise of being with us when we feel powerless or discouraged. I pray that those who attended are holding this study close to them.<br />
I pray for all who are suffering, feeling isolated, lonely, grieving the loss of a loved one in our world. I pray for us all as we navigate providing spiritual care during this pandemic which for most of us is a new thing.<br />
I see the crocuses blooming - a sign of hope. I know that Easter services may not happen this year, but Easter still happens. The miracle of new life and life after death is the crux of our faith. It's what<br />
gives us hope to face today, to face this pandemic, to face tomorrow and we do so knowing that God is with us, ever, always.<br />
Perhaps, when we survive this pandemic and see our way through, we, too, will breathe new life,<br />
see life differently, feel the glory of freedom, relish again a hug, a handshake and coming together and being together may mean so much more. May we live for this day. May we look forward to this day and the Easter it will be.<br />
<br />St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-34595120758206067932020-03-14T10:52:00.001-04:002020-03-14T10:52:36.869-04:00O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PASTour hope for days (years) to come.<br />
I was simply astounded at the grocery store and W-Mart to see such empty shelves of paper products, pain relief, frozen veges, canned veges, peanut butter, etc. I usually do my shopping on Friday mornings and the grocery store had more people than usual on any given Fri. morning and there were check-out lines.<br />
I can understand being prepared but this panic is unhealthy. How much can people hoard especially items that will eventually expire?<br />
The man with 17, 700 hand sanitizers seeking to profit from this panic now has no where to sell them at inflated prices, taking advantage of a situation and vulnerable people. Donate the stuff back to the community and take a loss. It is people like you who prevent regular folks from being able to buy 2 bottles of hand sanitizers.<br />
We are still having church services at L church since we don't make the 100 people limit. We are offering Sat. communion with individual cups instead of intinction. We are suspending passing the<br />
peace. But we are still worshipping in hope in the midst of this pandemic.<br />
We trust God who never fails us and who promises to be with us in all and any circumstances. May we be brave and courageous and still think of our neighbors. May we pray for the world and all who are ill, may we pray for families who will have their children home for the next 3 weeks, may we pray for doctors and nurses who are treating the ill, may we pray for microbiologist who are working hard to isolate this virus and find a way to curtail its spread. May we not panic or become too anxious, as we trust in the Lord our God. May the Holy Spirit lead us in creative ways to share hope and peace with the world. May families come back together to eat dinner around the table together,<br />
have a night of board games and interact with one another. May they discover there are more important things than sports and all the other activities that so fill their lives. May they be lead to have good conversations and some quality time that bonds relationships forever.<br />
There will be graces even in the midst of this far-reaching, life altering (at least temporarily) pandemic. May we look for and see the presence of God and those graces even in this. May we<br />
spend time in God's Word, in prayer, in reconnecting with God and with our families. May this slow down of our lives bring us in touch with what is most important, most dear to us.<br />
May stay healthy and well.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-7290466416104142602020-03-11T15:03:00.002-04:002020-03-11T15:03:56.300-04:00LENTIn the middle of Lent and still working on Good Friday service, haven't started Maundy Thursday service, let alone Easter and Joy Sunday.<br />
I did get an idea for May First Friday, so that is good.<br />
I could just use a day this week to work. But serving 2 churches part-time with one church nearly 3/4 time doesn't leave me much extra time in a week. Still have to prepare Confirmation Classes,<br />
and Tues. evening Bible Studies.<br />
This coming Monday doesn't leave much time either. Work on sermon, council report, snack @ noon, leave for committal at national cemetery, back to church for brief remarks, prayer, & scripture, lunch, go home. Come back for evening council meeting with church redevelopment/mission statement discussion and then the meeting. Get home, do dishes, make salad for lunch next day, catch 11 pm news and crawl into bed.<br />
Sigh.<br />
That's kinda how my life is. I miss being able to reflect more deeply and fully. To allow the Spirit to work within me. Everything is hurry and go, go, go. I'm more of a plodder, ambler, stroller than a runner, sprinter, fast walker. I want time to reflect, to notice, to see. It's no wonder, I get so tired. <br />
But we have bills to pay; mortgage, insurance - especially medical insurance which is nearly a third of our income! How insanely crazy is that?<br />
Just feeling old and tired, used up and worn out.<br />
Lord, help me to do all that needs to be done, to tend to the things and people who need tending. Grant me energy, enthusiasm and endurance for this Lent and Holy Week. Be with me. Amen.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-59529148293321934932020-01-23T11:15:00.000-05:002020-01-23T11:15:09.982-05:00DON'T KNOW WHYI am feeling so uninspired lately. It was as if after all the Advent/Christmas planning and activity just sucked all the creativity out of me, and here I am staring at Lent, Holy Week and Easter wondering<br />
just what I am going to do. This after a week of annual report, church newsletter writing, and an on-again, off-again funeral/committal with the widow in the hospital.<br />
I have been praying to God that by God's Holy Spirit to bring me inspiration, but I am still waiting.<br />
I have VBS on the back burner and how I will make the bible stories interactive. We have community First Fridays coming up with May being Chocolate and Art. Last year, I bought a bunch of brightly colored fabric and a parishioner who quilts, cut the fabric into small rectangles (5" x 8") and sewed an open hem on one side so that string could be threaded through. With markers and flags we invited whoever stopped during First Friday to make a prayer flag - draw or write something positive to send out into the community. We hung them outside the front of the church for a couple of months. Everyone seemed to enjoy that activity.<br />
That is a hard one to top! So what do I do this year? I some thought of somehow weaving strips of ribbon together or perhaps something with yarn. I'm looking for ideas, if you have any?<br />
Maybe, the creativity isn't flowing because I don't have enough time even to think and by evening I am too tired. I could've slept longer and later this morning, and no, I am not sick.<br />
I desperately want to do something small, simple and creative for Holy Week, Easter, Joy Sunday and for the May First Friday. I also know that I can't force it either. I don't have time to be patient!!!!!!!!!!!(Funny, huh?!) The weeks are going by and here it is just a week away from the<br />
end of January.<br />
Oh, that something feasible would begin to flow and birth into being!<br />
Come, Holy Spirit, Come! Inspire me, energize me, lift me up from the lifeless dullness and tiredness - perhaps, acedia. Come, Holy Spirit Come!St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-37126827034241729022020-01-15T12:50:00.001-05:002020-01-15T12:50:38.129-05:00A NEW YEARThankfully, I survived December and actually, 2 packages of gifts arrived in time for Christmas and one was deliberately mailed to arrive after Christmas when my sister and BIL returned home from Colorado. Christmas cards got out in time as well. I don't know how I did it.<br />
But I was exhausted on Christmas Day!<br />
Our Christmas Eve services went well. Would've been nice to see a few more people and nice to see some of these folks in church during the year!<br />
The new greyhound is learning what it means to live in a house and not a kennel. He has put his feet on the kitchen counter, he swiped a bag of hamburger buns that LH had just bought for dinner and ate all 8 buns in about 2 minutes at most. I step out of the kitchen for a minute or two and they were gone! Every. last. one. of. them!<br />
I can remember saying NO, so much in my life as in this past month!! He is getting better. I don't have to say NO as much, but more than I would like. Remy is a loveable fellow. He likes to be rubbed, petted, hugged and kissed. He just get the zoomies first thing in the morning when I let him out of his crate and there isn't much room to zoom. So far no injuries. He's destroyed nearly every toy and I spent a month picking up white snow(stuffing) practically every day. Many of the toys are flat<br />
and torn.<br />
LH has been good throughout December. But last Sunday morning at 3 am I had to take him to the ER for fast heart beat. Picked him back up after worship and confirmation class, just about lunch time. I told him, he didn't need to that on an early Sunday morning again! I know he can't help it, but...it was Sunday!<br />
Now it's planning for Lent and trying to get inspiration and imagination and creativity back. Feel a bit lackluster. Praying it will come back and quickly.<br />
Yesterday was the lunch bunch at the Methodist church, where the staff cooks potluck style and invites folks - often single to come and eat. We feed the pre-school teachers too. It was Luau and I made Island Sweet & Sour Meatballs (with pineapple, whole cranberry sauce and barbeque sauce).<br />
I put the crockpot in a milk crate in the back of my minivan. Well, when I cleaned up and left the church, I went to put the crockpot back in the milk crated which I moved closer to me and saw<br />
a tiny dead mouse behind the crate! Oh my goodness! I don't know how long that mouse, dead<br />
mouse had been in the van. It wasn't a skeleton yet, but it wasn't fluffy, furry either. And it was<br />
small. I very rarely use the back of the van. Ugghhhh...had to take a paper towel when I got home and<br />
get rid of it. It never really smelled that bad in the van. But what a yucky, unexpected surprise.<br />
I could use another day in the week. But, I believe God in great mercy, made it just 7 days long, for our sakes.<br />
In the meanwhile, it's near 50 degrees today in NE Ohio which is unusual for January and the sun is shining, also unusual. God's reminder to delight in the now and tomorrow will work itself out.<br />
Hope the New Year has begun well for you and will unfold beautifully before you with richness,<br />
beauty, grace and awesome adventures!<br />
<br />
St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-10503925604846454012019-11-20T11:38:00.001-05:002019-11-20T11:38:35.349-05:00A LITTLE QUIET BEFORE THE STORMI have been enjoying a bit of quiet before the storm today. The grey squirrel perched on the window sill of my office comes by most days when I am here. Today, it came and rested. Perhaps soaking up some warmth from the bricks. It appeared to be grooming time as well. It stayed for quite some time, and I enjoyed watching this squirrel breathe, rest and groom.<br />
Maybe God sent this little creature today to offer some quiet before the storm of Thanksgiving into Advent into Christmas into New Year. I have been stressing about how I will ever manage to get everything done.<br />
LH & I will be heading to WI for Thanksgiving and a gathering of my family - 8 adults, 2 kids, 2 babies, plus 3 dogs.We haven't all been together since my niece's wedding 3 1/2 years ago. I feel<br />
awful to think that my great-nephew is 2 years old and we haven't ever met him. So this will be very special for us. However - I will have to make the pumpkin mousse dessert, and cheese ball, wrap small gifties for the kids, and bring along 2 bottles of wine and table favors, plus pack warm clothing.<br />
We return on Saturday, have Sunday off after the long drive home. Which is good, because I will have to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies (actually using red & green m&m's instead of chips)<br />
to put in church freezer on Mon. for use on the first Friday of Dec. which is our community's Candlelight Walk.<br />
On Dec. 3rd, I have to buy 3-4 loaves of bread for the M Church's one Wed. Advent Service with soup supper. Wear an ugly Christmas Sweater (which I had to order, since I don't do ugly well) for the staff Christmas picture. It is Bible Study night for me.<br />
On Dec. 4th, I will be making Spinach Bites to take to M Church for the UMW Christmas Lunch.<br />
On Dec. 5th, I will attend said lunch and read some poems by Ann Weems. This is also LH & mine<br />
32nd anniversary.<br />
On Dec. 6th, LH & I are making a road trip south about 3 hours to hopefully meet our new greyhound and the very last greyhound to be adopted out by the greyhound adoption group we've<br />
worked with for 30 years.<br />
On Dec. 13th is the M Church staff Christmas party. Will need to make a dish to share, and wrap an ornament for the ornament exchange.<br />
Dec. 14th is the community theatre children's Christmas play at L church, an hour after worship<br />
service.<br />
Dec. 15th is the Community Christmas Cantata hosted by L church doing Bach's<br />
Magnificat with lots of musicians and singers.<br />
Dec. 24th is Christmas Eve with 2 evening worship services.<br />
Dec. 28/29 worship services<br />
Jan. 3rd - our belated Thanksgiving dinner(complete Turkey dinner)/Christmas get-together with<br />
my sisters-in-law!<br />
In between, I have a Christmas Eve sermon to write, the Christmas cards & annual letters must get out, especially to Europe. I have three boxes of Christmas gifts to wrap and get sent before Dec. 18th.<br />
I will need to prepare Star Words for Jan. 5th.<br />
This is why we don't put up a Christmas tree anymore!!! One less extremely time-consuming thing to do.<br />
My hope for Christmas is to survive into the new year!!!!<br />
Watching that grey squirrel gave me some peace, because Lord knows, I'm gonna need it!!!!!!!!!!!!!St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29608708.post-29256598866374932362019-10-31T11:42:00.001-04:002019-10-31T11:42:32.402-04:00RAINBOW BRIDGEWe've had to walk another beloved dog across Rainbow Bridge. Renoir our grey had renal failure and a growth on his hind leg that kept getting bigger. The vet said in another 1-2 weeks that could've begun to split. He only ate barely one can of prescription only kidney disease dog food. Even with the appetite stimulant, which I was reluctant to give him. He had lost much weight and was down to 56 pounds. He was not real happy.<br />
And, oh, how the house is quiet. No click, click on the tile floor, no barking when the garage door goes up, no cold wet nose nudging me for a tidbit or attention. No warm breath on me. No one following me into the bathroom. No more rump rubs, or huggies and rubbies. The dog bed is empty where once Renoir was velcroed to it - his favorite spot in the world. It was his safe space, comfort space and mostly that is where you found him. No more 10 pm where's my late treat. No saying goodnight or good morning. No more prepping meals for him or slipping in some table scraps. It's not much coming home without an inquisitive nose waiting for you.<br />
And, oh, how my heart aches.<br />
I haven't been dogless in 31 years or without a greyhound in 30 years.<br />
Renoir was just shy of 13 years old -pretty good for grey. He chose his own name, and lived on his terms, quiet and retiring. But a good grey, polite most of the time and very quiet.<br />
For now, I grieve, wrapped in sadness and loneliness. LH has been quiet too. At least he was with me when we took him to the vet.<br />
LH asked me a week ago what I want for Christmas. I told him last night - a new greyhound. and a chance to give another retired racer a forever home. I could be given no greater gift.<br />
RIP Renoir. I love you. I miss you. You are forever in my heart.St. Inuksukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09948263711902058871noreply@blogger.com0