Friday Five--5 Good Things

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Deb posted this week's Friday Five:

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.


===oOo===


In these last few weeks there's been all kinds of bad news. Tornadoes and a blizzard. Gun violence and a legislative body squabbling like toddlers over budgets, health care and who knows what else. For those of us in the US, it's tax season. Yuck.


We're only in the second week of Lent. Easter's a long way off. And here in the Mid-Atlantic region, the weather can't seem to make up its mind. Is it winter? Is it spring? Will it snow? Will it rain? Are my daffodils doomed if they actually BLOOM next week like they are threatening to?


So this week's Friday Five is courtesy of my good friends Frodo and Sam. Tell me 5 things that are good in our world. Or your world. Photos are a bonus.


===oOo===


1. Soft snow. Despite how much I long for spring, Colorado has needed precipitation to offset the dry conditions we've had all year... and it snowed all day yesterday! Not only did it snow (almost) non-stop, is was soft, dry, delicate snowfall, so it was quite pretty, and easy to get off my car as needed.
2. Animal companions. When I come home from a difficult day, or when I'm sitting with my coffee in the morning, there is nothing more comforting than a furry creature on my lap. They trust us to care for them and love us for who we are. I think they make the world a better place.
3. Passion. While I can get frustrated when I interpret some people's passion as single-mindedness, I'm grateful for how they try to change the world for the better, for God's realm on earth.
4. Creativity. Art makes us think. It makes us pause. It makes us use a different part of our brains. Visual art, written art, sung art--all of it is "good" in this world.
5. Wee ones. I'm not a parent, but I have the joy of having kiddos around me often. They most assuredly are "good" in the world. When there is bad news, they bring us a different perspective. When I'm in pain, having to focus on one of them takes me out of myself. 

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