Terrapin Station

Royal Wedding Friday Five

From Songbird at RevGalBlogPals: 

Admittedly the media attention directed at a certain wedding is a tad askew given the challenges our world faces, yet for some it is an appreciated diversion. I'm at kathrynzj's house, along with her mom and sister, for a pre-dawn pajama party complete with scones! And while the DVR will cover us if we oversleep, the participants in the actual wedding had better have someone to get them to the church on time.

With kathrynzj's help, here is a Royal Wedding Friday Five:

1) Will you be watching? If so, is this your first royal wedding?  I did not get up early to watch, but we had a Royal Wedding breakfast party this morning at work, so I've seen a good bit of it.  And I did DVR the thing so I can watch/listen to the music later on. 

Not my first...that was Charles and Diana's wedding.  I was 16 and ever so impressed and impressionable.  Watching the footage of them together on their wedding day now, those memories are dulled and tarnished by how unhappy they were from the very beginning...as we are all now aware.  Tragic. 

2) The bride has chosen as her wedding cake a fruitcake. Where do you stand on this pastry?    

I stand as far away from fruitcake as possible! 

3) The dress code for royal weddings has not seen the same sad decline as that for most other weddings. If you could design your own royal wedding hat, what color would it be and what special decoration would it feature?  I am wearing a straw hat today that I bought on a cruise ship in the $10 store.  It was great against the sun at Tulum; today it sports ruffly white satin ribbon and three stems of white silk wisteria as well. 

4)  Any chance the Archbishop of Canterbury is using a Sustainable Sermon (tip of the mitre to the Vicar of Hogsmeade)? What would you tell the couple were you offering the homily?  Get away from all these people!

5) Believe it or not, kathrynzj is getting up early mostly to see the wedding dress. By the time this post is up, the world will have seen it. Did you like it?  What I saw was nice.  I look forward to hearing the music later on.  However, I am a famous disliker of big weddings. 

Weasel Children

Over at RevGals, we feature a single mom preacher who wonders about having children in church, and how parents get any time to worship that way? 

I've not dealt with this; I'm not a pastor and I met my younger stepson when he was 8.  (By which time he was already sure he hated church.  But that's a whole 'nother story.) 

BUT.  I still love today's post!  I wrote recently about how I fell in love with Children's Church, and while I don't think my particular church does everything right (far from it!), I do think that our solution on this one is pretty good.  Children leave at the beginning of service after a blessing from the rector, and go to a separate chapel service that's modeled after what's happening in the main church - or, in the case of the later service, they do a Godly Play story.  Then they return at the passing of the peace, before communion (which we have every week) so that the families are together for that part of the service.  Sunday School for all ages is held in between the two later services. 

With this plan, everyone gets to worship at a level that works for them (and I must say that Children's Church is currently seeming entirely age-appropriate for me, personally). 

The other way of doing it, which I love, is a separate service.  I am crazy about my friend Julia's church's practice of having a special service twice a month.  They call it Heavenly Sunshine...read about it here.    I also have friends in the Church of England who have what they call Messy Church, and I'm deeply intrigued by this also. (ooooo.....Messy!)

I am in church today because I was taken to church as a child.  In my post referenced above, I mention that I was REQUIRED to sit still, etc.  Fortunately for everyone, I am the type of personality & physical human being who was able to do that.  This was years before recognition of ADHD, bipolar, or other chemical brain disorders; if a kid misbehaved, he must just be a bad kid!  Or have bad parents!  

Guess what: my parents had other children who were NOT able to do the sitting still thing.  And there are plenty of kids and parents in that boat.  So recognizing where people are, and meeting them there as you are able, seems to me like the only Christian way to handle it.   

What do you think?

 

Maundy Thursday Thoughts, random

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.  - 1 Cor. 10 16-17

Yesterday, I unfriended someone on Facebook (a passing high school acquaintance who will SO not even miss me) who posted a clip of the Crucifixion from The Passion of the Christ with the message, "The true meaning of Good Friday."  NO.  I don't believe we can get to Easter without Good Friday, but neither do I believe that suffering and death are the true meaning of the day.  Life and resurrection are the true meaning. 

And, compassion.  That is the message for today.  Compassion and acceptance. 

Leaves

The riotous amount of leaves on the trees is still noticeable and new enough that I see it, really see it.  I forgot what a green place this is, in the winter that seemed so very long. 

We waved palm fronds  today at church.  Had Jesus' march been done in North Texas, they'd have waved oak branches, elm, and bois d'arc. 

The high winds that came through on Friday have left a great litter of little (and big) branches down.  I'm trying to get them raked up, but keep stopping as the robins come along to see what's there....where I've cleared. 

Iced tea with fresh mint is a very fine tonic for whatever might ail you. 

It's been a quiet afternoon.  I am catching up the books, watching cardinals and jays, and, always, laundry.  Also trying vainly to sweep up the oak pollen that makes our hardwood floors feel like a sandy beach. 

Holy Week ahead.  Little thoughts and big thoughts, all under the leaves.

I read today at a comment on this Youtube video,  

"Give me the strength Lord to think of these words in my final agony."

I am thinking of these words today, as I ponder His. 

Friday Five: Birthdays

Jan gives us this Friday Five at RevGals:   What do you think of birthdays?

1. What are your feelings about celebrating birthdays, especially your own?  I remember that, as a child, my birthday was THE most exciting day ever.  I'm amused that I still have that feeling, just a little bit, every year.  It fades but never entirely goes away.   So far every year has been my best one ever, so I'm excited about my recent birthday. 

2. Do you have any family traditions about birthdays?  My parents always call on the phone and sing "happy birthday" in harmony.  My sister and her kids do it too.   If I don't answer they do it on voice mail, and then I keep the voice mail forever and listen to it when I'm blue.  :)

3. Is it easy to remember friends' and family members' birthdays? If so, how do you do it?  I used to be ACES at it.  Always remembered, always sent cards.  I was pretty compulsive about it.  I try, now.  But I fail pretty often. 

4. What was one of your favorite birthdays? (or your unhappiest?)  This recent one was great.  There's really no way to describe how much fun it is to get all that Facebook love!  My big sister (who ALWAYS remembers) left me a present the day before.  My oldest sister mailed a gift that arrived on the day.  We went out to dinner the day after, but that night, we just hung out at home.  What's more fun than that?  Nothing. 

5. Post anything else you want to share about birthdays, including favorite foods, songs, and/or pictures.  We used to get to pick our birthday cake, and my brother Bill always picked grasshopper pie.  In my cabinet, I have two very elderly bottles, passed on by my mom, one of creme de cacao and one of creme de menthe.  Any day now I'm gonna make a grasshopper pie in his honor. 

Holy Week's Coming...thoughts on the lunch hour

Just ate a salad inside a bread bowl.  A salad sammitch.  Good stuff.   I'm trying to do better with packing my lunches on days I don't leave campus for lunch.  Some days I try to cram in a lot of errands at lunch time and then where's the time for eating? 

My computer says that to play any Youtube videos I need a Flash plugin, and of course I don't have admin priveleges to do that on this machine.  So I'm listening to a CD that I've heard several times in the last few days.  It's called "God's People Give Thanks," recorded in 1973 at the Church of the Redeemer in Houston.  The mass music is on it, so it's a particular joy to hear the Sursum Corda sung by the rector who was later my priest in College Station for several years.  Beautiful. 

In Sunday School class last week we were talking about Confession (we are going through Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline).  We had lifelong Episcopalians in the group, as well as those who had grown up Baptist and Catholic.  Needless to say, there was a diversity of experience and opinion about the sacrament there. 

Not having been brought up with it, I have a hard time with Confession, and wrestling with the "why" of that is important.  For the same reason, I also have a hard time with Stations of the Cross, though I think if I could have started out with Elastigirl's Interactive Stations of the Cross for Children, I might feel differently. 

There's been an interesting discussion on the innerwebs about how and whether to conflate Palm Sunday with the Passion. 

Oddly, as I look at my work calendar next week, I have almost nothing scheduled (yet).  It's that time of year: we've finished International Week and the end of the semester approaches, rendering the students and faculty who might be coming to see me busy with many things. 

So, a quiet week.  And I'm taking the day off Friday.  I've learned that if I don't, it's not a good thing for me or anyone else. 

Holy Week actually starts for me on Saturday, with a Quiet Day sponsored by a local DOK chapter.  The title is "Our Fear: His Grace," and here's the description:

"even the hairs on your head have all been counted.  Do not be afraid, you are worth more than any number of sparrows."  Luke 12:7.

We live in a world of widespread change.  We see suffering in ways we haven't seen or experienced before.  On this day, in prayer and conversation we will explore the concept of fear and God's mercy.  Through guided reflections and faith shareing we will examine our own fears, the value we place on ourselves, and God's limitless love for us.

Sounds just about right, no?  How are you doing?  What's your path look like? 

 

 

 

Friday Five: Moving Towards Resurrection

Dorcas shares at RevGalBlogPals:

Though I am from a non-liturgical denomination, I find myself longing for some of the expressions others of you may experience at this time of year. The same thing happens to me during Advent.  At both times I am drawn to the symbolism of darkness becoming light, of longing turning to joy. One of my favorite thngs at this time of year used to be draping the wooden cross at the rear of our sanctuary with a dark purple velvet cloth and adding a crown of (ouch!) thorns--and what a lovely thing it was to see that same cross on Easter Sunday morning, draped in glowing white with a golden, jewel-studded crown added. 

Not being a pastor this year, I am missing some of the symbolism I always tried to employ.  I may find a nearby Episcopalian or Lutheran congregation to visit at some point, acually.

Today I am asking for your thoughts on that movement from darkness to light.  Tell us five ways in which you are anticipating, or your life is moving towards light, joy, hope--new things:  new ideas,  new hobbies, new people...and so on.

Confidential to Singing Owl:  Oh, Dorcas, I hope you do find a liturgical church to visit.  Palm Sunday and Holy Week services are so important to me.  You could come see me!  I would love to have you. 

Okay: five ways I'm moving toward the light.

Ken (and I, a little bit) are working on getting our side yard fixed up.  It's thick with oak trees and there are so many mosquitoes that it's really been uninhabitable in the spring/summer/fall.  We love to be out there but not with the bugs!!  He has an invention worked up to spray an organic mosquito-killer through the mister he's rigging.  I'll keep you postsed. 

I'm still working on getting back to regular Jazzercise attendance, but the truth is, it makes every difference in the world - physically, emotionally, spiritually.  And, there's a real lightening effect if I will do it! :)

I've had a change in medications which is slowly helping to get some things "managed" that had been askew.  Grateful for docs who work with me to get it right.

I'm excited about some new proposals and planning for the future I will be doing at work in the coming months.  In November I'll have been in this position 2 years, and it's been a big learning curve as it was a newly-created position.  There were plans and ideas about what my duties would be, and those have shifted some over time, with new priorities and opportunities.  I'm hoping to recommend some improvements to our processes to make life easier for us all.  This includes more social media and electronic tools. 

I'm excited about RevGalBlogPals.  I love this group and am passionate about its mission.  The Big Event in February/March was wonderful as usual, and our discussions there have led us to look into some ways that the group's activities may grow to better assist women and men in ministry.  We'll be having a visioning retreat for the Board in the summer and I'm excited both about the time together and the opportunity to look ahead. 

So, Yay!  Thanks for such a positive and think-y Five today, Dorcas. 

 

 

PASSWORD

This video made my hair stand on end.  I think I have heard it before, but today it was the lesson I needed. Take the 20 minutes.  It's a gift I think you will appreciate, passed on via my friend Terri and the Words Matter Project. 

WOW. 

And that brings me to the password story. 

You know those affirmations you are supposed to say to yourself in the mirror every day?  Have you ever actually done that on a regular basis?  Not me.  I've tried it.  It feels ridiculous. 

But something from a blog I read regularly^* spurred me to use a version of one of those phrases when my computer password needed to be changed several months ago.   And it's had a profound effect on me.  Daily, sometimes more often, I have to remember and type in that combination of letters and numbers and symbols that essentially says something to which I automatically respond, "Oh, come on!"

(For example, it might be:  "I@m@wesome222".)

It's something I'd tell you I believe...and yet, I'd be embarrassed to reveal it to anyone as my password (not that I would ever tell anyone my password anyway...)   Because it sounds conceited? Because I don't really believe it about me?  

But here's the deal:  Each day that I use it, I become willing to consider believing it just a little bit more.  I become more willing to "believe that I'm worthy of love and belonging" as Brené Brown says in the video. 

And that's no small thing. 

***

^* Single Dad Laughing, where every Sunday there's a feature called "This is Beautiful You." 

Friday Five: Quick Pick with Bluebonnets

Kathrynzj writes at RevGals: 

Greetings all!

We're in the midst of 'it' and I'm hoping that it is not just me who is starting to get a bit overwhelmed. So for today I am asking for five quick picks of things that are good in your life. And as a bonus, 1 pick for a thing you could do without.

Good in my life: 

- It's April, hooray, so the endless March of 2011 is OVER.  Golly what a month.  I did not like it, a lot.  It included a mortgage refinance closing, in addition to other stuff.  All done with.  And April means bluebonnets.

- And, well, it's payday today.

- I took care of a tricksy insurance issue yesterday, also mailed my tax return. 

- We're getting a refund.

- And I have a job, one that I like.  I'm keenly aware that many, many, many people cannot even make the first statement. 

Um, and I could kind of do without April Fool's Day.  I'm a little heady with sinusy polleny stuff and things that I'm supposed to have a quick wit to deal with?  Not working out so well for me.