My Black Friday Madness

I wakened early this morning, much earlier than usual, especially on a holiday weekend. It was still dark outside, with the sun not expected for a couple of hours. I sprang from my bed, unlike my typical, more gradual approach to greeting the day. My agenda was set, and with my list in hand, I set off with great anticipation, envisioning success in accomplishing my goal. I was psyched! Where did you go, you might ask? I will tell you that it was NOT to any retail establishment. I am avoiding such places today! No, I am in the midst of my own Black Friday “madness” – working on final papers and projects, packing, and reading (or skimming!) materials for my trip to Nova Scotia. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to join with other women in ministry to talk about leadership in a global context. I will admit, though, that the timing of the trip is not the best for me as it falls at the end of the semester and I will miss the final week of classes. When I return, I will have only a few days until all my final semester coursework is due. I want to get as much done today as I can – to relieve the pressure of schoolwork “hanging” over my head so that I can be fully present on this trip. Perhaps now that I have articulated this – again! – my head will be clear enough to get back to the task at hand.

On a side note, though, I did have a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday, visiting with several of my parishioners. My congregation is my “family” here in Ohio and I am grateful for that. In anticipation of my trip, I didn’t go home to Indy this year, but my parents were here to visit me two weeks ago, and we celebrated our Thanksgiving together then.

OK, now I am really going back to the task at hand. J Until next time, peace …

Embracing a Spirit of Thanksgiving all through the year

I have enjoyed reading my friends’ facebook statuses over the last few weeks. Many have been writing about the things and persons for whom they are thankful, and it has been neat to see people espouse an attitude of gratitude. When I thought about writing a Thanksgiving post, I began a long mental list of people who have influenced and encouraged me; a list of intangible things like my education and other opportunities that I have been given; and even some tangible things like a roof over my head and reliable transportation (and warm weather days on which to truly enjoy my personal mode of transportation!). J

As I reflected on this, however, I wondered why it is that we need a special “holiday” to remind us to be thankful. Should we not embrace a spirit of thanksgiving year round? Should we not be grateful for the gift of each new day that is given to us? I know how easy it is to get caught up in the cosmic and chaotic forces of calendar coordination, tackling task lists, and managing multiple responsibilities as if one were a knife-juggling circus performer, who at the end of the day falls into bed from the sheer exhaustion of it all. We live in such a fast-paced environment with everyone and everything in constant motion. It is a time of intense hyperactivity, and sometimes it is hard to slow down for even just a moment to breathe, let alone reflect and give thanks for the gift of breathing itself. Yet that is what we need to do – slow down, breathe, reflect, give thanks, pray.

In the Spring of 2008, I took a Spirituality class at MTSO. This class was taught by Bishop Judy Craig who is an amazingly grounded, witty, inspiring and “real” person. She encouraged us to take several “sixty-second Sabbaths” in our day, a time to pause for just a minute to breathe, regroup, and pray. Perhaps a way to embrace the spirit of thanksgiving throughout the year is to incorporate this practice into our everyday lives. Seriously, all it takes is a minute.

Until next time, peace …

I’m moving into the 21st Century

Can you believe I am writing two blog posts today?! One could say that I am making up for lost time or trying to remedy the inconsistency with posts lately. However, that is not my intention for this particular post. Instead I am writing to announce to the world that I have officially moved into the 21^st century. “Really,” you might ask, “just what on earth have you done?” I bought a digital camera! This news likely comes as a relief to my friends who have had grave concerns about my cell phone photography while driving, but to that I respond, “Now I just have better gadgetry!” J

A digital camera may not sound like a big deal, but quite honestly, until now, I couldn’t really justify the expense. I have a nice 35mm camera that has worked well, and of course, I have my cell phone that actually takes pretty decent pictures. I contemplated buying one last year for my trip to El Salvador, but there were others on the trip who said they would share their photos with the rest of us, so I didn’t get one at that time. However, as I began preparations for my trip to Nova Scotia at the end of the week, I decided I wanted to capture those memories permanently. I am not sure how much “free” time we will have on the trip, but it is my intention to post a few pictures and blog a little each day if I can.

In the meantime, my new camera is the perfect procrastination paraphernalia. I should be writing my final papers for the semester since I will be gone next week, but instead I have been testing my new toy. Flower portraits are great, aren’t they?

Until next time, peace …

Fasten Your Seatbelts and Hold on Tight

When I was about six years old, my family went to Hershey Park in Hershey, PA. We enjoyed a wonderful vacation there and toured the chocolate factory. Perhaps that was the beginning of the end for me and my chocolate addiction! J The park had just opened a new ride that year – the first of its kind on the East Coast – the Sooperdooperlooper! My sister had ridden roller coasters with my dad before, but I had never had the experience. The line was quite long, as you can imagine, but I didn’t care. I wanted to ride that coaster!! And so we waited … and waited, snaking ever so slowly through the steel maze, then finally up the steps to the platform where we could board the car. At last we were there! Just as we were getting into our seats, I got scared and wanted to go back. You can imagine my father’s and sister’s exasperation that, after all that time waiting, I got cold feet. But we were already in our seats – there was no turning back, our harnesses were fastened and we just had to hold on tight. I screamed. I cried. I kicked. And I squeezed my dad’s hand into numbness. I can only imagine what the other riders were thinking about this screaming, bratty child who would not shut up! In fact, my mom said she could hear the screaming from the bench where she was waiting for us. (Fortunately, she didn’t realize it was me). At the end of our 1 minute, 45 second enterprise, as we were exiting the platform, I grabbed my dad’s hand, looked expectantly up into his face, and gleefully shouted, “Daddy, let’s do that again!”

Sometimes when I think about my journey and call to ministry, I am reminded of my adventure at Hershey Park that day. There are times when I have been kicking, screaming, and woefully annoying others along for the ride. There have been times when I have cried out to God, desperately wanting to turn back. Then suddenly my screams and tears of fear turn into laughter and joy. There is no turning back, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until next time, peace …

Georgia Harkness Global Women’s Leadership Development

Can you believe it? A new blog post! Surprise, surprise!! It has been three weeks since my last post – and quite a busy three weeks they have been! Time just seems to be flying by. Over the next several weeks there is still so much to be done – reading and writing for final projects and papers; reading and writing in preparation for my trip to Canada (November 28 – December 3); preparation for worship on December 6^th (the day the service at Smithville is being recorded for submission with my commissioning paperwork); completion of my commissioning paperwork; organization and implementation of Advent and Christmas worship services; and other general church “stuff.” Although a tad bit stressful, these are exciting times for me.

I am very much looking forward to my trip to Canada in two weeks. The recipients of the Georgia Harkness Scholarship are traveling to Halifax, Nova Scotia to participate in a Global Women’s Leadership Development program. On this trip we will experience a brief immersion in Canadian culture, dialogue with seminary students at the Atlantic School of Theology, have sessions with clergywomen there, and visit various ministry sites. Women’s ordination in Canada is still rare, and we will have an opportunity to share our call stories with women there.

In preparation for this experience, we had to do some writing about our expectations of the trip. One of the questions I was asked to answer involved who I would like to accompany me on this trip. My response was that I would love to bring a whole entourage of women with me! Specifically, I would love to bring three of my clergy role models and mentors with me (Karen Devaisher, Alice Ann Bonham, and Betty Ann Garret). These women have been a tremendous source of encouragement to me on my journey toward ordained ministry. I would also love to bring some of my seminary professors with me (Robin Knowles Wallace, Lisa Withrow, and Diane Lobody) as they all have an interest in women’s studies and would be fun companions and dialogue partners on this journey – particularly Diane. As a historian, I would love to watch her engage in this process. I would also love to bring along my mother and some of my friends and classmates, as I think they would also benefit from this experience. And this may sound odd, but if time and location were not a barrier, I would love to bring some of my United Methodist foremothers with me – women like Georgia Harkness herself (and others like Anna Howard Shaw, Anna Oliver and Frances Willard) who forged the way for women in ministry.

I look forward to writing more about this in the weeks ahead. Until next time, peace …

Live the Lament

Yesterday I wrote about the lack of and need for lament in Christian worship. Today I would like to continue that theme. In my post for World Communion Sunday, I shared a story about Sister Peggy, who I had the privilege of meeting when I was in El Salvador in January. Sister Peggy is an amazing theologian who is probably in her early 70s. She went to war-ravaged El Salvador in the mid-1980s at the height of that country’s civil war. She shared stories of absolute horror; stories that triggered emotion; stories that made me weep. Yet in the midst of it all, there was hope, and I believe that is because the Salvadoran people truly expressed their pain and named their anguish. Sister Peggy encouraged us to “live the lament.” The Salvadoran people experienced and lived with incredible and unimaginable pain. There is a Salvadoran saying, “We felt it in our very bodies; our own flesh.” Here in the United States we are focused on quick fixes; we long for ways to ease our pain and often go to great lengths and engage in damaging behavior to cover up our hurts. But that does not solve the problem or lead to healing. I have heard people in recovery and support groups say “You can’t heal what you don’t feel.” We would do well to “live the lament” in Christian worship. We cannot and should not hide our pain behind our smiles – that is not authentic worship. Only when we acknowledge and name our pain can we move toward healing in our lives and wholeness and honesty in our relationship with the Divine.

Balance: Praise and Lament

Since starting my blog, it was my goal to post something at least once a week. Some weeks I have exceeded my goal … and there have been a few times when I have not. L The last few weeks have been busy with lots of reading and writing, reading and writing, reading and writing. I lamented on facebook that I was longing for the third “R” – arithmetic. It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading and writing – I certainly do! But I miss arithmetic – I am missing part of the “old school” Trinity! Ha! I guess I am a Trinitarian at heart. J Seriously, though, I need more balance. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

This week in my Liturgical Prayer class we have been studying lament. Lament is an expression of pain, sorrow or anguish directed at God. The Bible records many stories of lament: in Job, the Psalms, Revelation, in the Gospels. There is also a whole book devoted to it – Lamentations. Even Jesus himself lamented as he wept for Jerusalem and cried out from the cross (quoting Psalm 22), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In the Christian tradition, lament has gotten some bad press. Somehow we have gotten the impression that lament is for those who lack trust or are weak in faith. Worship services tend to focus on praise of God, and often do not give room for the full expression of human emotion. Our praise is hollow if we are not completely honest with God. Lamenting allows us to express our pain – getting it “off our chests,” so to speak – making room for us to praise. Without lament, we cannot authentically praise God.

Below are two laments I submitted for class this week. The first is a responsive reading based on Psalms 42 and 43. The second is a corporate lament written for a situation in which flooding destroyed farms in a local community. Until next time, peace …

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so our souls long for you, O God.

Our souls thirst for living God. When shall we behold God’s face?

Our tears have been our food day and night. People ask us, “Where is your God?”

Our souls are downcast, O God. Why have you forgotten us?

We’ve poured out our souls and remember the songs of thanksgiving.

By day we remember God’s steadfast love, and at night God’s songs are with us.

Send us your light and your truth. Let them lead us to your holy hill.

We will go to the altar of God and sing our songs of praise.

We will praise God with the harp and the lyre, and remember the source of our hope.

Our hope is in God. We shall again praise our help and our God.

 

Corporate Lament after flooding has destroyed farms in the local community

Please listen to our prayers, O God,

     and take pity in our distress.

Do not hide your face from us,

    but be gracious to your servants.

The waters have covered our land,

    And our fields have been destroyed.

The devastation is indescribable;

    the destruction is immeasurable.

The wheat floats in ruin;

    its chaff choked and smothered.

The corn stands staring grimly

    at its seeds submerged in pools.

How can we yield a harvest,

    a bounty for your peoples?

Our storehouses are nearly bare,

    simply adding to our plight.

Dry up our land, O God,

    restore and cultivate our soil.

Bring new life out of destruction

    And nourish our weary souls.

In you we find our refuge,

    Our trust cannot be shaken.

In you we find abundance.

    Our needs will be satisfied.

World Communion Sunday

This post includes excerpts of the sermon I shared with my congregation at Smithville UMC today. The Gospel lesson used was from John 17.

Today is World Communion Sunday, a day when all Christians everywhere, throughout the globe, remember Christ’s sacrifice for us. As we share the communion meal together in this place, we are aware of our sisters and brothers in the global community, and we remember that we are all part of the Body of Christ. Although we may celebrate in different ways, we are one because of our unity in Christ.

I have always appreciated World Communion Sunday and the celebration of unity in the midst of diversity, but this year it holds a deeper significance for me because of my trip to El Salvador in January. When I hear the words “global community,” I immediately picture the faces of the people I met in El Salvador. While there, we heard the stories of many Salvadoran people; horrific and tragic stories of violence. Yet even in the midst of great pain and suffering, we heard stories of hope and healing. I would like to briefly share two of those stories with you.

The first is a story told to us by Sister Peggy. Sister Peggy is a feisty woman in her early 70s, originally from New Jersey. This sister of Charity went to war-ravaged El Salvador in the mid-80s at the height of the country’s armed conflict. She tells the story of riding in the back of a truck with over 20 women and children as they fled from military threats in one of the villages. A little girl in the truck was holding a grape; a small red grape that had been played with and handled by this little girl. The grape had seen better days. When Sister Peggy made eye contact with the child, the little girl broke the grape in half and handed it to her. Sister Peggy was touched by this child’s actions and held onto the smushed red grape. The military caught up with their truck as they were leaving the village and began firing shots. The women and children jumped off the back of the truck and fled into the bushes to hide. Sister Peggy wound up hiding with two other women, one of whom was pregnant. As they huddled together and settled in, the pregnant woman opened her bag and pulled out a tortilla. She broke it into three pieces and handed it to the other women. Sister Peggy was hungry and began to eat, and she said she was embarrassed when the other woman handed the tortilla back to the pregnant woman and said, “Here, you need this more than I do. You are eating for two and you need your nourishment.” The pregnant woman handed the tortilla back to the other woman and said, “No, tonight we share our food. Tomorrow we will share our hunger.”

Sister Peggy looked at that piece of tortilla and the smushed grape she still had from the little girl and said that it was the most meaningful expression of the Eucharist – or Holy Communion – that she had experienced. This bread of life and the fruit of the vine took on new meaning for her that day. Tonight we share our food; tomorrow we will share our hunger.

While in El Salvador, our group also had the opportunity to meet and experience a private concert with Guillermo Cuellar. Guillermo Cuellar is a composer and musician who wrote the Salvadoran Popular Mass. He was commissioned by Archbishop Oscar Romero before his death in 1980 to write music for the Mass; music that was upbeat and contemporary using the language of the people; language that they could claim for themselves. At this private concert with Guillermo Cuellar, he sang several Salvadoran folks tunes and he also shared pieces of the Mass with us. His stories of his personal interactions with Archbishop Romero were fascinating and introduced us to another side of Romero. Guillermo’s music was indeed a gift. He not only demonstrated exquisite vocal and instrumental qualities, but his music came from the depths of his soul. Music is a universal language. Although I did not know the exact words he was singing, it evoked an emotional reaction for which words were not necessary. One of the pieces of the Mass that I particularly liked was called Entrada or “Entrance.” It was the first piece of music in the Mass that invited everyone to come and partake. Translated into English, it goes like this …

Let us go now to the banquet

To the feast of the universe,

The table’s set and a place is waiting,

Come everyone with your gifts to share.

 

The feast of the universe. Is that not what we are celebrating today, as we share this meal – this communion meal – in union and unity with our sisters and brothers throughout the global community? On that night in which Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples and instituted this practice of Holy Communion, he prayed for us. He prayed for us and everyone in the global community: the Smithville congregation, the people of El Salvador and all throughout the world who would come to believe in him. He prayed that we would be one. And our sharing in the bread and the cup today is a remembrance of that oneness; our unity with him, and our unity with the Body of Christ throughout the world.

Until next time, peace …

 

Hope and Home

I went home to Indiana for a quick visit this week. I had an appointment for my physical for the Board of Ordained Ministry – and it was my birthday, so it was great to spend a few days with my parents. While at home, I had the opportunity to visit with some of the children in the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir (http://hopeforafricachildrenschoir.org/). They arrived at my home church, Avon UMC, around Noon on Thursday for lunch, rest, rehearsal, and dinner before their performance that evening. I assisted with the lunch and dinner and enjoyed interacting with the kids. They were polite, gracious and appreciative. Their smiles lit up the room and they lavished love on anyone close enough to hug. And their passionate prayers put this pastor to shame! These twenty-two children, ages five through eleven, were selected from thousands of orphans in the East Africa Conference of the United Methodist Church which is comprised of Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. I can’t imagine being on that selection committee – I would want to give every child the opportunity for an education! Their performance was incredible – so full of energy. It made me tired just watching them! Their music and dancing was awesome! Below are a few pictures taken during the performance, courtesy of my friend Jennifer Eckert. Thanks, Jen!!

Until next time, peace …

Liberation Theology, prayer, and some other ramblings

I realize that it has been over a week since my last post. Time just seems to be flying by. Before we know it, Christmas will be here, and then once the New Year comes, my graduation from seminary will not be far behind! In fact, graduation is only 241 calendar days away … not that I am counting or anything!

This week in my Missions class we discussed Liberation Theology. For those who are not familiar with this, it is a theology that grew out of Latin America in the late 60s and early 70s. It is a theology of the people and its premise is based on God’s preferential option for the poor. It is not a “heady” theology, but one that is practiced in daily living. When I was in El Salvador in January, I saw this theology lived out among the Christian base communities there.

In my Liturgical Prayer class, we were asked to write a collect (a form of prayer) every day this week. The readings in my mission class prompted me to write two prayers related to Liberation Theology, which I share with you now.

Liberating God,

    who called Moses to lead the Israelites out of bondage and slavery in Egypt,

    and who sent Jesus Christ to proclaim release to the captives,

        and recovery of sight to the blind:

    release those bound by oppressive social and political systems

        and free us from our fears,

    that we may, by your strength, work for justice for the whole or your creation

        until your reign is realized;

    through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit,

        lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

 

Creating God of water and land,

    whose intention was that there be enough resources for all of the earth’s inhabitants:

    enable us to care for these gifts with respect and reverence,

    that we might not hoard them, but work for justice

        that all might have access to these basic needs;

    through Christ our Lord and Liberator. Amen.

 

Until next time, peace …