Wednesdays in Advent

I took communion to a parishioner out in the country today. Really out in the country - in another state. That's not unusual here, for we are only five miles from that other state.

I didn't take my usual route to the house because I was coming from another place. I let the GPS lead the way, and as it often does in this rural area, it took me down unfamiliar roads. And for this Garmin GPS, a gravel road is just the same as a paved road. I end up on lots of gravel roads.

But this one was different. It looked like someone's driveway, not just a gravel road with many houses and mailboxes on it. And I guess that's what it was - someone's driveway.

But it was a wonderful look at another part of the county. I saw the backside of some very nice farms. Farms I usually see from the front. I guess that's just like life, isn't it? We see the front, never considering what the backside might look like. I suppose some farms are messy on the backside, but the ones I saw today were neat and well-tended. Just as pretty on the back as they are on the front.

Oh, and that gravel driveway? It eventually ended up at a gate that I wasn't going to get out and open in the pouring rain, so I backed up to where I could safely turn around and go back to a main road.

So, the Garmin misled me today. But the Good News is what I did see - and that there was a place to back up!

Redbuds!!!

I love redbuds in the spring! The glow of their purple (and they are really purple) against the still yellow green of new leaves and gray-brown of bark is just stunning. I take pictures of them so I can recreate them in fabric some day.

What do you love in the springtime? Daffodils? The first blades of hostas coming up? The funny blossoms on some of the bushes we value for their foliage?

I appreciate the other seasons but I just absolutely LOVE spring!

And when I get the picture taken, I'll post it.

Community: fake or real?

Just when you think you've heard it all . . . there was a report on NPR last night about staging. You know, that's what realtors like to do in a house which is for sale. Keep it neutral, as if no one lived there, and the potential buyer could move right in. The buyer needs to be able to see themselves in that house.

But there's a new kind of staging out there. It's staging neighborhoods. One buyer, now owner, met the neighbors, had cookies and lemonade with them, and then moved in - to find out they were actors. In fact, the neighborhood he moved into, in one of those empty Las Vegas subdivisions which are a symbol of the real estate market, has no one - except him and his family. It was all a sham.

And that's not all - apparently realtors are now staging tennis matches, town hall meetings, and yes, here's the best part, even churches. In order to entice buyers to buy into a particular community, they make artificial community, whatever it takes.

I'm stunned - but not surprised in the end. I think that this is a symptom of a major lack in our society: people want and need community and they'll do it any way that they can, including fake ones. Gangs are another symptom: what are they but places for people to find family and community?

I chose the real community - the one that is born of the love of God. Community where I'm not looking for folks exactly like me, in lifestyle, education, interests, language, or ethnic background. I want the diversity of the various points of view, and the unity of the love of God.

What about you?

Who's the blind (wo)man now?

John 9:18-41 (NRSV)
I'm always amazed, when I read the story of the blind man who is healed by Jesus, at the inquisition conducted by the Jewish authorities. The man who is known to have been blind is healed, and it seems they want to find someone to blame, rather than rejoice that one who could not see now can.

And it is the blind man who sees, when those who see are blind. "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

How many of us think we can see and don't realize how blind we really are? Especially in these hard economic times, I wonder if it has something to do with a bit of deprivation. When you have everything, it's easier to ignore needs, concerns, and yes, even healings of blind men, right in front of your eyes. I suspect that those who are lacking in something, food, shelter, health insurance, job, security of any kind, are far more observant, for they have to be; they can take nothing for granted.

Who's the blind (wo)man now?

kenosis

As I occasionally do, I taught a new word to the congregation yesterday. I used the word "kenosis" in my sermon. The sermon was about the emptying of self that Jesus did in order to save us from ourselves. God the Son became less of what he was (as God) so that we could become more of what we should always have been.

My thoughts today are not about the doctrine of kenosis itself, but rather what it means for me. What it means to "give up ourselves to your service." (General Thanksgiving) How many of us have really done this - given up self to serve God? Or are we still serving other gods?

Well, this is certainly interesting - my last post was 1 year ago. Another crazy year, crazy for a lot more folks than me. No house yet - market took care of that. Did have to buy a new car because the old one was about to lose the differential - and that would have been more than it was worth. Like the new car - and this is important - don't feel like I'm taking a huge risk doing the long-distance drives, especially in the dark. Oh - a first for me: a sun roof! Maybe it will be warm enough to actually open it up!

One New Year's resolution: post a bit more! So today, I'll post my two bread recipes I'm trying out and a soup recipe that looks ready-made to go with them!
King Arthur's cheese bread - only I'm making mine with smoked gouda 'cause that's what's in the house!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=32
And their English muffin bread is just out of the oven - waiting those magic 5 minutes to be turned out and cooled so I can toast and eat some!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=266

I'll try the Tomato and smoked gouda soup and let you know how it goes. Happy Christmastide and New Year -

A Wild Fall

This has been a wild-and-crazy fall, probably the weirdest I've ever known. Not even filling out applications for the discernment process or working in another parish prior to seminary matched this one.

To make a very long, very hard story short, the two churches I've been serving as Priest-in-Charge (PIC's to those in the know!) began discussing how/whether/if to call me as Rector. While I was out of town in late October, the Vestry of the smaller church decided to decline the negotiated agreement (negotiated by a subcommittee of that vestry). I told the deployment officer in the Diocese to put my name in for a few places.

However, the larger of the two churches' Vestry met and decided to take a great leap of faith, and when they told me, I said I'd take it with them. And the result is that a church which was contributing 50% of the costs of a full-time priest this year increased their pledges by 70% and will be calling me full-time at the end of the PIC contract in mid-June. I had some concerns when they said they were going to initially try for 75% of the costs associated with clergy, so the leap of faith to 100% was amazing. I am still processing it all - it's certainly really nice to be wanted enough that folks would take that leap!

And the big family news was the thing that kept perspective for me! My niece and her husband had their first child in late October, a few days early. I was more than a bit stunned and surprised to find that she's partially named for me! You can meet Susannah Rose Hall at mandghall.blogspot.com . I've been able to see her about once a month so far, and looking forward to spoiling her a great deal. I KNEW there was a reason I kept all those beautiful pieces of fine cotton fabrics and my pleater when I moved to Sewanee!

My next journey is hopefully to home ownership. After the exhausting fall, I know my own need for a place that's mine and that fits my lifestyle and where I can paint the walls something other than beige. Beige carpet is fine, but that's all the beige I intend to have in my future!