Terrapin Station

Church Libraries

At RevGals, Jan poses an interesting question about two topics close to my heart:

Church libraries seem to be diminishing and even disappearing in some churches. Our church is full of scholarly books that no one looks at, and how should it change, be developed, or continue? As the de-facto chairperson of the library, I need ideas and suggestions about church libraries in this day and age. Please help!

1. Does your church have a library? What is it like?  My church does not have a library (as far as I know, I am quite new there).

2. Has this church library changed in recent years? I remember the church library of the church I grew up in...as a reader and a curious person, and as the child of the Sunday School superintendent with a lot of time to kill in the summers, I read extensively in the church library. Most of it I didn't understand. But it was fascinating.

3. Does your church library serve as space for other activities, such as meetings or as a multi-purpose room? I attended a meeting this week that was held in the chapel...it was mentioned that, lacking a library, this was the best space available to us.

4. Is a church library necessary? What does a library need? At my former church, the rector mentioned somewhat huffily that "someone said there was not a church library...that's not true!" He went on to point out 2 shelves of books and films in the church office. Those had never been mentioned in my hearing as "the church library." You have to tell people you have one, if you want them to use it.

5. Imagine the library your church would use and describe it.  Of course, I am all about a few tood reading chairs and some interesting books. In fact, I have a good many books I'd like to donate to a church library.  Wouldn't it be great to have a computer in there, bookmarked with lots and lots of different online sites for spirituality, prayer, RevGals (of course), etc.?  You could have classes to help people learn to navigate the web, too. 

Happy Birthday to RevGals!

Teri says at RevGals:

Happy Birthday to us,
Happy birthday to us,
Happy birthday dear RevGals,
happy birthday to us!

That's right, this week is the birthday of RevGalBlogPals. We're eight! It's hard to believe it's been eight years since the comment-conversation that led to t-shirts and a website, then later a board and an annual event and now a staff person! We are growing almost as fast as an eight year old, and we love every minute! As many of the founders can be heard saying: "we made a thing!" It's always said with an exclamation point, of course.

I have a friend who always wishes people happy birthday with the greeting "happy new year!" It's a reminder that a birthday both marks things past and looks forward to things to come. So may our birthday be an occasion for looking back (as we have done the last two weeks) and looking forward at what God has in store for us next!

Because eight year olds love things that are slightly complicated but not really, and because 8 year olds are some of the most imaginative people I know, we'll be doing a two-part carnival this week!

1. What's your birthday tradition?
2. If you were blowing out the RevGal birthday candles, what would you wish for us? What's your dream for RevGalBlogPals?

The tradition at my house when I was little was that we would get to choose the type of dessert. And I don't remember what I chose (except that one time, probably when I was 8), I chose BlueBell Peppermint Stick ice cream to go with the cake. I recall that my older siblings, who were adults, were less than thrilled with that...I thought it rocked. 

My brother Bill always chose Grasshopper Pie. Mmmm. For some reason, I have the bottles of creme de menthe and creme de cacao that my mom used to use. Obviously I haven't made a Grasshopper Pie in a while (or, ever). Need to do that!

My dream for RevGals is that we grow wildly (like an 8-year-old) and share our companionship and fun with many, many others this next year. It's a big year...we have a new Director, we have big plans, and we are very excited about them. I'll make a Grasshopper Pie, and y'all can all come have a piece!

Dallas Benedictine Experience

June 26:

I spent 4 days in June at a monastic retreat: the Dallas Benedictine Experience. This event is held in four locations each year; the Dallas event was the 16th annual. 

It was, quite simply, amazing.

I was a bit nervous going into it. I am happy to be in silence, and I am happy to be without TV. Eschewing social media might be more difficult. But being in community, in silence, for four days with a group I didn't know? Hmm. Eating in silence? Huh. (I have some issues about eating in front of people I don't know).

It was very tightly scheduled, and rather formal. Four worship times per day (Lauds, Sext, Vespers, Compline.) Two class sessions per day, plus one hour for Q&A. Conversation prohibited except in the classroom.

What I was delighted to find was that in the discipline was freedom. This is not an original concept, but new for me to experience in this way. I took long naps on each of the two "full" days we were there, when we were given time to rest, pray, read, etc. NAPS. Because I could. Because intentionality can be tiring. Because eating in silence was, indeed, a little stressful to me.

We processed to meals and to worship in a prescribed way, chanting a litany. The procession was led by a crucifer (me in this pic) and then by someone bearing an icon of Christ.

Our worship was antiphonal chanting of Psalms, along with other prayers. We had homilies each morning by Fr. Daniel Forsythe, of St. Basil the Great Byzantine Catholic Church in Irving. His words were perhaps the most approachable, hearable, to me at least, of any preacher I know besides Amy Haynie. 

I had paid a bit extra to have a single room (which had 4 beds in it!) so I really luxuriated in that private space. I always need solitary time.

July 14

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to complete this post, except that there's really no way to put the experience into words. It was a liminal time, and better minds than mine have struggled with describing such things.

Some things I took away: A reminder that Psalms can be chanted at any time, internally (or out loud, in the car!) I have a version of Psalm 95 in my mind from my childhood, with language from the 1928 prayerbook, that I sing often if I need comfort or calm.

I have a great love and respect for St. Benedict and his Rule. I continue to study it and it speaks much to me. I am also reading The Cloud of Unknowing, which we discussed in class.

The group assembled for a photo on the first night, at which time we did not know one another. Now I have that photo as the wallpaper on my desktop. It is amazing to me how precious each face is, how bonded I feel to those people. Some of them, I do not know their names, because we didn't have nametags, but as St. Benedict said, "Each one's name is Christ." Just being together with them for that experience, mostly in silence, was transformative. 

Daughters of the King cross and St. Benedict medal

Prayer of Green

Rachel Hackenberg shares a weekly prayer prompt every Friday. Here's today's: 

Today's prompt comes from Writing to God: Kids' Edition, my second book and an engaging resource to encourage young readers in prayer. One of my favorite prompts in the Kids' Edition is endless with possibilities for prayer:

"What's your favorite color? What do you like about that color?
As you think about your favorite color, can you imagine anything that God has
in common with that color? For example, if you like blue because it's
a beautiful color for the sky,you could say that blue is beautiful...and God
is beautiful too! Describe how God is like your favorite color."
(Paraclete Press 2012, pg 56)

Don't be afraid of prayer-writing playfully in response to this prompt, nor should you be surprised if the prompt inspires a thoughtful prayer from your pen. I hope that you'll share your prayers as comments on my blog, Faith and Water; I'm eager to learn what colors you choose -- fuschia, any one?

GOD IS GREEN

God is great, God is green

Like the Green Man

Like the heartbreaking color of new leaves in Spring

Like the hoary color of my tired tomato leaves in the hot July summer air

Like the cedars, fluttering like enormous living parasols

outside my window each day

The first color of them all was green

and everything grew out of it

from God

We thank God with big green smiles and hands clapping

because God is green.

Friday Five: Silly Sentences

Karla says at RevGals:

Because I am feeling silly, or perhaps, just out there, our FF is dedicated to creating silly sentences.  We all need a little meaningless creativity and humour, right?

Use these five words (in any tense) in a sentence:

1. pulpit, puppy, wrench, word, mouse.
2. weep, love, prayer, bassoon, chair
3. heart, shutter, wish, turtle, walk
4. howl, worry, window, story, trust
5. garden, hat, shepherd, laugh, sigh.

The Scene: Nave of a British village church

The puppy climbed into the pulpit to deliver the Word, but was wrenched away by the mouse. He was weeping with love for a large bassoon leaned against a chair, and praying that it would be his.  The puppy and the turtle convinced the mouse to shutter his heart against this foolish wish, and to walk away from the musical instrument. Just then, a howl came from outside the window, worrying all the animals and reminding them of the old stories of untrustworthy wolves in the area.  Outside, the shepherd (the howler, you see) laughed and sighed at the nervous animal friends; then she returned to her garden, putting on her sun hat. 

 

Surprising Galships

Teri continues the RevGals Blog Carnival with this question:

What's the most surprising connection you've made through RevGalBlogPals? Or the most surprising or helpful thing you've learned/experienced through this galship of friends?

It's a twofold answer, because meeting one RevGal friend with an uncanny connection led me back to another longtime friend from my hometown!

RevGal Cathy, who now blogs at Musings from a Woman in the Middle of Life, and I connected early on. She was a faithful member of the blog, a board member for a while, and one of the other lay persons in the group. She is also from my same denomination, so we had some commonalities there.

One day I mentioned on my blog that I was going tovisit the Florida beach where I grew up, my mother grew up, in fact my family has had beach homes for generations. It turns out that Cathy grew up going there, too, to the Episcopal church camp that was located at the far end of the beach from our house (as did my older siblings and cousins).  She lives in a South Georgia city about an hour away, and the next time I went there for a vacation, she met me at the airport and for lunch...and brought her mother to the beach to visit! It was a delight.

We became closer over the years.

One day, I saw a familar name on her Facebook page...someone I'd gone to high school with in Houston! I said, "How do you know K!?" and learned that X's parents were living in South Georgia, and K was working in Atlanta.

This is someone I always liked in school but didn't know well. She was in band, I was in choir...you know how stratified high school groups can be. It turns out we are now working in similar fields, and I have greatly enjoyed "getting to know" her via Facebook. It feels like a second opportunity to know someone I missed before.  :)  K and her family have since moved back to our hometown, so perhaps one day we will reconnect in person. 

So, thanks to RevGals! For these two friends, and many others. 

Friday Five on the Fifth

 

Pat says at RevGals,

In honor of the 237th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Indpendence, I invite you to participate in today's Independence Day edition of the Friday Five! We'll be looking at all kinds of "independence," so please join in!

1. How does one typically celebrate your native /adopted land's Big National Holiday? I celebrate it by flying the U.S. flag and not going to work. :) Other typical things, in which I do not participate, include fireworks, grilling, parades, and eating contests (UGH).

2. How do you personally celebrate the holiday described in #1? Any unusual twists on the typical celebration? Is it something you enjoy or endure? See above.

3. What does the word "independence" mean to you, whether in a political or personal mood? How has that understanding changed throughout your life? Living single until I was 30. Now, it's the fact that I still live my own life, while inextricably joined to my spouse.

4. When did you first feel that you, personally, had gained independence? Was there a 'rite of passage' you would like to share? A pretty miserable situation a few years ago taught me that I had much more control / agency over my life than I had realized. It has been a revolutionary understanding. That's all I'll say about that for now.

5. Tell us about your favorite "indie" film, music label, book store...Recycled Books in Denton. It's enormous, it's purple, it's in the 1901 Opera House on the square...it's 3 floors of amazing book, record, cd joy.

RGBP Blog Carnival - Galship!!

If you ask me what my motto in life is, I will tell you: "It's all about the relationships you build."

And so, Galship means everything to me.

I couldn't figure out how to write one post about all of it, so I'm going to write about one relationship.

I met the person through RevGals, in a comment exchange on the birthing post of the group.  (look at the very bottom of the comment thread...) Before that, I'd been lurking, reading her blog and others.

Something about her writing really spoke to me; and about her sermons. At that time I had not heard a woman preach, and I was able to hear her in a different way. It was nourishing to me. 

Some time in the next few years, as I seem to recall it, she was having a hard time, although I have no idea what the situation was. And something in me led me to assert myself in a way I would NEVER do and say, "How about I come and see you?" (why would I think my presence would be the solution? Huh.)  She was most gracious and said, of course. And it was the very loveliest long weekend ever.  There was lobster and Two Big Dogs.  I went back again the next year, and then another time. 

How in the world did I think having me to visit would be helpful? But it developed our friendship into a real sistership. We have worked together on RevGal business of every sort. I adore her children. We have spent many hours together on the phone. She got me through my second-worst life event EVER, as well as a spiritual crisis. I attended her wedding last year.

And none of it would have happened without RevGals.