Coming from a family that thrived on records, I remember playing old 78 RPMs as well as the 33 1/3 and 45 RPMs (what diversity, right?)
I remember having no money of my own to buy albums--until I was finally old enough to be allowed to babysit. I scrupulously set aside half of each babysitting job's earnings because there was no way in the WORLD anyone else in my household would be spending money on that (ahem) scandalous (?!?) Billy Joel. (I'm not kidding.)
His Glass Houses album was HUGE that year, and I'd listened to my best friend's copy enough to know every syllable--but I'd have to purchase it on my own: THAT I knew.
Babysitting wages in southern Ashtabula County being what they were in that era, it took a long time to set aside enough. I checked and rechecked the price tag in the record-section of the Hills department store in Saybrook across the weeks, keeping the goal number of dollars and cents in mind.
At long last, one Friday night when I came home from babysitting, enough money filled the little treasure box I'd set aside in the top drawer of my dresser. My out of town grandparents were visiting--and when they heard that I was finally within striking distance of this little dream, they proposed a trip to Hills.
I could barely contain my excitement--and my pride in being able to make this purchase for myself.
I remember trying not to RUN to the record section when we got to the store--half enthralled, half terrified that they would not have the album anymore, or that it would be simply sold out. But there it was: and soon, it would be mine.
When the rest of the crew reassembled at the check out line, Grammy and Gramps stood with me. (I find myself grinning NOW, thinking of how happy I was in that moment.)
When the cashier told me my total, Gramps reached past me to hand her cash for the album.
"NOW you have some money to use for something else you'd like," Grammy explained.
"We are REALLY PROUD of you for working so hard and waiting so long for something you wanted so much," Gramps added.
They even sat with enthralled me, listening to the entire album when we got back to the house.
I learned an awful lot about the practice of loving presence because of that album. Lucky kid, right?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Lilacs Remembered
I woke this morning remembering waking to the smell of lilacs ablossom outside the window, and wished for that to be true today as well.
A lilac bush grew directly outside the windows of the many-generationed farmhouse where my grandparents lived during my earliest childhood and which--after our whole family traded houses when i was in seventh grade--became my home. As far as I have ever known, that resilient lilac dug and in insistently graced us with her intense will to fragrance our lives for at least four generations of our lives. She blossoms year after year, having endured harsh winters and the sunless side of the house as lives full of joy, challenge, hope, frustration, fear, richness, birth, loss, struggle, delight and death come and go inside the walls; still, she faithfully shows up spring after spring with her green dress and vibrant fragrance.
Waking to the smell of lilacs carries a sentimental sense of rootedness and hopefulness for me; somehow on those days, I can more readily awaken knowing who I am in the universe I inhabit, remembering who I was, where my roots are, where I've been and who I've grown to be.
This morning when I looked out my bedroom window I noticed that the lilac bush across the street is thinking about springing back to life, and remembered....
I should probably make a trip back to the farm soon to visit AND to snatch a few branches from that bush. How cool would it be to have the daughter of that very lilac transplanted here in my yard in the city?
A lilac bush grew directly outside the windows of the many-generationed farmhouse where my grandparents lived during my earliest childhood and which--after our whole family traded houses when i was in seventh grade--became my home. As far as I have ever known, that resilient lilac dug and in insistently graced us with her intense will to fragrance our lives for at least four generations of our lives. She blossoms year after year, having endured harsh winters and the sunless side of the house as lives full of joy, challenge, hope, frustration, fear, richness, birth, loss, struggle, delight and death come and go inside the walls; still, she faithfully shows up spring after spring with her green dress and vibrant fragrance.
Waking to the smell of lilacs carries a sentimental sense of rootedness and hopefulness for me; somehow on those days, I can more readily awaken knowing who I am in the universe I inhabit, remembering who I was, where my roots are, where I've been and who I've grown to be.
This morning when I looked out my bedroom window I noticed that the lilac bush across the street is thinking about springing back to life, and remembered....
I should probably make a trip back to the farm soon to visit AND to snatch a few branches from that bush. How cool would it be to have the daughter of that very lilac transplanted here in my yard in the city?
Friday, April 02, 2010
Weep: Station Eight
The eighth station: The women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus
A reading from the gospel of Matthew
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You murder the prophets and stone those sent to you by God. How often would I have gathered your children, yet you refused! Now you will be left with an empty temple. I tell you that you will no longer see me until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.”
Let us be still and weep in our own hearts.
Let us weep for all those lost in our wars and our military maneuvers.
Let us weep for those who are victims of political manipulation.
Let us weep for those who suffer because we do not stand up against racism and prejudice in our own families, schools, workplaces, country and world.
Let us weep for those who cannot hear the voices of the prophets among us,
Let us weep for those we label unjustly
Let us weep for those we thoughtlessly ignore.
Let us weep for those who continue to suffer every time we are too busy to care who is affected by our choices.
Let us weep for those who suffer every time we react from fear instead of responding with love.
A reading from the gospel of Matthew
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You murder the prophets and stone those sent to you by God. How often would I have gathered your children, yet you refused! Now you will be left with an empty temple. I tell you that you will no longer see me until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.”
Let us be still and weep in our own hearts.
Let us weep for all those lost in our wars and our military maneuvers.
Let us weep for those who are victims of political manipulation.
Let us weep for those who suffer because we do not stand up against racism and prejudice in our own families, schools, workplaces, country and world.
Let us weep for those who cannot hear the voices of the prophets among us,
Let us weep for those we label unjustly
Let us weep for those we thoughtlessly ignore.
Let us weep for those who continue to suffer every time we are too busy to care who is affected by our choices.
Let us weep for those who suffer every time we react from fear instead of responding with love.
Carrying: The Second Station
A reading from the gospel of Mark.
Jesus called to the people and said, “If you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, you will save it.”
We are called to love one another as Jesus loved us.
“Take up the cross and follow me,” he said.
We are called to take up the burdens of God’s people, to carry the cross as Christ did.
The response will be “Help us to love in the image of Christ.”
For the widows and widowers who bear burdens of loneliness and grief, we pray….
For justice systems that act out of self-interest, vengeance and self-righteousness to be renewed in the image of compassion and wholeness, we pray….
For single parents bearing sole responsibility for raising and supporting their children, we pray….
For those burdened with mental illness and physical illness, we pray…..
For the victims of sexual abuse struggling to heal and recover, we pray….
For the people of war torn nations, victims of terrorism, those who live with the burdens of fear, poverty and powerlessness, we pray….
For those who are weighed down by prejudice, poverty and systematic injustices, we pray….
For those whose lives are limited by the materialism and greed of corporate profiteering, we pray….
For those who are alone, lost, left out or excluded, who most need the healing power of God, we pray
We thank you, Jesus, for bearing our burdens and never leaving us alone with a weight too heavy to carry. Open our hearts and our hands that we may respond to your call. Help us to be your hands, your feet and your voice in the world. Give us the strength to love in your image. Amen.
Jesus called to the people and said, “If you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, you will save it.”
We are called to love one another as Jesus loved us.
“Take up the cross and follow me,” he said.
We are called to take up the burdens of God’s people, to carry the cross as Christ did.
The response will be “Help us to love in the image of Christ.”
For the widows and widowers who bear burdens of loneliness and grief, we pray….
For justice systems that act out of self-interest, vengeance and self-righteousness to be renewed in the image of compassion and wholeness, we pray….
For single parents bearing sole responsibility for raising and supporting their children, we pray….
For those burdened with mental illness and physical illness, we pray…..
For the victims of sexual abuse struggling to heal and recover, we pray….
For the people of war torn nations, victims of terrorism, those who live with the burdens of fear, poverty and powerlessness, we pray….
For those who are weighed down by prejudice, poverty and systematic injustices, we pray….
For those whose lives are limited by the materialism and greed of corporate profiteering, we pray….
For those who are alone, lost, left out or excluded, who most need the healing power of God, we pray
We thank you, Jesus, for bearing our burdens and never leaving us alone with a weight too heavy to carry. Open our hearts and our hands that we may respond to your call. Help us to be your hands, your feet and your voice in the world. Give us the strength to love in your image. Amen.
Condemnation: The First Station
The first station: Jesus is condemned to death.
A reading from the gospel of Luke.
One of the criminals hanging with Jesus insulted him: “So you are the Messiah? Save yourself and us as well!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God? You received the same sentence as he did. We deserve the punishment; this is payment for what we have done. But this man has done no evil.” Turning to Jesus, he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly, you will be with me today in paradise.”
Who in our world stands condemned unjustly?
Who do we put to death in a thousand ways?
Whose deaths do we allow to pass unnoticed? Refugees, perhaps? Faceless victims of violence and war?
Those in whom there is no guilt still die today.
They are the abused children, the battered women.
They are the children in countries crushed by war.
They are the hidden elderly, the ignored lonely.
They are the poor who are deprived of basic human rights.
They are the executed unborn.
They are the stereotyped mentally ill, the socially condemned.
They are the AIDS victims sentenced to death.
They are the prisoners of war, mocked and tortured.
The innocent are still condemned to death.
We are called to act with justice.
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to walk this way of the cross, to walk humbly with our God.
A reading from the gospel of Luke.
One of the criminals hanging with Jesus insulted him: “So you are the Messiah? Save yourself and us as well!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God? You received the same sentence as he did. We deserve the punishment; this is payment for what we have done. But this man has done no evil.” Turning to Jesus, he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly, you will be with me today in paradise.”
Who in our world stands condemned unjustly?
Who do we put to death in a thousand ways?
Whose deaths do we allow to pass unnoticed? Refugees, perhaps? Faceless victims of violence and war?
Those in whom there is no guilt still die today.
They are the abused children, the battered women.
They are the children in countries crushed by war.
They are the hidden elderly, the ignored lonely.
They are the poor who are deprived of basic human rights.
They are the executed unborn.
They are the stereotyped mentally ill, the socially condemned.
They are the AIDS victims sentenced to death.
They are the prisoners of war, mocked and tortured.
The innocent are still condemned to death.
We are called to act with justice.
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to walk this way of the cross, to walk humbly with our God.
TGIF Stations: Not Just A Remembrance
A few years back, I had the immense privilege of being the fulltime youth minister at the Community of St Mary Magdalene. One year before we attended a traditional Stations of the Cross we started to talk about what relevance that traditional reflection might have in the world that WE inhabit.
I, for the record, have not ever been a particular FAN of this particular devotion.
So, a bunch of us gathered to reflect and converse, sharing resources and ideas from others and mixing it all into a vibrant piece that combined prayer, performance art, visual art and community engagement. (This allowed me to not be exclusively responsible for putting some "lesson" together for something I wasn't all that sure I really LIKED all that much.)
In the next few posts, I'm going to share some of our script (with the note that some of the words are definitely from other sources, and I do not have a bibliography around. D'oh.).
What I'm aware of right now:
The events recalled in the Stations of the Cross are not merely history, nor merely faith.
They go on today, too.
They are not something merely to remember, but a prophetic reminder of who we are called to be.
I, for the record, have not ever been a particular FAN of this particular devotion.
So, a bunch of us gathered to reflect and converse, sharing resources and ideas from others and mixing it all into a vibrant piece that combined prayer, performance art, visual art and community engagement. (This allowed me to not be exclusively responsible for putting some "lesson" together for something I wasn't all that sure I really LIKED all that much.)
In the next few posts, I'm going to share some of our script (with the note that some of the words are definitely from other sources, and I do not have a bibliography around. D'oh.).
What I'm aware of right now:
The events recalled in the Stations of the Cross are not merely history, nor merely faith.
They go on today, too.
They are not something merely to remember, but a prophetic reminder of who we are called to be.
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