Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to blog and this is my second entry for the day. It’s called procrastination.

People have mentioned (okay like two people) that it’s helpful when I write about what we do at ThPM. One of the things we are doing is joining the Solstice Parade. It’s a celebration of the return of the sun, which is a VERY big deal in Seattle. It’s a really, really crazy no-hold’s-barred event. There is a total yearning in it for something larger than me. It’s a pageant full of people on a circuitous seeking journey sunward. Can you dig it?

Most Christians don’t like it because…um…people do ride bikes naked. What can I say, it’s a mixed bag. Aren’t most things?

Anyhow, we’re building a 40 foot bug. And here’s some thoughts I had about that and sent to my crew via email:

Things About the Bug

The bug is coming to life. Craig, Fiona and Paul have been hard at work attaching the ribs to the radio flyers. So far it looks like a mini calastoga wagon train! Our first Thursday Night build is this week. We’ll be hauling the soup pot, brew, and bread down to the Old Redhood Brewery (34th and Phinney) to share the wealth with all the other float building fools! We could really use all hands on deck — please wear something you can get dirty (we might be painting) and be ready to have fun. I’m really glad, that when we surveyed to see if folks would be interested in doing something in the parade, several of you said you’d come build. It will be fun to be able to do that, now that the parade is just two weeks away.

Things About Rachelle

Just to let you know….this is the metaphor I use for how I lead ThPM. I’m Dorothy. We are going to Oz. The real Oz, not just the place where there’s a man behind the curtain. (creepy) My job is to gather people with me who want to go to Oz too. Along the way each person sometimes takes the lead…the person who’s learning to have heart, or brain, or courage. My job as Dorothy is to keep our end destination, or eschatology, in site. Oz. The Kingdom. The shalom-seeking, wholeness-bringing, breathing-on-the-God-sparks activities that bring about a country Aslan would live in. (Okay, now I’m mixing fictional tales, but you get the point.)

The reason I love this parade so much is that it points kingdom-ward. It is, in itself, kingdom come. A bunch of people on a journey to the sun/son. I mean, this is my gig, my art show opening. This is my passion, my secret dream that I’m never sure is really going to make it. It’s tatooed on my foot and embeded in my heart. Journey sunward! The light in me greets the light in you! Namaste!

And now, some stories:

At our first build date (last Friday) I had a great talk with someone from the Solstice community. Her name was Violet. She lived alone, and she had been traveling to a really depressing town in outer Nevada where she might have to move in order to work. We talked about the parade, and things she had built in the past, and how much she missed it this year because she was traveling and job interviewing and didn’t have time to build. I talked with her for a long time, and in the end I told her to check back with us when we had a better idea of what our costumes were and she could be a fairy with us. When we parted she said, “Thanks. I just came down because I was alone in my apartment and I didn’t want to be alone.”

Eden has been coming with us to the Brewery and she just sort of floats around randomly hugging people and finding out how progress is going (especially on the Willy Wonka float). Sunday she spent two hours folding peace cranes and conversing. Who was she conversing with? Two deaf women. Eden would sign “The More we Get Together the Happier We’ll Be…Cuz Your Friends are My Friends and My Friends are Your Friends” (a campfire song) and they would teach her how to sign their names. One of the women has a name that is a sign, crossed fingers (R) that moves from her left shoulder to her right hip in a diaganol. When Eden talks about her and needs to use her name in a sentence, she just make the sign. Eden doesn’t know her spoken name, and she doesn’t need to. She’s willing to speak a language that is not her own for the sake of making a connection. I think it’s so cool. Here were some of the marginalized people Jesus hung out with, people who get sidelined — kids and deaf folks — and they were creating a space for one another in a larger community.

Kingdom Come.