Doesn't the Tortoise Win?

I'm slow. So slow, in fact, that today is the first time I checked Seeing the Moon blog. I feel deeply disappointed in myself for not checking earlier; at the same time I recognize cognitively that this trend might continue. Sigh.

The summer flies by like an albatross, bothering not even to put its feet out. The illusion of stopping for a moment would deceive no one. And the wind blows so well and so high that pausing seems like tom-foolery. Yet drifting on the cool courses of jet-stream brings its own serendipitous serenity. When you get far enough away from the surface of the earth, things slow down. The whitecaps become flecks of dust lolligagging around a smooth blue calm.

Vegetables explode (especially that squash), Japanese beetles devour. Beds hunger for water, soil thirsts for shade. The Lord hungers for justice, the Spirit thirsts for righteousness (lectionary text: Isa5.1-7, praise the Lord!). How will we taste on the tongue of our God? Will we have the sweet bouquet that presages a brilliant vintage year? Or will we sting the palate of our Saviour with a bitterness that makes the Spirit gag? This is my question for the week.

Shalom, chaverim; shalom, chaverot!
~em

Dog Day Greetings

Hello friends! How are you? What is going on in your lives and ministry?

This is the gospel lection for today (a part of it, anyway):

They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, " Can you see anything?" And the man looked up and said, "I can see people, but they look like trees, walking." Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Then he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even go into the village."

~ Mark 8:22-26

I am getting ready for a big transition: I will be preaching on August 26 for a congregation that may call me to be their designated pastor. I am very excited by this development, and also aware of the newness of this call, after these four years of work in interim situations.

We have above an average, workaday miracle of Jesus'. I love the messiness of it-- saliva!-- and also the not-perfect-on-the-first-try nature of it as well. I pray for all of us that we might embrace our messy lives and ministries, and that we may engage in holy persistence in all our efforts.

Emrys is building a treehouse... and enjoying squashblossoms!

Julie is enjoying quiet mornings before VBS.

I saw a curious item in the local paper. (I wonder if she "accidentally" burned the wedding photos too...)

Tell me where you are.

Flooding in Hudson River Presbytery

Hello Friends,

I wanted you to be aware of the following press release, which I received from the Synod. It involves one of our own, Nancy Asbury. Please keep her and the entire region in your prayers.

Pat

**************************

Roscoe, New York, in Hudson River Presbytery, experienced significant flash flooding earlier this week after a storm dumped 8" of rain in two hours last Tuesday night. It was reported that least two lives had been lost, a search for mission persons had begun, and people have been displaced - this on top of last summer's flooding in this Catskill area.

Acting on the report from HR's Congregations Connections Specialist, Rev. Chris Shelton, Executive Presbyter Susan Andrews requested a $10,000 grant from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which has been authorized. Additionally, PDA offered assistance from PDA-trained volunteers. The Red Cross is on the ground and active.

The Rev. Nancy Asbury, who is the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Roscoe (who is being installed this weekend!) was interviewed by the local cable news channel following the flooding. She advised that the Presbyterian Church will serve as a place where people can come for help. They have already received donations of clothes. A recovery center was being established in Monticello, but that pastor was afraid that people would not be able to travel there due to washed out roads and cars destroyed by the flooding. Nancy is hoping to set up a more local distribution center. We ask you to keep the people of Roscoe and all river communities, the church and pastor, in your prayers. We will make information available as we receive it about ways other presbyteries and congregations may be helpful to the recovery effort.

Shameless self-promotion

I decided that I am taking 2 whole weeks off this summer, back to back in July, and it can't be here soon enough. Week 1 - -home in SC at the beach eating shrimp. Week 2 - participating in t he Anchor House Ride for runaways. It's a week long ride (500 miles!) to raise funds for a local agency that helps teens - -especially runaways. I'm not riding, but serving as support staff (I keep the beer cold in the water coolers!).

I was going to post my fundraising letter here, because I am looking for suport, but wasn't sure it was in the proper spirit of the blog. So, instead, I am going to shamelessly promote that I knew I needed a break and have taken 2 weeks off. If you want more details, send me an e-mail and I'll get them to you. if you want shrimp, come with me to the lowcountry of SC. We have room!

And for another question -- anyone want to try to take a fieldtrip this summer? NY is probably the easiest for all of us to get to for a day trip, but I'm open to suggestions.

Julie

More Fun with the Tuesday 2

Ok, so I am going to post the Tuesday 2 - -we all can write for the blog! Lat week we talked about fun and games. Here is what I thought of for this week. Play along in the comments.

It's Pentecost - -the Church's Birthday! I'm stealing Nancy's idea for a children's sermon with cupcakes, and this has me wondering about birthday traditions.

1) What was your favorite birthday tradition as a child or as an adult?

2) How will your congregation celebrate Pentecost? Any traditions that you think should or should not be happening?

Have Fun!

Julie

Grieving and Pastoring Together

This morning a dear church member died suddenly. He is the spouse of the PNC chairperson, he created and maintained the church's (and presbytery's) websites, he was an elder (active until Jan.--now his wife is active), he came to every presbytery meeting (often as a member of the nominating committee) and he always collected tickets at the Church Turkey Supper (which is tomorrow).

I drove his wife to the hospital, and stood with her through her goodbyes. The funeral is Saturday. I could use all the prayers you can muster.

Introducing: The Tuesday Two

I participate in something called "RevGalBlogPals." It is a webring open to woman pastors and their friends--i.e., everyone. It is moderated by a team of about ten women. They create community on the web by a number of activities throughout the week, including something called the "Friday Five." Friday Five is essentially a game-- a meme whereby folks reveal something about themselves around some theme (you can click on the link above to look through the archives to see how they do this).

So, I was wondering about a fun way for us to do some of the same things, and I was wondering it on a Tuesday morning, so...

Introducing the Tuesday Two! I will invite those who have an interest to take turns with me thinking up simple pairs of questions that we can post on a Tuesday morning (or Monday night). Hopefully this will be both fun and a conversation starter. I will get things started today by posting my answers to the questions. I invite your answers in the comments, and then a conversation, if you like, again, in the comments. Again, participation is entirely optional (though, obviously, it would be fun to hear from all of you!).

Tuesday Two: Games, Games, Games

One of the things my family loves to do is to play games... board games, card games, word games while waiting for a table in a restaurant... you name it. As my children have grown we have moved from "Life-Junior Edition" to Scrabble and even chess (at which they outpaced me pretty much upon learning how the pieces moved). So I ask each of you:

1. What games do you remember playing as a child that gave you great joy (and is there any reason you can't play them now? Emrys, this is pretty much a shout-out to you...)?

2. What "games" have you encountered in congregational life, either as a pastor or as a member? I do not assume these are all negative in nature (though they might be).

Pat's Tuesday Two: Games, Games, Games.

1. I think the best games I played as a child involved whole groups of kids playing hide and seek over the space of a block on which we all lived. We hid under stairways, in the alleys between houses, in our own houses (though that became sort of obvious). But it was a great adventure-- the game had permutations involving themes (there was Peter Pan hide and seek, there was its cousin, Pirate hide and seek, there was Cinderella hide and seek). Imagination, running around, the thrill of discovery. It was great.

2. It has just occurred to me (and honestly this was not in my mind when I started this post) that congregation members can play a version of hide and seek as well. Hide your (strong) feelings about something from the pastor, and hope that she can figure it out. This seems to be a pretty common congregational dynamic, if anecdotal evidence is at all reliable. This doesn't always have a negative outcome... sometimes folks will talk openly if approached directly and pastorally, using our CPE training and listening, listening, listening. But sometimes, the person doesn't want to be found-- that is a tough moment.

There you have it. Friends, I hope you are all well. If you can't get to this today, try to post when you can. Peace, Blessings.

Mags

I saw the moon

Friends, though I know this isn't what was meant by the title of the blog-- not literally, anyway-- I had an actual moon sighting I share on my blog, Magdalene's Musings.

Silly me!

So I set up the blog and then didn't join...silly me!

Just as an FYI, I'm listed as KnittinPreacher -- my other blog is anonymous,

Peace to you all --

Julie

The Rabbi Is On

Shalom, chaverim!
Shalom, chaverot!
e

Greetings!

Hello Friends, and thanks so much to Julie for creating this blog! It is my hope that this will be a kind of well-- filled with the Spirit, the Living Water, and reflections on the Word... not to mention our gripes, complaints, and earnest requests for prayer and solace in dark times.

I offer this prayer, composed by Hildegard of Bingen, (as well as this illumination of hers) as my "hello" to all.

HOLY SPIRIT,

making life alive,

moving in all things,

root of all created being,

cleansing the cosmos

of every impurity,

effacing guilt,

anointing wounds.

You are lustrous

and praiseworthy life,

You waken and re-awaken

everything

that is.

Amen.