Terrapin Station

A Meetup!

Okay, so it was't with a fellow blogger.  But it was a blog-induced meetup, and I imagine that counts, right?

Remember when Chaplain Mom intrepidly took a group of students to Taize this past summer?  I was fascinated by the story, especially because my profession is international education, and I get so jazzed up by young people taking the opportunity to make their worlds bigger than X, Texas.  (And I adore the fact that in this case, they did so with a marvelous spiritual focus - I work for a state university, so do not get to arrange such.) Her trip was a huge success, and I can tell you that not only from reading her, but from meeting one of the students who went with her!

This delightful young lady is interested in moving to my town (not very far from her hometown) after her upcoming university graduation.  CM put us in touch, and we had lunch together on Saturday.  I got to hear about the Taize trip first hand, and really hear about it:  What it's like to spend time at Taize.  What it was like to volunteer - not knowing what she was volunteering for - and finding out she was a small group leader!  How it was to be a member of a completely international group, singing Taize chant in many different languages.  First intercultural experiences.  Getting lost alone in Paris, and getting found, and learning that it was not the end of the world. 

I was smiling all over my face, and I am again, just thinking about it.  What a joy for me to meet this person, and to know (however cybernetically) the mentor who connected us. 

Thanks, CM!  Thanks, RGBP!  Thanks, Internet!* 

____________

*(Should I thank Al Gore, too?)

A picture worth 1000 words

Here are my sister Nancy, her husband Scooter, and (front row, L-R), Mallory, Spencer and Saxon, white water rafting while on their amazing RV Vacation Trek.

You definitely want to enlarge this and enjoy the expressions on the faces.  Here's Nancy's comment: 

"Today we went white water rafting down the Arkansas River.  The rapids we rode were class 2-3 - great for beginners like us!!  The kids protested quite a bit before we left but ended up having a wonderful time!"

Hmm.  Spencer is clearly having the wonderful time here, but the other two!?  Glad they changed their minds by the time it was all over.

HOT HOT HOT Friday Five

Many areas of the United States are having a heat wave. Global warming, anyone? Look on the bright side of melting glaciers and enviro-destruction by taking a crack at the Friday Five:

Many areas of the world, for that matter!  Right, France?

1. What's the high temperature today where you are?  98.  It's like a spring breeze by comparison to last week, several days well over 100 F. 

2. Favorite way(s) to beat the heat.  Stay in AC.  Eat a lot of popsicles and drink a lot of Sonic Diet Cherry Limeade, eating all the way through the ice provided. 

3. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." Evaluate this statement.  It sure does make a difference.  People up here in the DFW area say, "Oooh, it's sooo humid," and I just laugh.  Having grown up in Houston.  With my naturally curly hair generally in Bozo style. 

4. Discuss one or more of the following: sauna, hot tub, sweat lodge, warm-stone massage.  We have a hot tub in our yard and my, do we enjoy it.  More on a COLD night than a HOT one, but it's still one of the things we wished for when we were broke and just starting out and we use it year round.  We are tickled pink to have it.  I don't have warm stone massages in my yard but I surely would like to!

5. Hottest you've ever been in your life:  Working on a blacktop parking lot with my DH in the heat of the day.  Oh. My. Word.  You think your head is going to explode.  One day, it just might!

Non-temperature related bonus: In your opinion... who's hot?  My husband.  Matthew McConaghey.  Sadly, Tom Cruise's hotness is now all cooled off since he has turned out to be such a wack-wack.  But for a long time, he was it for me. 

As always, let us know if you play--and those of you who are linking directly to your posts? You're hot. And cool.

Ye Shall Be My Witnesses...overheard

So I was telling you about the great sermon that Amy preached on Sunday.  She talked about the feeding of the 5,000, and building community, and being the body of Christ in the world.  And not just keeping it to ourselves, but saying to people we meet, "Hey!  I have a really great church!  You should check it out." 

WELL.  I was in line at the post office for a full 30 minutes yesterday (and it was a looooong time) and I had a chance to overhear a most interesting conversation. 

There was an attractive lady in line just behind me, and she got to talking to the man just behind her, a fellow new to our town.  Actually, he was talking to her.  Actually, he was totally hitting on her.  :) 

He said, "I see you don't have any wedding rings on, a pretty lady like you!?  How can that be?" 

She said, "I don't have time." 

He inquired further (persistent!) and she explained that she was raising one child on her own and paying for the maintenance of another, retarded child. 

He said (in a rather different tone,) "Oh! So it's a ministry!" 

"It sure is," she said.  "It's what God put me on this earth to do." 

Well, they were off from there, discussing the churches they'd both been to in the area, and how a Word-centered church was the main thing they looked for.  They talked about The Potter's House, that amazing phenomenon of Rev. T.D. Jakes in south Dallas that's grown into a mega-church of 28,000 members in just 7 years.  (Hey QG, have you seen this one?  It'll give you hives.  Check out "the benefits of being a partner.")

The woman told the man he should visit her church, the Church on the Go here in Denton.  And she reached into her purse and pulled out a card with the church name, address, phone number and website to give him!  How handy is THAT!

He wasn't giving up.  He said, "Well, I'd really like to see you again," and she said, "You can see me at 9:00 at that church, every Sunday!"  "I'll be there for sure!"  he said. 

Wishing them all the best....and it was a fascinating snoopfest.  I think I need some little cards with info about my church on them!  Except, um....nobody tries to pick me up.  Maybe it's the rings?  Yeah!  That's probably it!  The rings!

(Just a note, I'd heard of Church on the Go before, but looked up their website for this post.  I personally find it a little bit off-putting that there is a login and password on the site...it seems to be easy enough for anyone to join, but a little exclusionary all the same.)

Boys are smelly

Today I was walking into the office and four young men here at the University for Freshman Orientation were walking along next to me.  I said (as I always do when I see these students) a quick, silent prayer for their peace and courage in this fairly stressful time, and for their success here at the U once the fall starts.  Sweet young things... 

And, as I crossed behind them to go into the building, one of them turned his head and spit tobacco juice onto the pavement.  YUCK!  I closed my prayer with, "And, hey God, do you think you could encourage him to stop doing that!?"

Coming into my office, I found, as I do everywhere, 2 tiny little rubber bands (for braces) on the floor.  Seems that the many packages we received during Brandon's rubberband days are hitching rides with me and reproducing.  I imagine that they have a plot to take over the world, and get to a place of power where they get to restrain bigger and better things than sparsely-whiskered jaws of adolescents. 

Can you Hear the Preacher?

Here's a thing that will be strange to some of my RevGal friends:  I have never had a female priest as "my" priest.  At my church, I mean.  I've been a member of churches that HAVE had them, but not while I was there.  Many other denominations have been ordaining women for much longer than the Episcopal Church has. 

I remember reading with delight Reverend Mommy's story (from back in January) about a service at her church where ALL of the major participants were women.  The celebrant/preacher (RM), the assisting clergy, acolytes, and musicians.  It blew me away!  That was like a peek at a whole different world...what it COULD and CAN and WILL be like in TEC someday.  (Someday soon!  Most of our seminarians are women now.)

Well, today our preacher was Amy H., one of our seminarians-in-residence, a female one.  I said, "All RIGHT!" when I saw that she was preaching.  I seem to have only heard her preach one other time, and I LOVE it. 

It's as if she speaks directly to me.  I don't know how else to say it.  I sit way up and back in the choir loft, and I find it can be quite difficult to understand and follow the preacher from up there.  Not her, though!  She has a fresh message, she speaks clearly, I GET her. 

There have been some recent improvements to the PA system (to the eternal gratitude of us poor choristers), and I wear my glasses so I can watch lips.  But even so, it's sometimes as if the regular (male) preachers are going "blahblahblahblah...." *  Please, please don't tell them I said so!  I'm sure it's actually a failure of mine, not theirs...I need to listen better, or something. 

OR.  Maybe I can hear her better because she is a woman, as am I?   Or perhaps because she is a younger person (I'm guessing she is in her mid to late 30's, a bit younger than me?).  That's blasphemy, right, I know it.  It's not supposed to make a difference! 

But I just wonder if there is some way in which I am better able to hear the Word from her (or listen better) because SHE IS LIKE ME.  She's an RN who's following her next call in life in attending seminary and pursuing ordination.  She has a family at home and the same sorts of daily concerns and issues I do. 

Here's the point.  I never realized before today how much of a difference this might make for me.  And what if I were lesbian or gay?  If I were that much different AGAIN from the preacher?  Who might actually be hostile to me?  Would I be able to relate to the preacher and his or her message if there were no people who spoke from MY vantage point in the pulpit?  If there were no GLBT bishops in my church because it wasn't allowed?  It's not that the message might be so different, but how well can we see ourselves as part of Christ's body, if those who serve as bishops, priests, deacons, etc. are determinedly OTHER?

I know that not everyone agrees about these issues.  (In fact, that's the understatement of the year!!!)  But I feel somehow that my mind has been liberated.  And I can't wait for Amy to be ordained, so that I can see her celebrate Eucharist, and receive Christ's body and blood from her hands. 

________________________

* One time our priest told us (I think it was in an Alpha talk) that the items in the Hymnal 1982 are there because they are good music (that's an opinion thing, depending upon the piece!) and also are theologically sound, and he said if he ever preached a boring sermon, we should grab our Hymnals and do some reading.  I read the Hymnal about once a month... :)

Friday Five - The Anniversary!

Woo Hoo!  It's our One Year Anniversary!  Here's what I'm bringing to the party: 

Grasshopper Pie, yum!  Here's a recipe.

1) What is your first memory of the RevGalBlogPals?  I started my blog the fall before, but didn't write very frequently. 

In July had been seeking around the blogosphere, looking for people who were writing about what I wanted to read.  I think I typed in a search string like "Christian women ministry," and Reverend Mommy was the first hit that popped up! 

From going to her links, I found many of the others, including St. Cass, and I was lurking on that fateful "100 comments or bust" thread...UNTIL someone mentioned a T-shirt!  and I wrote in and said, "Oh, well, if you're gonna have a T-shirt, I definitely have to join!"  And here I am.  I have a pink t-shirt that says "RevGalBlogPals" (clearly a past edition) plus a "that'll blog" mug and a "Love God, Love Others, Love Yourself" mousepad.  Oh, and of course, some books.  ;)  Just a few.

2) Have you met any of the other ring members in real life? Boo hoo, not yet! 

3) Of those you haven't met, name a few you would love to know in person.  Songbird, St. Casserole, reverendmother, Reverend Mommy, Cheesehead,  Mindy, WillSmama, Lorna, Smallest Angel, Canticles, Eternal Echoes, CathyKnits, Quotidian Grace...oh, rats!  there are too many to name you all! 

4) What has Ring Membership added to your life?  So much that I didn't know I was seeking (but obviously I was, 'cause I found it!)  Friends and sisters & brothers.  Funny, funny, funny people.  Ecumenical peeks into other traditions than mine & Looking through the backdoor into the life of ordained ministry. 

I've only been playing with considering that idea for 20 years, so it's great to get some real life information (about congregation members of many letters; Bentleighs & Snotleighs; staff troubles; homiletics and how they happen (Saturday Preacher Party is a revelation!); what it's like to be a woman in ministry, or a person in ministry for that matter...I don't feel any closer to such a call than before, but it's great to have a small idea of what the call might be. 

5) Describe a hope for the future of the WebRing.  I hope and pray that we continue to nourish one another as a community in many, many ways.  That our new weekly structure will allow many people to come in and feed and share at the common table.  That we can indeed raise some funds for a meetup, hey, even a conference!  That God continues to bless and lead us as I truly believe God has in the past. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REVGALS!  I'm wearing my T-shirt! 

love, Mary Beth

One more picture - the Resurrection Plant!

Can you see it...in the back of the container is the bright green sweet potato vine I've been nursing along, but in the front is a ball moss, tillandsia recurvata. 

Ken's mom used to call this a resurrection plant, because it would look greybrown and totally dead, and then when it gets wet, it greens right back up!  A miracle!  The oak trees around our campsite were thick with them. 

This is an epiphyte - not a parasite.  (That means it lives on the tree but doesn't harm it or take anything from it, besides a home).

I am a good Girl Scout, so I know the rule about "take nothing but pictures...leave nothing but footprints."  I waited until we got OUT of the State Park to pick this one up off the ground.  I have it in my St. Francis garden...eager to see how it does here.  We don't have the same humidity that they do in Austin, but WE have irrigation.  :)

One of Nature's Funnies

In this part of Texas we have a tree called the Bois d'Arc.  Being Texans, we call it the "bowdark."  Ken tells me that the wood was used for bows and arrows by the native Americans, but I don't know if that's true. 

We have a number of these trees; they look like this: 

Ken is very fond of their gnarly look. 

Bowdarks make a thing - a fruit?  that looks like this: 

It's generally the size of a softball or larger.  Guess who eats them?

Squirrels.  They like to carry them up into a tree and rip them apart (somehow!) and then throw down the little parts they don't want onto the driveway, or onto YOU.  (There's a theory that the squirrels get high on them, but I have no idea about that, either.)  But!  The little pieces are terribly sticky!  So are bowdarks if they get mashed by a car wheel.  And then they decay....ewww.  So right now I'm on bowdark patrol! 

Bowdarks are also most fun to bowl.  If you have a quiet street you can bowl them down the gutter.  We don't, but we like to bowl them ACROSS our street and see how high they bounce when they reach the opposite curb.  Be sure you don't have any stealthy bicyclists whizzing toward you; Ken pegged a guy one time.  He felt terrible! 

In the Cave

Here we are inside the Inner Space Cavern (in Georgetown north of Austin).  It was very cool to see; I'd been there once on a junior-high Texas Tour when I was 11 (but as noted earlier, I don't think I need to go again until I'm 70, or if I have some grandkids to take, that would be pretty fun!)

I don't think these pix do it justice.  It's pretty neat how it was discovered:  the TX Highway department was building I-35 back in the 50's.  They were drilling into the rock and kept losing drill bits - they would just fall off!  Where did they go?  Eventually they drilled a BIG hole and sent a man down on the drill bit.  Imagine his surprise, with his little flashlight, to see the huge cavern and all the formations.  Legend has it his light hit on one formation that looked (to him) like a bear), and he "screamed like a little girl" and rode right back up.  Can you blame him?  It's kind of like the moon down there, but wet.