Second Friday F5

It's the Second Friday of the Month Friday Five...

...and you know what that means--yet another edition of a Random Friday Five!

So, without further ado, let's get our random on!

Sadly, I’ve been away from the F5 for so long that I didn’t know what that meant… but I do now! Thanks, RevGals, for the random.

1.  If a spaceship landed in your back yard, and three very cute little aliens knocked on your door and asked you to show them around Earth, where would you take them?  (Remember, you have superpowers from last month's Second Friday Five, so if you need to use them for transportation, feel free to do so.)

Ocean. Stand on the beach and watch the waves through a whole day and night.

                Desert. Beware the prickly pointy plants that have adapted to survive!

Mountains. Breathe (if they do!) the thinner air and feel the cool of tree-shade and bare sun.

                City. Know the thrust of human imagination.

2.  What is making you grumpy these days?

My body and its achiness; my mind and its slowness to respond to my body’s desire for better health. Wah.

3.  O.K., so now that you got the grumps out, what is one thing today that will be sheerly joyful for you?

It’s my day off! And I’m preparing for a week of continuing education, so I will find a new-to-me book to take with me and just walk around town (I love just walking around town).   

4.  I am pitifully, once again, trying to grow a garden.   Last year I only harvested one cucumber.   This year, I have zucchini, cucumbers and tiny tomato plants.   Everything is abloom, but the jury is out whether there will be any yield.   So, do YOU have a garden?  What are you growing?   If you don't, what is your favorite fresh summertime vegetable/fruit/flower?

I do not garden. Plant life looks at me and laughs until it dies. However, I love other people’s gardens (which, happily, are all around my home!). I’m also fond of their fresh herbs that they share with me.  

5.  If the aforementioned aliens suddenly demanded all the contents of your closet, OR ELSE (as in clothing, shoes,  etc.) but kindly said you could keep three items, what would they be?

This is not a fair question—aliens would never be so cruel! Therefore, I cannot answer. (oh how sad for me)

Random Friday Five

Over at RGBP, revkjarla  writes...

Hi there~~
Happy Friday to all of you.  Today's Friday Five has no theme, other than randomness. 
That's o.k., right? 
So, just to get to know each other a little bit (even more) here is the meme:

1.  What is the first thing that comes to your mind (right now) that you want to share about yourself. 
     I handwrite everything first :)... even my F5... with brightly colored sharpies (this morning it was a pale purple) in a spiral notebook.

2.  What is your favorite piece of jewelry or accessory? Why?
     I think my only 2 accessories ever are earrings and scarves...I love earrings! And scarves! Flowy and free. Although it might be fun to try what the darling here ---> has done :).

3.  If you could have a starring role in a T.V. show/movie/series, which one would it be, and what would your character be like? 
     I've always wanted to be a hospital chaplain on E.R. Every time I watched it I'd yell at the t.v., "No doctor would do that! Where's the chaplain?!!"

4.  What is one thing you will eat this weekend? 
    Church meeting=Potluck. So it's all up for grabs (but I can bet on some type of salad).

5.  How do you waste time? (If you do, that is...)

     Reading wonderful fiction (and some fun non-fiction). Some favorites I most recently finished are: Pigs in Heaven; Bless Me, Ultima; Let's Pretend This Never Happened; Caleb's Crossing; The Next Queen of Heaven; Where Rivers Change Direction; Still; more more more!

Friday Five; Sacraments... all is holy?

Sieger Köder

Over at RGBP, Sally posted: This Friday Five stems from some questions that have been running around my head and heart recently and are squeezing their way out through my blog here and again here--So I'd like to ask you some simple questions about the sacraments:

1. What does the Lord's supper/ Eucharist mean to you?

Holy Communion—communion with Spirit, with community, with self. It is a re-membering of Christ’s broken body—no longer broken when we gather and work for God’s Shalom…

2. How important is preparation for this, and what form does it take?

Our congregation allows “any and all” to come to the Table—“no matter who you are or where you are life’s journey.” The significant part for me is the sharing with others and honoring what Jesus was striving to create (even as a kid I loved “playing” communion with my juice and bread).

3. What does baptism mean to you?

For me it is a welcoming into a wider family of faith, one where we all make covenant with the one being baptized, and s/he is making covenant (or parents are making covenant) with the community of faith—promising to seek, teach, live the Gospel as best we’re able—failing and returning, failing and returning…

4. How important is preparation for baptism and what form does it take?

It’s important for me to hear how the one being baptized (or parents) understands this sacrament, and for them to hear that our congregation does not consider it a cleansing of original sin to keep the person from going to hell. Rather, it is a covenant with God and community and self that is real, not just a one-time, “yeah, I did that.” I’m preparing a couple confirmands for their baptism, and they are taking the questions more seriously than most parents—I love this!

5. A quote/ poem/ song that brings you before God in a sacramental way, and helps you to engage at a deeper level...

Tears of connection and mystery came when I found this poem by The Reverend Dr. Alla Renee Bozarth several years ago:

Maria Sacerdota—

Mary, Protopriest of the New Covenant

Before Jesus

was his mother.

Before supper

in the upper room,

breakfast in the barn.

Before the Passover Feast,

a feeding trough.

And here, the altar

of earth, fair linens

of hay and seed.

Before his cry,

her cry.

Before his sweat

of blood, her bleeding

and tears.

Before his offering, hers.

Before the breaking

of bread and death,

the breaking of her

body in birth.

Before the offering

of the cup,

the offering of her

breast.

Before his blood,

her blood.

And by her body and blood

alone, his body and blood

and whole human being.

The wise ones knelt

to hear the woman's word

in wonder.

Holding up her sacred child,

her God in the form of a babe,

she said: "Receive and let

your hearts be healed

and your lives be filled

with Love, for

this is my body,

this is my blood."

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday

Does he lie there, in tomb’s stillness, 

              and think?

Does he roll over in his grave

               replaying the conversations that killed him?

Does his sweaty stench, trapped in death’s wrappings, 

            raise his gorge?

Does an angel sit beside him, even now,

            whispering the abracadabra

                      of resurrection? 

cross posted on In Praise of Sophia

Friday Five Recommendation Edition

Oh hooray for the RevGals who posted today's F5! (thanks revkjarla)
So, it's the time of year I get inundated with requests for recommendations for students that are looking to be camp counselors.  So in honor of camp counselors everywhere, today's Friday Five is the Recommendation edition  (which has nothing to do with camp or summer or anything--work with me, it's late....)

I was just writing this recommendation in my head yesterday!

note to readers--it will be impossible for me to stick to ONE in each category... and then I'm going to everyone else's blog to see what they recommend!

1.   Recommend a favorite worship resource or devotional book. 

Before the Amen: Creative Resources for Worship by Maren & Maria Tirabassi; the Feasting on the Word commentary series (I read and recommend it for devotion as much for sermon prep); Fragments of Your Ancient Name: 365 Glimpses of the Divine for Daily Meditation by Joyce Rupp (beautiful, brief, poetic daily images--not for everyone).

2.   Recommend a blog that you like to read that you think others might find enjoyable.

Abbey of the Arts; Velveteen Rabbi; The Painted Prayerbook; Prayers4Today; and Aqui, Ahora are just a few of my regulars.
3.   Recommend a fiction book that you think people might like.

One of my all time favorites is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. A way-out-there favorite (again, not for everyone) is The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk.
4.   Recommend a favorite recipe website.   O.k., if you aren't into cooking or food, then just recommend a random website that you find useful, hilarious, mind numbing or thought provoking. 

I do not cook. But, for the realm of mind-numbing or when I need a no-questions laugh, I go to lolcats on icanhascheezburger.com. As a cat lover, I can't help but laugh at the kitty-pics.
5.  And for the last recommendation--it's bloggers' choice!  Make a recommendation for anything!

I recommend reading other people's recommendations on RevGalsBlogPals! 

That's where I'm going now... 

:)

Epiphany Friday 5... A-ha Moments!

Today is Epiphany, the day of the shining star and magus gifts and illumination and such. And so the grand folks over at RevGalBlogPals have offered this Friday 5 for our cogitation...

In the midst of the holiday season I had one of those moments where a path suddenly was made clear - A-ha! This experience has prompted me to wonder what some of your A-ha moments may be.
They can be mundane - a realization that you like/don't like a certain food or that you really look good in that color you never had the guts to try. They can be sacred - a way to better pace your day clicks into place or finally a devotion or meditation practice that really works for you. They can be profound - the moment you realized he/she was the one (or wasn't)or the moment you realized where your deepest passion could meet the world's greatest need. 
Please tell us - what are five (more or less) of your 'A-ha' moments. Where have you had a moment of clarity?

So from the mundane to the sublime, here are some of mine:

1. Realizing that Colorado is finally "home." That happened last summer (2010) when I'd pop back here for interludes between sabbatical workshops. Stepping out the airport to see the expanse of plain to the east and Rockies to the west; breathing open air from a clear, bright sky; talking with genuinely friendly people in their toll booths--all of this and more make Colorado "home" (even without an ocean). What a nice surprise! 
2. I considered leaving the MDiv program near the end of my first year in seminary--but a professor of Pastoral Care talked me into a period of discernment through a CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) summer unit: she thought it could help me explore my call. My first day in St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, CA overwhelmed me with "rightness." I became a hospital chaplain and loved it. It led me to ordination and, eventually, to realize I can also enjoy parish ministry (who knew?)! Fourteen years later I can still feel that sense of "rightness" from those first few days at the hospital.
3. Sophomore year in college, second semester, I had an epiphany late one night: "I'm attracted to a woman!" The revelation was so powerful and "true" that I told all the important people in my life (close friends, the person to whom I was attracted, parents, pastor, mentors) within 48 hours.
4. Comfortable shoes. Yes! Never did I think about shoes until several years ago--I was (and still am) a Birkenstock sandal kinda gal. But now I've expanded to comfy shoes that are cute! Oh yes--I believe in MaryJanes.
5. What a revelation it was to realize I'm a morning person. No wonder night classes were so abhorrent to me! And to get up early to write or exercise (oh, for that dedication again) seems holy. Mornings are a gift, and I'm thankful to have had that clarity come to me :).