i'd like to have a few words with them...

so, it's a beautiful day here today. i went with a friend and her one year old son to pick apples. the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the leaves are red and orange and gold and it's just glorious to be outside.

so, i'm driving down the country road to meet them at the orchard, enjoying the window down, and thinking that this life in the country can be pretty fun. then, i switch the radio from NPR to the Christian station. then, suddenly, i realize i'm listening to...CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!!!!

warning: ranting below!

before i could change the station, the song ended and a station announcement came on about playing Christmas music from now until, of course, Christmas day. it turns out this is an "evangelism tool" and not only will we be hearing Christmas music for the next two months, but we will occasionally hear "secular" holiday songs which serve as "hooks" for those who don't usually listen to Christian radio. because, as they helpfully pointed out, people are "more receptive" to hear about "spiritual things" around the "holiday season." which apparently starts now.

so, i'd like to say a few things to the Christian radio station...(well, to you, because they are probably not reading this.)

first, for the church, the Christmas season starts on Christmas and goes until Epiphany (Jan. 6). we believe that season leading up to Christmas, that time of preparation, is really, really important. so important...and different...we make it a separate season altogether: advent. it's a season of waiting expectantly. it is a season of sitting in the darkness, knowing that the light is coming. it is a season of remembering and reliving the coming of Christ the first time because we believe we are waiting for Christ to come again...and looking, hopefully, toward that time when the chaos, pain, and darkness of this world will be made right. it's an important time. it's something that no one else is talking about how to do. if Christians want to provide a witness in the world during the "holiday season," this is a great one to offer!

second, the folks who started making this the holiday season already are the stores. the commercial season of Christmas has been extended to convince us to buy more stuff so they can make more money. this isn't about Jesus. i fear that the more that organizations bearing the name of Christians buy into this, the more we are supporting the secularization and commercialization of Christmas.

also, it's OCTOBER!!! i mean, i'm all about listening to Christmas music before Christmas. while, i find it very, very important to celebrate advent, i will start listening to Christmas music early...but not until after Thanksgiving!

okay...just one more thing...while i'm upset with the Christian radio station. there is more to our faith than "encouragement" and "safety." i could rant about that for a while, but i'll stop.

i really do like listening to some of the music on the Christian radio station. however, i won't be listening again until at least after Thanksgiving.

aaahhh!

it's raining. it's been raining for 3 days now and there are flood warnings for our county. it's wonderful. you can almost literally see the earth and the trees and all the animals saying a collective "aaahhh!" well, now the sheep down the street from us are starting to look a little soaked, but i think they are still happy.

i think this change inspired me. something did. i've been working on getting things done...things i've been meaning to do since i got here in august. maybe i just needed to rest, but now the rain has energized me.

i've put a new doorknob on our front door. (the cat had learned how to open the other one, which was more of a handle than a knob, and could let himself...and the dog if he was feeling kind...out into the wild outdoors. now, his devious plans have been foiled! take that you sneaky cat!)

i cleaned out and organized the garage. there are still a couple of things left to deal with, but we are much, much closer to being able to put both cars in the garage. it occurred to me sometime recently that the garage isn't just for fun or just fabulous extra storage. it is actually going to get cold here sooner than later...and it will snow at some point. and then it will be important to be able to fit both cars in the garage. but, now, that will be possible. go me.

i've found homes for all the things that were sitting in the garage waiting for a home.

i've finally unpacked our art and extra frames and laid it out on the dining room table so we can figure out where to hang it all...and finally hang some things on our walls! i got our cloth wall hangings up this summer with the help of a couple of friends who were visiting. (one of these was the same friend who laid on our kitchen counters to install lights under the cabinets for me when we first moved in. he's a good guy!) we've also a hung a mirror those same friends made us recently. but, that's it. it's time. we're here to stay for a while...i'd like our art to fill this place now.

if it keeps raining for a few more days, who knows what else i could accomplish! back to work!

let the rains come...please

it looks like it might rain. the weather channel is saying it will rain. the clouds have hung around all day. it just might rain. we need it. everyone needs it. my hometown of atlanta needs it...badly.

the other day a woman told me about taking her kids to see the reservoir that serves their town. you can see the bottom of it in most places. it's full of mud more than water. the kids got it. they stopped running extra water. there's a dad in the area that has apparently taken to timing his kids' showers. 5 minutes. he gives you a two minute warning. friends of our from church are taking their laundry to the laundromat in the town that is not running out of water...because their well is close to being dry. then, they won't have any water at their house. at all.

i think we don't usually understand the power of calling Christ the water of life...that never runs dry. folks who would've walked a ways to get water and then carried it back to their homes to drink and bathe and clean would've understood how important water is.

maybe we will, too.

strong women...

today is my grandmother's birthday. i've also spent the week helping with the preparations for the annual festival in the village where we go to church. there are events going on all over the village and the church is having several fundraising events: a tag sale, a bake sale, a craft sale, and has a sit down lunch for folks where church folks wait tables. so, i've gotten to spend every morning this week (and most of the day today) down at the church getting ready. this has been great fun because well, it's been the first week since i've been here that i've been busy and i've been able to get to know folks at the church better.

and, let's be honest, for better or worse, almost all of the people at the church getting ready for this big festival day are women...more than that, women who have flexibility enough to be at the church during the day. i know the men are doing things...three or four have popped in or dropped something off or taken the garbage out or something. and i know they've built nearly all of the furniture in the church and do the repairs, etc. but, it seems pretty clear that the women are running this show. just this week i have watched or helped these women set up tables and arrange all the furniture in the fellowship hall to accommodate lunch for everyone, set up and sort and price all the craft items (that they've made...i was excited to contribute some things, too), set up the tag sale, and cook and cook and cook: gallons and gallons of turkey salad, ham salad, potato salad and coleslaw...and over 30 pies! (of course, the pie crusts are made from scratch!) everything is all set up now for an assembly line tight ship when we get there to serve lunch to all those folks. everyone will have all the supplies they need in their designated areas because these women have it all together.

these women have a plan. they have a job for anyone willing to help. they are supportive and encouraging. they laugh. they tell stories. they care about doing things well. they care about each other's people. they care about each other.

sometime yesterday morning...it may have been when i was halfway up to my elbows mixing coleslaw...i realized that, in some way, this is how i was having my own little celebration of my grandma's birthday. see, this is the first year i've been so far away for things like birthdays and i really would've rather gone out to dinner tonight with my mom and grandma than have to mail a package with her present. so, i realized that instead of being able to be there with her, i had just surrounded myself with strong, capable women who cook really well...just like my grandma.

being in the kitchen at the church is a bit like being in the kitchen at our family farm with grandma and her sisters, working around the kitchen table. it's best to offer to help, do what you can see to do to help if you haven't been given a specific job and, otherwise, stay out of their way because they have the dance of that kitchen down to an art. unlike the women at the church, though, these sisters can often finish each other's sentences and it's as though they can read each other's minds...especially when cooking (or fishing, for that matter). their love for each other is palpable in the room and they all laugh more when they are together. it is a good, good thing to be in the presence of such relationships.

it's also a good idea, when you're in the kitchen, to listen. you'll learn a lot. of course, they care a lot about what you have to say and will ask all kinds of questions about your life. but, in the kitchen at the farm...or at my grandma's house with just her...you can learn all kinds of things. about cooking, about fixin' things, about the way things were, and about family...being family and family heritage that is passed down and made real by the stories they tell...connections to great, great, great grandparents i would never have even known of otherwise.

well, maybe that doesn't seem like much to other folks or sound very exciting...but i cherish the relationships i've had with my great-aunts and uncles and am so grateful for my grandmother's help in staying connected. i'm grateful they are all connected. i just think that kind of heritage and, for that matter, close relationships with extended family are all too rare in our busy, busy world.

and, these women, stronger than anyone can know, have taught me a lot...about staying in touch, about keeping faith, about laughing together, about holding it together for each other when things seem to be falling apart, and about building relationships around the table...i'm not sure Jesus gathered folks around the kitchen table, exactly, for that supper, but i know it's a pretty sacred place in our kitchen...and the Spirit is definitely present.

so, i'm glad for all these strong women and i hope i can learn from them. and, on this day, especially, i am very grateful for you, grandma, and for all the strength and love you share with me. happy birthday.

crazy country sighting...

i had a really nice morning today. we went to the local farmer's market in the town nearby and got food for the week. lots of the farmers/growers will stop coming soon, though this market is open every saturday year round. but, since it is the end of the primary growing season, they are selling things by the box. so, we stocked up and i'm going to attempt some freezing and canning this week. we'll see.

then we went to a "town-wide tag sale" at another, smaller town nearby. i've recently learned that tag sale is something like yankee-ese for what we southerners call a yard sale. i'm intrigued by the geographical lingo in this arena and who claims what: yard, garage, rummage, and now tag. anyway...it was fun to walk around, though we didn't find much we needed or wanted. there was a castle shaped bundt cake pan that looked like it could provide some birthday fun, but i wasn't willing to commit to moving it when it comes time to do that again. (if we're going to keep moving like we have been, i'm going to have to LOVE everything i have to pack and unpack...a lot!)

but, the strange part of the day was on the way home from these small town adventures. we were driving on one of the paved, but unlined country roads near our house. we came up behind someone riding their horse on the road...this is fairly common on a nice day. we slowed down so we could pass without scaring the horse or rider and waved as we passed. it was then that we realized the man was talking on his cell phone. riding his horse and talking on his cell phone. and we don't even get decent cell reception on these roads! it was just weird.

(for our UM friends) this siting prompted a lengthy conversation about how John Wesley would have utilized technology of the 21C if he'd had access to it. we think he definitely would have talked on his cell or even texted while on horseback. we also think he would have blogged.

what will the wind bring?

so, after a couple of weeks of hot, summer-like weather in the 90's, it's finally gotten cooler up here. it finally feels like fall. and it has been very, very windy. the beast and mini-beast seem excited. the beast is sensing new smells everywhere. the mini-beast is maybe excited, maybe a little scared of this wind...his running around like a crazy person, jumping off the mantle, and wrestling with the beast could be symptomatic of joy or fear. it's hard to tell.

the wind makes me wonder what will happen...in this change of seasons...like maybe mary poppins will float over the next hill any moment now. it's exciting.

8 year olds are so wise

yeah, so i'm teaching Sunday School at our little Virginia church this month. i have the younger class which, the best i can figure, ranges from about age 3 (just one of those) to about age 9 (several of those). yesterday was my first day with them. i was new...i was no one's mom...i was interesting without having to say a word. i know that will only last one day, but i appreciated it while it lasted. and we had a good day.

yesterday was World Communion Sunday, so we talked about that and about what communion is and how common it is for people (all over the world) to eat some kind of bread every day...as a staple for their diet. (this gets to be an important fact when you tie it in with Jesus saying every time you eat bread, remember me...that means every time we eat...every day! that's important.)

but, the best part of the whole lesson, for me at least, was when we were talking about how Jesus is God.

me: so, do y'all know that Jesus is God? God became a human...just like us. Jesus is fully human and fully God.

them: a mixture of blank and thoughtful stares...

me: isn't that wild to think about? most people, even adults, even people who are paid to think about this all the time, even pastors can't really wrap their minds around that...but it's true. cool, huh?

C (an 8 or 9 year old girl): i knew God and Jesus were the same thing.

J (a 7 year old boy): yeah...but i thought Jesus was God's daddy...or is it the other way around.

me: yeah, we think about God as the parent and Jesus as the son...that's a way for us to get our minds around all of this...and they are also both God.

S (a very engaged 8 year old who has been thinking about this for a while): we are mammals. (and looks at me questioningly)

me: yes...(thinking through this as i speak)...and Jesus was human like us...so Jesus was a mammal, too...and God...all at the same time. crazy, huh?

J (the same 7 year old boy): gorillas are mammals.

me: yes, they are. God made a very good and cool creation.


so, i'm sure you're thinking "wow, that was one Sunday School lesson gone awry." but, that's not how i see it. one, i think that none of us really understand these big theological things, so it's important to talk about them in low key language with anyone who wants to listen, of any age, not dwell on them too much, and just keep talking about them over time. eventually, we all, at any age, realize our thoughts, prayers, belief, and selves are being shaped or reshaped by having this big stuff bouncing around in our brain...pondering the possibilities...pondering the bigness and just amazingness of who God is.

and, this wise 8 year old, and his 7 year old sidekick, have now added to my bigness ponderings. i've never thought of the Incarnation in terms of scientific classification before. if God chose to become human, to be like us, then Jesus Christ was a mammal just like us...and the apes. now, i'm not getting into the whole evolution debate...i'm just sayin'...maybe Jesus is closer to the apes than i've ever thought about before...

that's something to ponder...

our first friendship date...

...well, that's what it felt like.

we went out on friday night with another couple. the wife just graduated from seminary and is working at a church nearby. we worship there sometimes at and evening service and see this couple. we're all new to town and don't have a lot of friends. we said one evening after church that we should get together sometime. finally, we were able to get together. they got a babysitter. i worried a little bit about what to wear. (really, it had been weeks since i'd been out on a friday night...and it's just not very often i need to worry about what i'm wearing up here...my life is pretty casual...i was pretty excited about going out.) on the way to the restaurant, we wondered about what they were like, what we'd be able to talk about...all the things you think about before a first date. then, towards the end of dinner there was the realization that there was time for another activity, and the semi-awkward questioning..."well, we know of this great place...well, i mean...if y'all want to do something else like get dessert or something." and, then, at the very end of the night, after the check was paid at the second stop place..."we just had a really great time." "oh, we did, too! we should really do this again." "we really should."

but, really, the night went well. we talked about all kinds of things. we enjoyed new company and we laughed together. we ate great food and they introduced us to two fabulous local establishments we didn't know about before.

but, still, like any first date, you wonder after you get home "did they mean it? will we really hang out again? or were they just being polite?"

so, really, it felt like a first date. which, i didn't really expect. but, we've not spent a lot of time outside of school or settings where we had a large circle of friends. so, even when we hang out with someone new, we already have some established connections or have at least one friend in common or something. this was different and new. and turned out to be good.

and, don't worry, we saw each other at church the next night and we all said again what a great time we had and how we'd really like to get together again. i believe it was genuine.

i think there will be a second date...and new friends.

In memory of Gandalf...

...my sister's cat, not his namesake, the wizard.

I just got the news that Gandalf died this morning. Understandably, my sister is pretty sad about that. Those two loved each other a lot. Gandalf used to cry for her if she was out of town or even just later coming home than he expected. He also preferred for my sister to carry him around more like a child than a cat...you know, with his back end on her hip and his head and paws up on her shoulder...except he would put one paw on her back and one on the front of her shoulder...not like a cat at all, really. But, they were happy.

I'll have to consult with my mom or my sister, but I think he must have been 14 or 15 years old, so he's been a part of our lives for a long time now. And, this Gandalf was the second or third cat in my dad's life named Gandalf. Long, lean, and almost a bluish grey color, the name fit him well.

It is common knowledge that Gandalf and I had our disagreements. I did not always like the way he treated my clothes (spraying them when he felt like it) and he did not always like the way I interrupted his life by having clothes, I guess...or, for that matter, later a dog! But, I will say that in his later years he chilled out a lot and was more friendly.

But, much more importantly than what Gandalf and I thought of each other, the rest of my family loved him a lot. He provided companionship and moments of joy at different times to my mom, my dad, and especially my sister.

So, today I'm sad for my sister because she loves this cat very, very much. And, as much as I might hate to admit it, I'll miss Gandalf, too.

breathe...just breathe...

It smells good here. Really...like all the time.

One of the first times I was up here (when we were learning about and considering this job), we realized it smelled like cinnamon. (Cue: "the cinnamon song" by the Decemberists for all our friends who have sung that song in full voice with us.) I still think I smell cinnamon sometimes. But, it almost always smells good (unless, of course, there has been a skunk trauma nearby...that's a different kind of smell).

It smells good and warm (and most often like cinnamon) in the sunshine. It smells good when it is about to rain, when it's raining, and especially just after it rains. It smells really good right now that it's getting cooler and all the smells seem to intensify. The Beast loves the smells...especially at night when it's getting cool. He is very excited about all the possibilities he smells in the meadow outside our house!

So, I find myself breathing deeply a lot...you kind of can't help yourself when it just smells so good! Apparently, breathing deeply is good for you. In crisis, in anger, in grief, in exercise...we're told to just remember to breathe. So, how much better must that be during times that aren't so emotionally or physically exhausting? We're even guided to breathe in prayer and meditation. We talk about the Holy Spirit being the breath of God.

So, then I start to think about song lyrics (like I do) about breathing...

...breathe, just breathe...
...breathe deep, breathe deep the breath of God...
...breathe on me, breathe of God...

I absolutely believe that God led us here, to this place...and it is a wonderful gift to have this time with little school, no required work, and lots of space and time. So, maybe this is good time to just breathe. Breathe and be. I'm not good at just being...so, it is good to remember that I don't have to be in crisis to take a deep breath...to just enjoy the rush of good air in my lungs...the good air that can refresh my soul as well as my body.

Breathing...just breathing...