I haven’t posted for awhile. Every other week I have the draft of a chapter due at my writers group. That means I write like mad about four days before my submission is due. I’m finding that I don’t have enough writing energy to do a chapter and blog posts in the same week. This makes for spotting posting, but I guess it is what it is.

“How do you know it’s someone’s first time to the Chapman’s house?”
“They pet the cat.”

Shelby as a purr addict. Pet her once and she’s purring (and drooling) by your side forever. She wasn’t an especially lovely cat. In fact her coat was usually a mess, she shed all over the place, and she had … {read more…}

“If I were a Christian I’d join the Peace Team — it’d be like being a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.” -Peter

“The man has a heartbeat you can hear from here.” -Helene

“No thanks, I had a rootbeer float before dinner……I love being a grown up.”
-Tonya H

“So this old man is standing right behind me while I’m at the urinal, just sort of hanging out there, and he says to me “Good Job!” -Lindell

Shelia: “Have you tried supplements?”
Rachelle: “Yeah. I take 18 pills a day.”
Lindell: “18! That’s a food group!”

My husband Paul, is not a naturally artsy guy. He doesn’t often join us in the collage world, or even in the world of journaling. So when he makes something with the Monkfish folks, I pay attention.

At our All Soul’s night Paul made this memorial for Rosa Parks. He found a picture on line of Ms. Parks holding her police booking number. (She was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of the bus, which is where the “coloreds” were supposed to remain.) In most icons there is a lot of symbolic imagery — St. Julian is always holding a cat, St. Catherine is often pictured with a … {read more…}

Way back when, I started what I said was going to be a series on all the little altars we’ve built–mostly unententionally–around the house. You can read about Recovering She, and the Backyard Mad/Sad Altar, and our altar for Sudan. This little altar is about to be put away, so I thought I’d memorialize it before it goes. I think these things sort of have a life cycle and this one has come to an end –maybe forever, maybe just for awhile

A couple of months ago we did the Artist’s Way at Monkfish. It took a bit of focus, the AW, and … {read more…}

The Scripture:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my delight, for I bear you name, O Lord God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelors, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grevious and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails? Therefore this is what the Lord says, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman.”
Jeremiah 15:16-19a

Phrases that … {read more…}

At the Abbey last night:

Paul: “I’m gonna put Catie in the soup….ready Catie here you go!”

Rebecca: “Oh! Don’t put Catie in the soup or I can’t eat it! I’m a vegetarian.”

Catie: “I know whats a vegetarian is. That means you don’t eat meat.”

Rebecca: “That’s right Catie. One of the children at my preschool said, ‘I’m not a vegetarian, I’m a Christian.”

Catie: “What’s a Christian?”

Later I told Catie a Christian was someone who wanted to follow Christ, who wanted to be a “Christiani,” a “little Christ.” She said, “Who’s Christ?” I finally realized that we’ve only refered to Jesus as “Jesus,” when we read Bible stories and such. Which led to this addition funny bit:

Rachelle: “Maybe I should just tell … {read more…}

The Scripture:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you wehn I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were it’s footings set, or who laid it’s cornerstone — while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Phrases and images that arose during lectio:

while the morning stars sang in chorus…all the angels shouted … {read more…}

What you don’t know about me would fill a book.

I’m feeling sad this morning. Sometimes I wonder if I’m mentally ill, because yesterday I was high as a kite! I’d suspect bipolar disorder only my cycles are way too short.

Anyway I’m feeling sad this morning and it has something to do with a couple of emails I’ve received this week. I can’t quite shake it, and I can’t quite suss it all out in my head, so there’s nothing to do but to write it out.

So I got these two emails this week, one from a pastor at a local church who I do not know, and one from a distant acquaintance. In both emails these men expressed … {read more…}

Guest Blogger: Lindell Alderman

Most days my faith is not a comfortable place. It’s not a warm, fuzz-balled sweater that snuggle over myself when I’m feeling lost or confused or depressed. It’s not a shot of whiskey that I take to turn off my brain when the thoughts won’t stop racing. It’s not an epic liturgical drama that allows me for a moment to suspend my disbelief. It’s not the thump of a bass drum and the drone of a keyboard that wash over me in estatic worship.

Faith is tension. Faith is paradox. Faith is struggle. Faith is forcing myself to sit in uncomfortable spaces: Wrestling with ideas and … {read more…}

…When you get your nose pierced, your seven year old daughter might walk through the door, take one look at you, and burst into tears. She might then cry,: “Why did you have to get your nose pierced? Whhhhhhy? It looks awful! You don’t even LOOK like MY mama anymore! I don’t know you! You aren’t even my Mama!” She might then proceed to cry for a half hour and refuse to kiss you “EVER AGAIN!”

On the other hand, your six year old might say, “Cool. …’An you know what mama? I just burped my ABC’s!”