My Name Spells Gratitude- The RevGals Friday Five

A wise person once told me to make an ABC list of things I am grateful for any time I feel sad or depressed. It is a good practice when one is feeling happier than that, too. So for this Friday Five, I suggest that you use your name or nickname of about five letters and express your gratitude about something that starts with each letter. Some people have longer names, so you decide how you will go about this! (Last names, middle names, and nicknames count!)

C is for Children. We have two beautiful and talented Lutheran Chicks. Our older daughter has flown the nest somewhat in that she has gone off to college. She will be a sophomore in the fall, majoring in Social Work and making beautiful music. Our younger daughter is away serving each week at a Lutheran summer camp and will be a high school senior so we're in the throes of College hunting. College could have been the C.

A is for Anticipation. I am eagerly anticipating a first call parish, and before that the next few weeks of preaching, meeting and greeting that God willing will culminate in beginning a new journey in ministry together. :)

R is for Relationships. My Beloved spouse of almost 22 yrs, my family, my seminary friends, my hospital buds, my Zumba and weightlifting homies, all of the people from my Seminary formation, the campground I served, Toby-our lovable family canine.. the list goes on- I am blessed with relationships.

O is for Outdoors. I love to be in my back yard, with the birds, the trees, the gardens, my new patio space, watching all of the activity in creation.

L is for Lounging. I have gotten to do a fair amount of it, living in the inbetween after Seminary. Amidst the angst, I have also gotten to do more reading, puttering and contemplating things I usually let blow right by. When I am up to my eyeballs in busy, I hope will remember the season of lounging fondly.

Y is for Y Not? I am grateful for the gift of curiosity and sense of adventure that God has given me-it has taken me to a lot of people,places and events I would never have experienced if I was adverse.

N is for Noshing. Dinner with family, trying new recipes or restaurants. Impromptu get togethers. Creating fun things with the amazing seasonal produce. N is also for "Num, Num!" What our daughters used to say when they were little and ate something tasty.

RevGals Friday Five

Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday Five: Garage Sale!

Welcome to your irregularly scheduled Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama and Songbird!
Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have five enormously important questions we hope you will answer:



1) Are you a garage saler?
At this point in my life, no. No more room for stuff. But when I was in college and law school, yes. Some of our furniture came from them.
2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?
I used to be a risk taker when I was shopping unless it was absolutely to die for.
3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.
(That wasn't really #3.)
3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?
Twenty years ago.. There was a beautiful 1920's walnut bedrooom set. But it was expensive. I commented out loud that it sure was nice, and the elderly lady said, there was an identical set in the basement, but it was covered with spider webs, etc. If I was willing to haul it out, I could have the bed, vanity, dresser and night stand for $100. I did and spent the summer refinishing it. The bed is is our guest room. The dresser eventually bit the dust, but the vanity ( minus the mirror) and bench are where my computer is located now.

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort? Can't say that I think the church sales our youth group ran were worth it, so we stopped. In large part because people who "donated" unloaded some scary things. And everyone want everything for under a dollar. The scariest "donation" was a blue peekaboo negligee with cutouts in the important parts. As we were sorting,I found it,before any of the youth saw it, and disposed of it. Used, and inappropriate. But I wish I knew who donated it.
5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?
Not really.
BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.
Not sure I can speak to this, other than to say that the idea of finding just what you wanted rather than being in a sea of stuff has some appeal, but the idea that you buy something and it never shows up is out there. But right now I am looking for a French Horn. Pretty sure I will not find it at a yard sale.

Friday Five RevGals- Grand Tour

Friday Five: Grand Tour

One of our original ring members, jo(e), wrote yesterday about a trip she and her sisters are taking overseas with their parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Many other RevGals are headed for the Festival of Homiletics in the coming week (click here for information on a RevGals meetup!!). In honor of these upcoming trips, herewith your Grand Tour Friday Five.

Name five places that fall into the following categories:

1) Favorite Destination -- someplace you've visited once or often and would gladly go again: SO many places, so little time.
Ireland- in the summer, with the fuschia hedges spilling out over the walls along the road; for pubs where dogs just walk in like customers, and the Guinness is fresh; for immeasurable amounts of sacred spaces and the greenest greens I have ever seen; and the faith needed to drive on those winding mountain roads with no guardrails at high speeds.

2) Unfavorite Destination -- someplace you wish you had never been (and why)
Los Angeles- too many cars and smog and pavement.

3) Fantasy Destination -- someplace to visit if cost and/or time did not matter
A tour of the Pacific Rim: Australia; New Zealand; Hong Kong; Bangkok; and anywhere else it looks like I should check out.
4) Fictional Destination -- someplace from a book or movie or other art or media form you would love to visit, although it exists only in imagination
Shangri-la.
5) Funny Destination -- the funniest place name you've ever visited or want to visit
The Concrete Wigwams on Route 66. Never been- sounds cool. Close second could be the Ice Hotel in Finland. It would be funny because we would be so bundled up that if you laid down , you might not be able to get back up like the kid in Christmas Story.

An Old Versus Modern (Postmodern?) Friday Five


Friday, April 25, 2008

Singing Owl writes:
Yesterday I had two separate conversations in which people were musing about how much change is occurring. The WW II generation, of which my mom is a part, went from horse and buggy to automobiles, saw the lessening, or even the end of many diseases, went from widespread use of kerosene lamps and outhouses (in the country, and most folks were rural)) to a totally electrified and plumbed society. The fastest means of communication was a telegraph. The second conversation--gulp--was about MY generation and how much change occurred in the last half of the 20th century. The person said his 13 year old had not seen a vinyl record album until a few days before, couldn't remember a time without cell phones, and on and on.

As for the questions!

1. What modern convenience/invention could you absolutely, positively not live
without?
The microwave- hands down winner!!

2. What modern convenience/invention do you wish had never seen the light of day?
Why?
The Blue tooth ear clip. They look weird and people are talking and you don't realize it is not to you. People don't think twice about answering even in church. Like it is the Holy Spirit on Line 2. I could go on but I think I will stop the rant now.

3. Do you own a music-playing device older than a CD player? More than one? If
so, do you use it (them)?
We still have a cassette player and a turntable. And yes. My mother in law still has an 8 track player.
My parents have a Victrola.

4. Do you find the rapid change in our world exciting, scary, a mix...or something
else?
I think it is a mix. We have made quantum leaps in medicine and technology, and yet we now also have more ways to not be available to others. Caller ID, email, voicemail, IM, text and GPS directions are all ways of cutting us off from the connections of personal communication and contact.

5. What did our forebears have that we have lost and you'd like to regain? Bonus
points if you have a suggestion of how to begin that process.
The ability to write a really great letter and the ability to sit on the porch in a rocker with a cool drink and a friend, instead of ratcheting up the AC and powering up the on demand TV. Both of these we can still do. But they require a friend who is willing to play along.

Friday Five- He Didn't Die for Nothing

Rev HRod writes: As a child the designation "good" for today confused me. How could we call such a somber day, good? Holy, yes. Blessed, yes. But, good?

As an adult I understand the meaning of good for this day. It is a solemn day of remembrance but it is also a time for us to stop and recall the great gift of love that we received this day. And that is most certainly good.

Our worship today will differ from place to place. Some services will focus on the great litany of prayers. Others will use the seven last words of Jesus. Some of us will walk the stations of the cross. Others will participate in a Tennebrae service of shadows and light.

I hope that this Friday Five will be a meaningful part of your Good Friday. God's blessings to you on your journey.

Our prayer concerns are as varied as we are this day. For whom would you like us to pray?
For all in the world who are the "Blesseds" in the Beautitudes.

Are there things you have done or will do today to help the young ones understand this important day in our lives?
I am not sure I have done as much as I could. In truth, we struggle as adults to face this message. It is a challenge to impress upon kids that which makes us cringe. One small way is to take the palm from Palm Sunday and weave it into a cross- to show that this is the path Jesus took to save us.

Music plays an important part in sharing the story of this day. Is there a hymn or piece of music that you have found particularly meaningful to your celebrations of Good Friday?

"Ah Holy Jesus" "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" - the idea that I crucified thee- none of us can claim to be better than those who actually carried it out.

As you hear the passion narrative, is there a character that you particularly resonate with?

As a parent I wonder what Mary the mother of Jesus must have experienced. And wonder when she knew how it would be? So often we focus on the prominent figures in the story, but there in the shadows was Mary.

Where have you seen the gracious God of love at work lately?

In the faces of all of those who see Christ in others, particularly those who work to help the homeless, the mentally ill, and the oppressed, often in ways that go unnoticed by the mainstream. Like the church that hold a service under an underpass in California for the homeless and migrants who "live" there.
Today's video post by Jars of Clay says it- "You didn't die for nothing."
Blessed Holy Week and Easter to all. Pax Christe.

Friday Five: What Are You Doing For Lent?

Friday, February 08, 2008
Friday Five: What Are You Doing For Lent?

Ready or not, Lent is upon us!

1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?
I observed Ash Wednesday at Eucharist at Seminary, singing Return to the Lord Your God with the choir, and receiving ashes. Then I went to my teaching parish, The Country Church where I was cantor and assisted, and imposed ashes with my pastor. Both sides of the equation.

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?
The year my older daughter, who was probably two years old had to be taken out of church shrieking after she saw the Pastor's large black thumb headed for her forehead, and she freaked out.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it? I grew up Presbyterian and we did not really celebrate Lent, other than Ash Wednesday. Many of my friends were Catholic or Lutheran and I heard of their practices. And the Catholic Church was next door to mine, so on Wednesdays and Fridays it was obvious there was a lot going on.

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between?
It is a mixed bag.
5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year?
I am reading Bread and Wine. I have a Lenten discipline partner at Seminary. We participated in a blessing service where about 30 of us haved paired up to discuss and keep each other accountable as we journey in Lent. She gave up Coca Cola products because their factories create water shortages in the countries where they mass produce. I gave up making excuses - for things like why I did not eat healthy, did not exercise, did not make that phone call.. If the choice is to do it or not, and you cannot justify the action, one of two things will be the focus, discipline and forgiveness. It is good to embrace and accept both.

Friday Five: Read any good books lately?

Rev HRod shares,
The website promoting this piece of art says, "For the first time, the worlds most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated”. The shelf is made of reclaimed wood that contains seven religious books. The designers have put them – literally – on the same level.

Well, pish posh! I think that some books ARE better than others! How about you?


What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why?
Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel. His work gets to the core of who we all are, starting with himself, and without pretense or artifice we become enveloped by God's love, each of us a ragamuffin.

What is one of your favorite childhood books?
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. "Let the wild rumpus start!"
That might be a good title for my book...

Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Do tell!
The Book of Romans is and has always been may favorite in the sense that it speaks to me consistently, however, almost without exception, every book of the Bible has a kernel, or many, that resound. Even ones that a casual reader might think would not. Like Leviticus- just a bunch of laws? Also where we hear "Love your neighbor as yourself" first. Of course when we were teenagers we used to try to read Song of Solomon for its "meaning." wink, wink.

What is one book you could read again and again?

Other than the Bible, of course (which the local political candidates always make sure to say- but do we believe them?),Pride and Prejudice. It amazes me that a woman of no great means, who never left her corner of England, could so deftly cast the nature of human relationships.

Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why?
Come Be My Light which tells of the call and work of Mother Teresa, and her writings. Her struggle to bring help and ministry to the poorest of the poor, the unlikely nature an Eastern European girl hearing that she should go to India, her frustration as others fail to comprehend her message from God, and her internal struggles of faith and doubt are still with me. I wish I had read it during Lent.

And because we all love bonus questions, if you were going to publish a book what would it be? Who would you want to write the jacket cover blurb expounding on your talent?

Unless seminary turns me into a noted scholar, I think that my book would be one of two kinds. One, and serious in nature, a book of devotions for our daily lives, our real daily lives, entitled Walking By Faith because it is by faith that we make it through the things that we cannot see turning out- in our own lives, those of our friends and children. I would want Max Lucado to love it and extol my talents.

But much more fun would be an irreverent poke at the amusing aspects of our lives. Not sure what the title would be, but sadly the person who would hype me up is now in the eternal bookstore- Erma Bombeck.

Friday Five- Las Mananitas

From Mother Laura over at RevGals, a birthday-inspired Friday Five.

1. When is your birthday? Does anyone else (famous and/or in your own life) share it?

October 2nd. Sting,Groucho Marx, Gandhi and me. Hmmm..see them all Here. Kelly Ripa is there too. I am a few years older than her. I don't know why I am not on this list. I went out to Youtube to find a Sting video and found this version of Panis Angelicus with Pavarotti. Who knew?



2. Do you prefer a big party or an intimate celebration for the chosen few?

Somewhere in-between. Girls just wanna have fun.
3. Describe your most memorable birthday(s)--good, bad, or both.

My husband ( before he was my husband, when we were law school students) to me to a very lovely restaurant way out of our price range for dinner and a wonderful jazz show. The music, food and company were wonderful, seeing his guess about which silverware was for what, also entertaining. Never really had a bad birthday. I am born the day after my Dad, so there were a lot of combined birthday things growing up. Actually, there was one bad birthday. It was when my husband was commuting back and forth to Philadelphia ( about 4 hours a day) and it was just taking its toll. He had forgotten to get me anything for Christmas until it was too late to ship, followed by missing Valentine's Day, and then he came home from work on my birthday, in a bad mood, clunked around all evening, and went to bed. No "Happy Birthday", no card.. nothing. I was wondering if I had done something wrong- He had just totally forgotten. Shortly after that he changed jobs, ditched the four hour commute and life got much better for everyone. Was trying to forget that one.

4. What is your favorite cake and ice cream? (Bonus points if you share the cake recipe). Or would you rather have a different treat altogether?

Chocolate cake with raspberrry filling, or carrot cake. Not sure which, but I'll have to get out a recipe.

5. Surprise parties: love 'em or hate 'em?

I think it would depend. Never had one. I once had a co-worker who planned a getaway for him and his wife to Aruba for her birthday. He made all of the arrangements and packed her bag. Woke her up at 4 am to go to the airport and "said it's surprise." Turns out he didn't really pack what she needed, and there was the whole, he already packed her makeup so she traveled "scary" .. not sure I want that surprise.

Bonus: Describe your ideal birthday--the sky's the limit.
We would all hop on a plane and fly to London to take in the museums, and a show and maybe a pub crawl.

Friday Five- Resolutions edition ( for the non-resolution-maker)

Well it had to be didn't it, love them or hate them I bet you've been asked about New Year resolutions. So with no more fuss here is this weeks Friday Five from Rev Gals ;

1. Do you make New Year resolutions?
No, but I think if I am honest, I do internally take stock of life periodically. My perpetual resolution each day is to seek God's will and to strive to be an instrument of God's will in all I think, say and do.
2. Is this something you take seriously, or is it a bit of fun?
Although the goal is serious, I don't take myself too seriously.
3. Share one goal for 2008.
Hard to choose- I could say survive CPE and endorsement interviews, try not to cry that my oldest will celebrate her Sweet 16, and youngest will get confirmed. But I think, the best answer is that I continue to try and do #1.
4. Money is no barrier, share one wild/impossible dream for 2008
Achieve world peace and end world hunger- any amount of money would be worth it. But a backup plan would be to do all of the things in the song, "Live Like You Were Dying" ( I am not a country music fan, and I am not in poor health, but it just speaks to me, with the adjustment that I am female and not male). Although most of the things in this song do not require money.


5. Someone wants to publish a story of your year in 2008, what will the title of that book be?
Walking by Faith