A Year of Thanks 2012

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            A thanks to the friend who ‘caught me’ and made me go get help

            A thanks to the friend who let me cry on her bed

            A thanks to the friend who taught me how to knit

            A thanks to the classmates that helped the Holy Spirit to dwell and open me

            A thanks to the co-workers who taught me

            A thanks to the folks I ministered with, for teaching me, and letting me be part of your life, your secrets, and your hopes

            A thanks to the people in my life who understood

            A thanks for the couple who bought me pancakes on Palm Sunday

            A thanks to the roommate who shared her bunny with me

            A thanks for the courtyard conversations

            A thanks to the folks who I traveled with, who made a dream possible

            A thanks to the teachers who where willing to go to bat for me

            A thanks to the folks who I know that I can sick on others to fight for me

            A thanks to the people I’ve met this year who get where I’m coming from

            A thanks to face book for keeping me intact, and connected

            A thanks for pharmaceuticals

            A thanks to the people who are part of my ‘team’

            A thanks to Barnes and Noble for keeping me stocked

            A thanks for glue, that has allowed me to glue part of my life to paper

            A thanks to Amazon for keeping me stocked on just about everything

            A thanks to the TV show Rev. for helping me to keep things in perspective

            A thanks for the time of darkness to learn how to see differently in the obscure

            A thanks to the time spent on the bus for two weeks

            A thanks to Hope

            A thanks to journaling

            A thanks to art, and music

            A thanks to the inspiration that helped me hit my first home run, and experience my first post sermon high

            A thanks for the detour

            A thanks for the five day time out

            A thanks to the jerks who made me stand up to them, and restored my courage

            A thanks to the internet for information, and comradely,

            A thanks to the worlds best nurse

            A thanks for Sunday night TV watching

            A thanks to community, even when it is complicated

            A thanks to ‘all in this together’

            A thanks to the Turkish public works man who said ‘Panik Yuklu’ to us

            A thanks for the steak knives going to butter knives

            A thanks for tea

            A thanks for my carpet

            A thanks for dreams, not dashed

            A thanks for new dreams to be dreamed

            A thanks for loss, and the grieving and mourning that come with it

            A thanks for new experiences that, challenge, uplift, push down, and push back

            A thanks for my air conditioner

            A thanks for Snapple, and my Snapple dealer

            A thanks for freinds who celebrate with you, and weep with you

            A thanks for the scholarships I get to go to school

            A thanks to all that have taught me this past year, good, bad, indifferent, what I want to do, what I don’t want to do, life lessons of all sorts

            A thanks to those who made me learn something on my own. 

<3

Change Comes

I have been thinking a lot about transition both with the ending of my first year of seminary, moving to NJ and oh yea taking my first job at a church. This means that I am leaving my home church, and well this has left me conflicted. Both joyful and excited but then also sad and scared (thankfully not as terrified as I was for seminary), sometimes just one at a time and other times all together. I have been singing the first few lines from “She comes sailing on the wind” lately as it has been both an earworm to me and I think a way as to put some words to the way I have been feeling.


“She comes sailing on the wind,
her wings flashing in the sun;
on a journey just begun, she flies on.
And in the passage of her flight,
her song rings throughout the night,
full of laughter, full of light, she flies on.”

Now I know that this is about Sophia, AKA the Holy Spirit but I think that it also fits for me at this moment. I aspire to unfurl my wings and to light the world, full of joy and laughter. My song (I’m not much of a singer) well maybe not musical will hopefully proclaim the good news to the world and remind people that it is a story of love, not hate, not separation. But love.
Stepping out to give yourself the space to unfurl the wings takes a lot from many different areas of skill, and it takes courage. I hope that I allow myself to claim the space to do just that, to show, to tell, and to be love.
The other thing that I like about this song is that it gives us something tangible to link the Holy Spirit to, the wind. Being itinerant means that sometimes you are like the wind, moving this moment, but not the next. One does not always get to know where the wind blows but sometimes we get to know it is.

(my additional refrain to the lovely song)
Change comes sailing on the wind,
Not always knowing what’s to come,
On a journey, continuing on
With the passage of time,
A song of love fills the air
Full of joy, full of the unknown, change comes

In the snow

This past week I took a Jan Term intensive, more on that at a latter date. However our five-day class got cut short due to one of the trifecta snow storms that have hit the east coast the past few weeks. It was entertaining to me to see everyone upset about nine inches of snow. I’m not sure if its me and my potential cockiness or my New York attitude or just my years of snow related driving that made me feel like this was nothing. Regardless of this I used it as a day to camp out and then to help someone move. Yes move across campus in the snow.

            Now this person had a lot of stuff and was not well packed for a move in any kind of weather, let alone snow and poorly managed snow as well. I digress, so I start gathering possessions that I do not know the value of and placing them into vessels prepared for transport.  Soon we start trudging it the 900 feet from building T to building W where the new residence was. 900 feet really is not that far but in the snow everything is more, longer, colder. Thankfully we found people on campus who we begged into helping and only one slight fall, and minor twist of the ankle by yours truly, we moved a futon a kitchen, clothing from two closets and a dresser and books(not a lot thankfully, seminary students do tend to have  lot of these…).

            It seems funny to me that we did something that we all do rather frequently, and that is move in a time when it seems that you should be sitting still. Creation sits still in the snow, as evidenced by the birds that flock to my front yard at home in NY but stay nested in the height of the storm. But yet once again I was going against the current and well not frocking in the snow doing something somewhat absurd.

            As of late I have come to realize that my life is somewhat absurd, and does not always make sense to me all the time. But I had the unique opportunity to see that we are never quite prepared all the time for what will be asked of us.  I could have said ‘nope its cold and I’m not going to go trudging through the snow’ to the person in need of moving. But what would I be doing if I did that? I would be sitting and taking a passive role, in what turned out to be an entertaining afternoon with good conversation and only a few aspirin latter it was done.

            So often we are caught unprepared, doing activities in quite the wrong season.  But we must stand and deliver with the best that we know we can do. Even if we are quite confidant that we have no clue what it will be. In this case my hands and virgo need to organize where the best gifts that I could offer. Maybe next time it will be my mean crockpot skills, or my box of tissues, or something more.

How to Pack as a Theological School Commuter

From Your family home in Westchester NY:

-gather all the clothing you think will need for the week
-do laundry
-put close outside to dry(being eco-friendly and its better for your clothing)
-wait for said clothing to dry
-leave out overnight by accident
-gather the next morning before church, discover it is still damp
-growl at said clothing
-throw clothing into dryer for 20 minuets
-watch some Law and Order SVU, and not read about Genesis
-eventually fold your laundry
-get the $.99 cent bags  from TJ Maxx THAT ARE AMAZING in all aspects of there creation
-put clothing in one, and other linen(sheets, dishtowels, ect) in other
-fight with bag falling off of couch and spilling folded, clean laundry
-repack bag
-determine what else you can not possibly live without during the week
-find textbooks that came home with you over the weekend, that even if you did not read are now all over the place
-get Ikea food bag, and raid the family pantry
-grab as much as possible in one run to your car and load
-sigh as your car looks like you are rum running during prohibition
-go to New Jersey

From your Drew Residence

-wash dishes
-find books that might get read over the weekend, load them into tote, hope you do not fall over
-gather chargers for laptop,cellphone, iPod, ect
-evaluate food stock, plan to raid pantry at home in Westchester
-find all dirty clothing stuff into bag
-clean up desk
-assess garbage situation
-load up as much stuff as possible to put into car in one trip
-almost fall back down the stairs because of the weight of said stuff
-walk to car and avoid the squirrels
-load car and sigh as your car looks like you are rum running during prohibition
-Go to Westchester