On the twelfth day of Christmas...

I posted this on the congregation's blog a week ago, since I love Miss Piggy's "pa dum dum dum" after the fifth day of Christmas. And I couldn't let all twelve days go by without posting it here, too.

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

Christmas is almost over... We are almost done sending Christmas cards from our house, though I have a feeling it may be a couple weeks after Epiphany before the last of them hits the mailbox.

I found this great site all about rituals for the 12 days of Christmas yesterday, since I'm subscribed to the author's email list. It's a bit late, I know, but I'm hoping I'll remember it's here next year.

I'm busy getting ready to lead a women's retreat this weekend - and so all things retreat-y are getting my attention. This isn't exactly helpful at this point in the preparation. At some point I need to just sit down and pound out a plan for the four one-hour "sessions" on the schedule. And prepare evening prayer, and morning prayer, and worship for Sunday. Hmmm... maybe scheduling this retreat for the first full weekend of the year wasn't such a brilliant idea after all.

Needs vs. Wants

I've been thinking a lot about needs versus wants lately. Somehow in December, along with a whole host of other folks, I am more likely to give in to wants than in the first 11 months of the year.
My inlaws arrive tomorrow for a two week visit. We are excited that they'll be here for Christmas, but at the same time I've felt a bit of added pressure (self-induced) to make sure there are a "sufficient" number of presents under the tree. Whatever "sufficient" means in this context. They've told us point blank they don't need or want much. That doesn't make things any easier, really.
My friend Carrie has been doing a Christmas countdown video series. I'm finally catching up, and her post from Monday is resonating with me. Go check it out.

I'll take mine naked

Here's a great post about wrapping gifts, from Get Rich Slowly. I for one have purchased the last wrapping paper I'm ever going to purchase. And once it's all gone, and there aren't pieces big enough to salvage to do the job, we'll be switching to brown grocery bags, or better yet, the Sunday comics. Of course that may take awhile, since after a wedding 4 1/2 years ago and a baby 13 months ago, we are still swimming in oh-so-reusable gift bags.
If, by chance, you plan to ever send me a gift, please put it in something repurposed, recycled, or at least reusable. Or better yet, give it to me naked. :)

Thanks 4 Giving

This morning G came home a bit early from the weekly men's breakfast and Bible study he participates in. I wanted to get out the door to try to get into town and parked by 9am. Today was the first day of a new Bozeman tradition: the Thanks 4 Giving Clothing Give Away.
I heard about it last year, but with a newborn I didn't make it out the door to check it out. It's a great event. People donate clothes, from newborn to adult xl, and then they all get sorted and piled high on tables and racks in an old school gym. Then the doors are flung open and anybody who wants to can go and take whatever they want. For free. Anybody. It was a little bit of a zoo, but I'm glad I went.
Unlike many of the others (mostly women) waiting in the line in single digit-teen temperatures, I didn't have a bag in hand. The list of items I was hoping to find included a couple of long-sleeved onesies or shirts for the Munchkin to wear now- somehow we didn't have enough long sleeve first layers to get from laundry day to laundry day. Needless to say, we do now.
I came home with a plastic grocery bag stuffed with previously loved clothing, including a pair of pediped shoes and a pair of Stride Rite shoes. And the great thing is, if anything doesn't fit or work for us, I can just donate it back next year and put it back in the mix.
Today I am thankful for living in a generous community. (Remind me later to write about my first 'GGHAC' meeting a week and a half ago...)

Economic Thoughts on a Sunday

Today was "Commitment Sunday" for a capital campaign in the congregation we serve. The leadership team set an incredibly hopeful goal back in September: $600,000. The rationale behind this huge (given the smallish size of the congregation) number was that over the three-year duration of the campaign, enough funds would be received to give away 10% to other ministries and organizations, use 10% for ministry enhancing projects in the facility, and use 80% to completely pay off the congregation's mortgage.
After today's service, the initial gathering of commitments totalled less than a third of the goal. There are still opportunities for folks who were not in worship today to make commitments, and there are additional request letters - to friends of the congregation and folks who've moved out of town - yet to be sent.
I think it would be easy for me - and for the congregation - to feel like we have failed somehow (I'd hoped to hit the 1/3 mark today) - but it's not a failure. A group of people have made a commitment, not just with words, but with finances, to continue in mission and ministry together. The leadership team worked hard and well and has renewed a conversation about what faithful stewardship looks like in real, regular lives. A couple of the members of that team have been so inspired and motivated that they want to keep meeting. (!!)
Over the last several weeks, and again this morning, several people mentioned to me that the timing of the campaign feels difficult to them - good jobs remain scarce, the stock market is volatile enough to inspire fear, coming into winter the ancient fear of scarcity rears its head, and the economic anxiety around the world certainly trickles down, even if economic prosperity rarely seems to.
As people of faith, I believe we are called to recognize the abundance that surrounds us, and to live in faith, not fear. Yes, we may not have enough cash for all of the things we WANT, but it seems like a lot of the time getting the things we want doesn't bring real satisfaction or fulfillment anyway. When we live with the community in mind, and are as discerning as possible when it comes to how we spend, I believe there is reason for hope, and fulfillment to be found outside the shopping mall.
One of the things that has made me crazy for a few years now is the constant reference to Americans as "consumers" instead of as citizens. Here's a great artcile from Abundant Community (I came across the website after reading the book by the same name). Hope it inspires some good thinking and conversation at your house!

*8 Things: A Gratitude Practice

 Rachelle over at Magpie Girl is up to her lists of *8 Things again - and I've been thinking since last week that I might do my own list of *8 Things. But - Thursday has rolled around again, and once again it's time to list a new *8 Things for which I am grateful. Magpie Girl has been struggling with keeping up with housework in the midst of wanting more time for writing and creativity. While housework is always on the to-do list around here, it's not been the huge stressor it can be, at least this week. That said, I'm in the middle of one of my "is this really what I'm supposed to be doing here?" spats of vocational anxiety. So, with that in the back of my mind, here are my *8 Things, off the top of my head, and in no particular order. I am grateful for:
1. The amazingly tasty West Aftrican Peanut Soup we had for dinner tonight - the first time I've tried this recipe from Sundays at Moosewood. (I DO love all the Moosewood cookbooks. And maybe I'll share the recipe here sometime sooner or later).
2. The fact that even though we share a call and cut our income by half (or more) when we moved here, G and I have - since we moved here -  managed to start an emergency fund and save a little more on top of that over the last three years.
3. For the emergency fund, given that we had a water leak in our crawl space which required a plumber to come to our rescue on Saturday.
4. The Munchkin, who is working so hard to walk (15 steps tonight, without holding on to anything, though the last half were definitely "baby" steps) and is weaning herself.
5. The cleaned-out space in the garage so that at least one of our cars will be parked inside when the snow hits this weekend.
6. My husband who cleaned out said space, and who is so fun to watch be "Daddy" to the Munchkin. They are thick as thieves and she doesn't even talk yet - though the giggle can kill you.
7. The promise of time with family over the holidays. I'm not counting down days yet, but getting out of dodge for a few will feel incredible.
8. Every day in my life is different - there's rarely time to get bored - and while this can make planning a challenge, it also keeps me on my toes.

What are your *8 Things?

Happy All Saints Day!

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween. And an even better All Saints Day.
(Yesterday we ran an errand to a new big-box-department-store (more on that another time) and there were already Christmas decorations up. Really!?)
Our Halloween was pretty mellow - we managed to carve a couple of pumpkins while the munchkin napped yesterday afternoon, the munchkin wore her (tags-still-on-it-79-cent gift from her Auntie) costume long enough to get a couple of photos snapped, and last night all of 17 trick-or-treaters landed on our porch to get bags of Cheddar Goldfish (something salty to balance all the sugar).

While we ate lunch yesterday, G asked me which saints I'd be remembering and giving thanks for today. I didn't give him much of an answer - asked him his own question, instead, but he did get me thinking. He mentioned a whole host of folks who were members of congregations he's served, and several family members. I thought of a couple of the great church ladies I've known and buried, but mostly thought of seminary classmates, colleagues, and friends who are very much alive and well.
I appreciated the emphasis on contemporary saints in this article, though I wish the author had suggested looking at the person sitting next to you in the pew as a saint for whom we can give thanks - or looking in the mirror and thanking God that God can turn even you (me!) into a saint.
Our congregation celebrated Reformation Sunday this past weekend. Our All Saints celebration will be this weekend. In addition to naming, and lighting candles for, members of the congregation who have died since All Saints last year, we've added the practice of naming and lighting candles for every person baptized in the past year, too, since in the 3+ years we've served this parish, only one member has died. And, everyone in worship will have the opportunity to light a candle in honor/thanksgiving/remembrance of the saints in their lives. The ritual action can be so powerful, and the solemnity of the day inspires awe and reverance in even the most pyromaniacal of kids.
I'm glad we'll have that time in worship, but I wish it could have happened today - so people would have a better chance of getting the connection between the EVENING of All Hallows and the DAY of All Saints.

Yes!

Yes! This makes me glad. Not that I've read it all yet. I may even head to the bookstore to pick myself up a printed copy. Or not, since it's "no impact week."

10 years + 10 days

9/11 was 10 days ago. Does it feel like more or less than that? I was intrigued (and to be completely honest, slightly annoyed) by all the media coverage of the anniversary. Somehow it felt like no one was asking the right questions. And I'm not sure how helpful it is to watch footage of planes flying into the World Trade Center on endless repeat.
I thought a lot about "where I was on 9/11" - in Randalstown, Northern Ireland - sort of a suburb of Belfast. I was upstairs at my friends' house, reading something theological, when Liz hollered at me to come downstairs and look at the TV. My first question, upon arriving in the family room was, "What movie are you watching?" Of course, it wasn't a movie.
Having the BBC as my primary news source in the days following 9/11 shaped my experience of those days differently than Americans watching network news or CNN 24/7. And being in a country that's had more than its fair share of terrorist activity in the last multiple generations shaped the way I started thinking about the events of that day, too. Over and over again I heard versions of "I'm really sorry for those who lost their lives, and for those who lost loved ones, but it's about time Americans felt what it's like to live anywhere else in the world." The naivete (and arrogance?) of the shock and "I-can't-believe-this-could-happen-here-this-is-America-and-everyone-loves-us" attitude portrayed in European media was, frankly, shocking to folks in Belfast - as it was also in France, where I spent a week at Taize in mid-October 2011.
I didn't think I had much to say about the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and I guess my own rememberings havven't really said much. I've appreciated these people over the last few weeks - people who've said what I wanted to say, far better than I've found words to say it.

Will Willimon, presiding bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, wrote for Christianity Today:

On 9/11 I thought, For the most powerful, militarized nation in the world also to think of itself as an innocent victim is deadly. It was a rare prophetic moment for me, considering Presidents Bush and Obama have spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it, in the costliest, longest series of wars in the history of the United States.

The silence of most Christians and the giddy enthusiasm of a few, as well as the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches, says to me that American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat. It was shattering to admit that we had lost the theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God. The criminals who perpetrated 9/11 and the flag-waving boosters of our almost exclusively martial response were of one mind: that the nonviolent way of Jesus is stupid. All of us preachers share the shame; when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.

September 11 has changed me. I'm going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what's wrong with the world. I have also resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God's own Son.
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today

Diana Butler Bass is brilliant, here.

A colleague I hope to meet someday posted this sermon.

And thanks to Mary Hess, one of my favorite seminary profs, for posting an Indigo Girls rendition of the first couple verses of Finlandia, below. I hadn't even considered putting a patriotic song in the liturgy on 9/11 (a Sunday, remember) until Saturday afternoon, September 10th - too late. And on Sunday morning, during Communion, a member of the congregation handed me a note asking to sing America the Beautiful before worship was over. I knew I had to do it, but I didn't want to. It's not that I'm unpatriotic, it's just that too many American Christians get their patriotism and their faith blended and confused in ways that aren't good for either. I'm thankful that Finlandia is in our hymnal. A little perpsective - and humility - is good for us.

One more thing...

Now that the house is quiet and I'm the last creature awake, I'm catching up a little on some blog reading. One of my favorite things about "wasting" time this way is the wonder-of-the-internet: how you can spend huge amounts of time just clicking links and seeing where they take you. That's especially true on some of the blogs I read.
In case you need a laugh, go read this.

Seattle

Did a just-before-closing run to Costco on Saturday evening, and heard a snippet of A Prairie Home Companion on NPR en route. Here's a fun piece about my hometown.

Almost free money

I told my sister, who asked me about Swagbucks earlier today, not to sign up herself until I wrote this blog post - not that it's going to be a long one. :)
Like just about everyone else I know, we keep a pretty tight hold on our pennies around here. Any expenditure beyond the usual grocery-list cash is up for conversation. Spending a dollar on a redbox movie is not automatic.
Any opportunities to save on the purchases we're going to make anyway are always much appreciated. To that end, here are a couple of websites that are relatively new to me, latecomer that I am. The first is Gift Card Granny, which I learned about over at this post on Get Rich Slowly. I haven't purchased any discounted gift cards yet, but I have a feeling it will happen sooner or later. One of the places we shop a few times a year is Bed, Bath and Beyond, because they carry the CO2 charges for the most excellent Soda Stream Machine G's brother gave him for his birthday a few years ago. Since we're trying to wean ourselves off soda (but there's no way we'll give up fizz), CO2 canisters will always be on the list. Combine a discounted gift card with one of those ubiquitous BB&B coupons and fizzy water becomes even that much more economical than Diet Coke (yes, I know, drinking plain tap water would be even better, but come on...).
The second site, which I just signed up for today, is Swagbucks. I learned about it first over at The Non Consumer Advocate, and I agree with her assessment, it is a little gimmicky - but if doing what I do anyway  - searching the internet and reading a few different blogs - can land me the occasional Amazon gift card (or any of a number of other "prizes"), that'd be great! Even better (for me - and you, if you get friends to use your referral link) is that they give Swagbucks for making referrals. I'm putting the widget on my blog. We'll see!

Contemplating getting back in the saddle

Every once in a while I wonder what might my life would be like had I ended up working in the field of one of my undergraduate degrees (in my over-achieving youth I got a BS in Atmospheric Science and a BA in Scandinavian Area Studies from an excellent state university). The science has always seemed like the more "valuable" - or marketable, anyway - of the degrees. Right after graduation I thought about staying in school, but needed a break, and neither Kansas nor Northern Alaska, where Weather Service openings were at the time, felt like the right move.
It's been a long time since I've been able to "do the math" the way I used to, but I think it will be good for me to start plugging back in to the science. (At our pastors' conference at Chico Hot Springs after Easter, one of our speakers talked some about the intersection of faith and science - particularly in terms of stewardship of the earth, which piqued my interest). So, before I get all gung-ho and start looking seriously at DMin programs - more school so often seems like a good idea - I think it would be a good idea to catch up a little. After all, a lot has changed since I graduated in 1995.

I think I may have found a helpful blog for this purpose: RealClimate.org - and they've got a great place to start if you want to learn more about climate change and the science behind current models and theories. That's where I'll be spending some screen time in the next few days and weeks.
The 350.org site is another place I'll be hanging out. And, what do you know, there's even a site called Lutherans Restoring Creation which is brand-spanking-new to me. Huh. Guess I've got my work cut out for me.

Momma's Day

To all the mothering types of the world: Happy Mother's Day. As I discovered many of my colleagues do, I struggle with the inclusion of Mother's Day on Sunday morning. For some it's a great day of joy and happiness, but for so many others, it's just NOT. For women who long to give birth but can't, for women whose children - of any age - have preceded them in death, for men and women who have difficult relationships with their moms... so many reasons that it can be a harder than average day.
There was much discussion on the RevGalBlogPals blog about Mother's Day and how to include it, or not, in worship. One of the most helpful pieces was posted at a pearl down under. I included this litany in the prayers of intercession this morning. I think it's pretty great.

Of course, this is my first momma's day as a momma, and apart from the sleep deprivation, I have to say it's been a good day. I got to talk to my Mom and my Mom-in-law. G gave me a great card and a gift certificate to the spa at the hospital (where I had an absolutely GLORIOUS pre-natal massage about a month before baby arrived). And I got to spend the day snuggling with one of the cutest kids ever. Here's a photo (taken 13 days ago) of the Munchkin whose Momma I am blessed to be:

The List

I am a To Do List junkie. At our rehearsal dinner, G's brothers and friends sang his praises and generally impressed everyone with what a fabulous and caring guy he is. My friends and family went for the "roast the bride" angle on rehearsal dinner toasts and speeches, and they made sure G was well aware of some of my chief foibles before he said "I do" the next day. Near the top of the list: my lists. Yes, plural. I think they gave G some post it notes, and I don't remember if a white board was involved or not...
 I don't actually have a list of lists, but I don't think it would surprise anyone who knows me well if I did.
I come by my need for lists honestly. I am a recovering over-achiever, and even back in my high school days I had enough irons in the fire to necessitate an "external brain" - a piece of college-ruled notebook paper with two columns to a side full of homework, projects, papers and other things I needed not to forget.
During my college years, recognizing that I needed to begin each day with a sense of accomplishment, thinks like "eat breakfast" and "shower" were at the top of each day's list. And most days, they got crossed off. I discovered I am not above adding something to the list after it's been finished, just to have the joy of crossing something off.
These days, there's usually a list for the week, from Tuesday - Monday, since we take Mondays off at our house. It's not on notebook paper anymore, it's a typed list. And it's color coded, in four sections. The first is stuff to do at work. The second is stuff to do at work that I know there's no way I'll get to THIS week, but which ought not be forgotten. The third section is full of tasks to do at home. And the fourth is like the second - things that I know I won't get around to any time soon, but that I need to keep on my radar.
There are many tasks that are on the list every week (like update the congregation's website, prepare for teaching Confirmation, etc.). And some that only appear a couple times a year (send mother's day cards, pick up steer manure to mix into raised bed, mix in steer manure, etc.).
The bummer is, this week I never managed to actually modify and print the list. I have that sinking feeling I'm forgetting a few things...
I'm enjoying poking around in this post about to-do lists over at Unclutterer. Perhaps it's time for an overhaul. And maybe I'll feel better with shorter lists.

(Maybe) Read. (Probably Not) Reply.

A member of my congregation likes to forward me lots of stuff. Lots.of.stuff. Seriously. For awhile I felt compelled to open it all and then try to read it all, and then think of some decent response to email back to him. I couldn't keep up. Finally, I told him I'd subscribed myself to the Henri Nouwen Society's daily email, and also let him know that I wouldn't always be able to reply to all of the First Things articles, youtube videos and assorted other things he sends. He seemed surprised that I'd thought he expected me to in the first place. Let me tell you - after the fall out we took at our house for taking some parental leave, G and I were starting to feel a little paranoid. Unnamed, unspoken expectations can be dangerous things. Especially if you're the one of whom a couple hundred people have unspoken expectations.
Fortunately, after some hard work, lots of listening, and near-constant reminders not to get defensive, things are getting better. At some point I'll be able to write a half-way intelligible and thoughtful paragraph about how the whole thing went down.

In the meantime, you might also enjoy the meditation the Henri Nouwen Society sent on Easter. It must have made an impact on me. I remembered the "maybe" - perfect for this month's nablopomo - and perhaps a fitting description of the growing edge of my life, too.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. We joyfully announce it. [And yet] I realize that my faith and unbelief are never far from each other. Maybe it is exactly at the place where they touch each other that the growing edge of my life is.

Please Pass the Paper

I love it when little ideas come to fruition, without me pushing to make them happen.
After our synod pastors' conference at Chico Hot Springs last week (more about that later), I've been trying to think of simple things our household could do to continue simplifying, build community, and live a little lighter on the earth.
When I finally rolled into the office late this afternoon (Grant had a continuing ed. gig til mid-afternoon), I ended up having a good conversation with our office manager. We covered a wide range of topics, including stewardship, giving, making sacrifices, American lifestyles of consumption, etc.... I mentioned how we'd given up our satellite TV, she mentioned they've given up their daily newspaper.
And a light bulb appeared over my head. We still get the daily paper - why don't we share?
So, starting tomorrow, I'll take the paper with me to work and hand it over. I said I couldn't make any guarantees about getting today's paper today - chances are good it'll be a day later - but she didn't mind (the crossword will keep). The only promise I extracted was that the paper will be recycled when her household is finished with it - otherwise she has to bring it back and give it back to me so I can recycle it. She laughed. No problem.
How fantastic!!
This feels especially good, since over the weekend I also remembered to ask another family at church if they have a broadcast spreader for things like grass seed and fertilizer that we could borrow. I figure if we only use it once or twice a year, there's no reason we need to own one!
The spreader arrived by the office door Sunday night. Perfect!
It feels good NOT to buy things, and even better to share the things we already have.

I'm back. I think.

I've been asbent from Unseen Endings for awhile. For several reasons. Perhaps I'll get into those later. For now, I'm back. I think. There's a lot I've been meaning to say, and I plan eventually to get around to saying at least a fraction of it. But for now, go read this post. Amazing. It might get a mention in my Good Friday meditations, if I can figure out just where to put it and how... I'll let you know.

The Story of Cosmetics

Have you seen this new(er) video from Annie Leonard, who made The Story of Stuff? I'm currently reading the book that came after The Story of Stuff video. It is fascinating and frightening all at the same time. Check out The Story of Cosmetics. And then see what's in your favorite shampoo, if you dare. I'm thinking once the new Costco-sized bottles of Dove shampoo and conditioner are empty, I may be washing my hair with baking soda...