You've Got Mail Wiseguys!

 

 

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Fifthwheelian, there slept three very wee wise men.  Nothing disturbed their slumber for months on end until one day the landlady received a letter addressed to their royal highnesses.  What should she do?  They looked so peaceful in their very ornate, very large bed.  There they lay, with their pinecone comforter to keep them toasty, while Mary and her precious baby gazed fondly from their rather over-the-top headboard. 

 

 

But this correspondence might be very important.

 

  So she crept up beside them and said, "Hey, wiseguys! wake up!  You've got mail!" And so the sleepyheads returned to reality, looking like they had overslept, which of course they had.

wise man #1:  oh my!  what an intriguing piece of correspondence!

I see the plane and the flag of France!

wise man #2:  and I see Viva la France!

wise man #3:  good grief!  I see nothing but blur.  I must need glasses!

me:  yes, it is quite blurry. let me bring it closer.

 

wise man #3:  Ah much better.  Yes, it's definitely from France.

And oh, look!  It's marked "personal."

me:  I noticed that so I didn't open it.  But I have to go to work now.

wise man #1:  what? you can't just leave us with this mystery. 

We have no arms!  who will open it?

me:  I'll open it when I get home!  I must go or I'll be late.

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

without story

 

 

“Without Story,



information is nothing



but a lot of bricks lying about



waiting for someone 



to make constructive use of them.”



- Aidan Chambers

our stories connect us.

stories bring us home.

do the hustle

"When we spend a lifetime trying to distance ourselves

from the parts of our lives that don't fit

 with who we think we're supposed to be,

we stand outside of our story and

hustle for our worthiness by constantly

performing, perfecting, pleasing and proving.

Our sense of worthiness - that critically important piece

that gives us access to love and belonging -

lives inside of our story."

-Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, p. 23

Connie Sun comic from here

Halfway through Advent

Where has the time gone? 

We are halfway through our season of waiting -

with tomorrow being the 3rd Sunday of Advent! 

(Or Gaudate Sunday as it used to be called which in Latin means "to rejoice." )

This is the time of God coming to us!  Of God being "with us." 

And we wait in such anticipation!

Which reminds me of a story that  I heard Megan McKenna tell once

about a wise little boy ...here is my paraphrase: 

 

A little boy was at home playing with his toys, below an old grandfather clock

that had been in his family for generations.  It chimed every quarter hour and

would strike at every hour.  But just then the clock jammed and it struck 11 o'clock,

and then 12 o'clock, and then 13 o'clock, 14 o'clock and 15 o'clock.

The little boy, who had been practicing his counting, was amazed at what the clock

was doing. He jumped up, ran to his parents in the other room and said:

"Listen! It's later than it's ever been before!"

 

Indeed!

 

May we fill these last 2 weeks of Advent with joyful preparation

for the coming of Jesus!

 

photo is of my grandchildren, Lydia and David, making their Advent wreaths at

our recent Advent Festival at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Port Townsend, WA

 

be a story teller

"If stories come to you, care for them.

And learn to give them away where they are needed.

Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive."

- Barry Lopez

got context?

In a small pond, a frog, squatting on a lily pad,

listened attentively

as an angel described the glories of heaven.

At the end of the discourse

the frog asked,"Is it something like mud?"

- Anonymous

photo from here

puddles of love

 "We are little pots,

even the grandest, most magnificent of us.

We can't contain the downpour of your love.

And the overflow,

puddling on the ground about us,

mingles with our own senseless tears

of greed and loss and need."

There are the first lines of L. William Countryman's poem "Pots and Potter"

from his latest book, "Lovesongs and Reproaches: Passionate Conversations with God."

It reminds me of a section of this Sunday's gospel story from Luke.

Jesus tells a parable about people at a banquet jostling for the best seat at the table,

only to be told that they would have to move,

because that particular seat was "saved" for someone special.

That's always an awkward moment. And who hasn't experienced it?

Aren't we the silliest creatures?
Trying to finagle a way to be seen, heard, and known,

by those who were never designed to meet our deepest needs.

For all along God is pouring his love

down upon us to the point that it's producing puddles at our feet.

May we remember to put away our umbrellas in order to breathe in deeply of

this neverending downpour of love.

p.s. Get the book! this is just a taste of the riches you'll find between the covers.

Roberta Hiday

people's stories

"If there's anything worth calling theology,

it is listening to people's stories,

listening to them and cherishing them."

- Mary Pellaur

Saint Eunice

You know I love to talk about saints from ages past - but today I want to honor one that just left us this week, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, (7/10/1921 - 8/11/2009.) This was a woman who had a dream and didn't let anyone or anything stand in the way of seeing it to fruition. What a role model for the rest of us. Here is an excerpt from a statement released by the family:

"Inspired by her love of God, her devotion to her family, and her relentless belief in the dignity and worth of every human life, she worked without ceasing - searching, pushing, demanding, hoping for change. She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power. She set out to change the world and to change us, and she did that and more. She founded the movement that became Special Olympics, the largest movement for acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in the history of the world. Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and they in turn are her living legacy."

Whatever your dream, pursue it. Believe in possibility.

photo from Washington Post, 1965. from Josh

a cow and a pig...

If you put your own belief system into the following tale - who would you not want to spend the night with in the barn?

"While traveling separately through the countryside late one afternoon, a Hindu, a Rabbi, and a Critic were caught in the same area by a terrific thunderstorm. They sought shelter at a nearby farmhouse.
"That storm will be raging for hours," the farmer told them. "You'd better stay here for the night. The problem is, there's only room enough for two of you. One of you'll have to sleep in the barn."
"I'll be the one," said the Hindu. "A little hardship is nothing to me." He went out to the barn.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the Hindu. "I'm sorry," he told the others, "but there is a cow in the barn. According to my religion, cows are sacred and one must not intrude into their space."
"Don't worry, said the Rabbi, "Make yourself comfortable here. I'll go to sleep in the barn." He went out to the barn.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the Rabbi.
"I hate to be a bother," he said, "but there is a pig in the barn. In my religion, pigs are considered unclean. I would not feel comfortable sharing my sleeping quarters with a pig."
"Oh, all right," said the Critic, "I'll go sleep in the barn." He went out to the barn.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the cow and the pig."


From The Tao of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff, Penguin Books
photo from here

seeing beyond illusion

The Baal Shem tells of a king who was a master at creating illusions. "The Glory of God is to conceal a thing (Proverbs 25:2). And while he wanted very much to be close to his people, he wanted even more for his people to want to be close to him. So he devised a plan. He built around himself a great castle-illusion. There were illusory walls and doorways and towers. There were chambers and courtyards and passageways. And in front of each one the king placed illusory treasures of every kind. Bags of money, trips to Florida, and having a beautiful body. Then he proclaimed throughout the land that he wished to be found. And all the people came to the illusory castle, but one by one they gave up searching for the king and settled instead for some illusory treasure. Until, at last, the king's son came. He saw that it was all an illusion and that his father was there in plain view, sitting on a folding chair in the middle of a great, open field.
Lawrence Kushner, Source: Honey From the Rock (taken from inward/outward)
image from here

Three Very Wise Men

As I was emptying the trash basket in the guest bathroom this morning, I noticed the wise men I had placed on the windowsill having some sort of a conversation. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I just couldn't help myself. It seems that they were concerned as to where they should be. The Creche they had visited on the other end of the windowsill had been removed weeks ago and they had noticed that all signs of the season of Epiphany had also disappeared. "Good grief," I heard one remark, "We must be in the Lenten Season." Another replied, "That will never do! I think it's time we made our way home."

A bit later I peeped in to see what had transpired. Two of them were engaged in a deep conversation while the 3rd was being completely excluded. I thought it best to shut the door quietly and let them work this out - after all, they don't call them the "wise men" for nothing, do they?

After lunch I ventured into the bathroom once again and was shocked to see that they weren't even talking to one another. Oh Dear! It's always difficult to come to some sort of agreement when there are 3 voices to be heard from, don't you think?

But everything seems to happen for a reason and while his back was turned toward his companions wise man #2 noticed the cover of Thomas Merton's "Thoughts in Solitude" that was also sitting on the windowsill. He wondered if it might contain some answers or at least send them in the right direction? So he opened it and soon the other wise men were reading over his shoulder. And here is what they read: "To love solitude and to seek it does not mean constantly travelling from one geographical location to another." Wow! Perhaps there was no need to travel at all? Perhaps they were meant to just "be" right where God had placed them. After all, it wasn't such a bad place. They had good light from the nearby window, excellent reading material, and a constant flow of "visitors". And it was only their thoughts about having to be somewhere else that were making them anxious.

And as they read on they came across this: "A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live." And that is what the 3 wise men decided to do. They, like us, have no idea what the future holds. I may eventually put them away in their Christmas/Epiphany box, where they will remain until next year, but until then I too will enjoy their company when I enter the guest bathroom, reminding myself that life comes not from what is stored inside my head but from what comes out of my heart. The End

Practice Kindness

On my way to church this morning I was listening to NPR's "This I Believe". This story is taken directly from the writing of Troy Chapman, who is presently incarcerated in Michigan for commiting 2nd degree murder in 1985. I was so moved by this essay that I had to post it....be sure to visit his blog for it is excellent....

CARING MAKES US HUMAN
When the scruffy orange cat showed up in the prison yard, I was one of the first to go out there and pet it. I hadn't touched a cat or a dog in over 20 years. I spent at least 20 minutes crouched down by the Dumpster behind the kitchen as the cat rolled around and luxuriated beneath my attention. What he was expressing outwardly I was feeling inwardly.

It was an amazing bit of grace to feel him under my hand and know that I was enriching the life of another creature with something as simple as my care. I believe that caring for something or someone in need is what makes us human.

Over the next few days, I watched other prisoners responding to the cat. Every yard period, a group of prisoners gathered there. They stood around talking and taking turns petting the cat. These were guys you wouldn't usually find talking to each other. Several times I saw an officer in the group — not chasing people away, but just watching and seeming to enjoy it along with the prisoners.

Bowls of milk and water appeared, along with bread, wisely placed under the edge of the Dumpster to keep the sea gulls from getting it. The cat was obviously a stray and in pretty bad shape. One prisoner brought out his small, blunt-tipped scissors, and trimmed burrs and matted fur from his coat.

People said, "That cat came to the right place. He's getting treated like a king." This was true. But as I watched, I was also thinking about what the cat was doing for us.

There's a lot of talk about what's wrong with prisons in America. We need more programs; we need more psychologists or treatment of various kinds. Some even talk about making prisons more kind, but I think what we really need is a chance to practice kindness ourselves. Not receive it, but give it.

After more than two decades here, I know that kindness is not a value that's encouraged. It's often seen as weakness. Instead the culture encourages keeping your head down, minding your own business and never letting yourself be vulnerable.

For a few days a raggedy cat disrupted this code of prison culture. They've taken him away now, hopefully to a decent home — but it did my heart good to see the effect he had on me and the men here. He didn't have a Ph.D., he wasn't a criminologist or a psychologist, but by simply saying, "I need some help here," he did something important for us. He needed us — and we need to be needed. I believe we all do.

Troy Chapman

Independently produced for Weekend Edition Sunday by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick
cat photo - http://flickr.com/photos/emelfr/38721889/