friday five: super stah!

As I transition from a vocation as a parish priest to a very different kind of ministry I have been astounded by the kindness and helpfulness of others. Their words have encouraged and affirmed me, and they have shared ideas and initiated actions to benefit my new venture.  All of these individuals are women, and I am blessed and a little overwhelmed by the genuineness of their support. It stands in contrast to too much of my experience serving in the Church, which is often plagued by pettiness toward and criticism of its clergy.

Because there is far too little of it, for clergy in general and clergy women in particular, today I want to focus on affirming what we do well. Let’s practice giving ourselves complements, and—gasp!—accepting them with grace! It may be challenging, but I promise it won’t hurt.

List five super powers that you use in your vocational life. This isn’t bragging. It’s naming the light that shines from your lamp stand.

Go!

1) Preaching is one area where I get good marks consistently.  I am so grateful to partner effectively with the Holy Spirit in this department!

2) Creative marketing: I may not have the most original idea out there, but I have been known to generate new ways of looking at old challenges and respond to them with a twist. After Hurricane Katrina a number of displaced families were settled at a campground not far from the church. I took the "Blessing of the Animals" service to them, and it was an entirely new experience for all of us. 

3) Listening is something I do really well. It will be interesting to see how my listening skills adapt as an animal massage practitioner where I use my hands more than my ears.

4) Compassion that cuts through the crap. When someone is hurting, frightened, or sad--I don't care if they're a butt-hole the rest of the week--I care about the human tie that binds.  This has helped me learn to love people I don't like.

5) Partly because I have the "efficiency" gene I'm a good facilitator. Not only do I hear between the lines to make sense of conversation and ideas being generated, I keep a group on track.  It doesn't hurt that as an INFJ I'm all about possibilities. 

Phew!

the BS report*

We've been looking at the birth narratives in our *bible study. First Matthew, and then Luke. One of the questions posed by our study guide this week had to do with what scripture tells us about why Jesus was born. These end up being great conversations. They start in one, seemingly obvious place, and then the obvious raises a question. And that leads us to more conversation and more questions and more conversation. I love my bs girls.

We get around to the subject of reconciliation. When the conversation is of a spiritual or religious nature the context generally shapes how I hear a word. And though when we began our conversation the word reconciliation pointed me clearly to persons and relationships, there was a sudden shift in my head and I thought, "checkbook." In that context to be reconciled is to have a zero balance. I introduced the notion of zero balance as it might apply to spiritual reconciliation.

No credits or deficits. All things level and equal. Hmm. What would it mean in this sense for someone to have credit? Would that be a good thing? Would it cause trouble? We acknowledged that balance among persons and societies would yield a more peaceful and harmonious universe. But we acknowledged, as well, that human nature and the laws of nature pretty much preclude that. In the animal world alone creatures survive by preying on other creatures. Oddly enough we call that the balance of nature. In the human realm we have the ever-fragile and constantly striving ego that generates a desire for power. Sigh. The idea of zero balance is nice, perhaps, but unrealistic and perhaps, even, necessarily impossible. Next?

In looking for images to use with this post most of them involved an individual. The body was contorted, or on one foot, or holding something that caused the center of gravity to shift and therefore the body to compensate. (Hmm, center of gravity, there's a new dimension to throw into the mix!). The image above, as you can see, involves two people. It seems most relative to the subject of spiritual reconciliation and balance. It demonstrates the necessity of working together to achieve a common goal or purpose. It takes at least two (and in this particular image I'm totally impressed that the woman, supporting this effort, is extraordinarily strong) for the effort to succeed.

This particular physical dynamic is unusual, and, no doubt, difficult to sustain. But it reveals to us what can be achieved when the effort is supplied. For most of us the idea of balance, or reconciliation between individuals, involves engagement. It does not require the kind of dependence needed to achieve the physical reality expressed above. We do our part, we care about the outcome, and we provide the necessary maintenance to keep the entity functioning well. There is more, of course, but for the general purposes of this discussion, the highlights are here.

So why was Jesus born? Oh yes, that was the question!

mama and puppy are doing fine

She's a love. And she's keeping me on my toes! She's full of curiosity and wants to check everything out--the emery board on my desk, my iPod ear pieces, the scrap of paper behind the waste basket that missed its target... Right now she's too small to play much with Rigel. He only has two speeds: zero and sixty, and when he's at 60 he can't stop himself from running over her frightening her to death. The saving grace is that when she is up on the couch with me and they can be nose to nose--then they nuzzle and poke at each other like old friends. In a few months when she's a bit bigger and they can play together they will wear each other out. Can't wait! She's also learning to take care of business outside, which is, of course, fabulous.

In other news, we had another intense Bible study session yesterday. We are reading Genesis. I mean really reading it. Line by line, just about, letting the text tell us what it says rather than us telling it what it says. We're noticing all sorts of things and asking lots of questions. For instance:

• Since when are animals shrewd and cunning like the darn snake/serpent (don't be a smart aleck and say "since Genesis"--this contradicts the earlier description of the limitations of animals)?
• And what's in it for him for duping Eve into partaking of the fruit (this one really stumps me)? Furthermore, there is no temptation going on here. Eve hands the fruit to Adam and he eats of his own volition. And by the way, it was to Adam that God gave the "do not eat" instructions in the first place.
• And why are there only two trees of significance (the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) tucked into the garden? How are our heroes supposed to come by other knowledge (such as how to treat a bee sting)?
• And why does God care that Adam and Eve might partake of the tree of life and live forever? If he wasn't interested in that possibility then what's the tree doing there?

The God depicted in chapters two and three so clearly reflect an agenda-driven author/editor after the grace of creation in the first chapter. Sort of makes one suspicious...

The grist for my mill, however, is this: if humanity's relationship with the soil is supposed to be about toil and burden forever more (Gen 3:17b), then how is it that some people find their heart's content in "toiling" in the earth? I contend that this reality transcends the curse of God, and if that is the case, then what can also be transcended is the curse that man would be the ruler of woman and restore women to the status of partner according to Gen. 2:20b. Hah! Strike a blow for women against patriarchy!

Back to more mundane things. I REALLY need to spend most of today on taxes. Time is running short and tackling Ken's business records will be an enormous task. There might just be a filing extension in our future!

And on that quasi-cheerful note, have a great day!