Dear Friends in Christ -
This evening, I was sitting in the drafty, over-lit Bridgeport train station waiting for the arrival of the Amtrak train bearing our speaker for the Clergy Retreat. The train was a bit late, so I plopped myself down on one of the metal benches. The station was fairly crowded so I chose a seat in the midst of a group of African American women who were swapping stories of a common experience they all shared: going to jail.
One of the young women was going on about how it was much better to be arrested in New York than in Connecticut. At least in New York, she said, you know what you're being arrested for. She told the other women how she got in an argument with another woman. Someone called the police and both of them were hauled away in handcuffs. "I couldn't even understand why," the woman said, "the cop kept saying something about breaking bridges. I kept wondering what he talking about."
Eventually, when she got to the police station, someone explained to her that she was being arrested for "breach of peace." But she still didn't know what that meant. And no one, she said, would explain it to her. They just made her take all of the beads and bands out of her hair before taking her picture and finger prints and processing her into the jail. "Great," she said, hanging her head, "and then I look a mess, too."
Curious, but trying not to stare, I glanced at her several times, trying to get pictures in my head to go with the words I was hearing. Life had worn so hard on her that she looked a decade older than her 20-some years. She had teeth that could have used good orthodontics and hardened, down-turned lines around her mouth and eyes. If life were easier, she might have been pretty.
But she was stuck. Stuck in a world where peace is so illusive that she and her friends offhandedly share stories of being jailed. How many bridges in a young woman's life have to be broken before being jailed is just part of the routine for her and her friends? How many bridges in our community have to be broken before we run out of options and resort to repeatedly throwing people in jail?
Faithfully longing for better things,
Janet+
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thank you
Dear Friends in Christ -
Strains of the song "I get by with a little help from my friends" are running through my head. I'm so grateful for the enthusiastic, hard-working help we had at the church - and at the rectory - raking leaves today. People ask me all the time, "How do you do it all?" The truth is, I don't. I have help. Lots of help.
The leaf raking help was especially touching to me because this really isn't something that Ed and I are equipped to do. We've never owned our own home, so some of the basic tasks that it takes to maintain a house and yard are new to us. Leaf season is particularly daunting, because we have several BIG leaf-producing trees and no leaf blower (not that we would know how to run one if we had it!).
So thank you. Really. A lot. Not only did we get the job done, but I learned a lot from you all about how to do a fall clean-up. Years from now, when I'm retired and own my own home, I'll know what to do with all those leaves!
Faithfully,
Janet+
Strains of the song "I get by with a little help from my friends" are running through my head. I'm so grateful for the enthusiastic, hard-working help we had at the church - and at the rectory - raking leaves today. People ask me all the time, "How do you do it all?" The truth is, I don't. I have help. Lots of help.
The leaf raking help was especially touching to me because this really isn't something that Ed and I are equipped to do. We've never owned our own home, so some of the basic tasks that it takes to maintain a house and yard are new to us. Leaf season is particularly daunting, because we have several BIG leaf-producing trees and no leaf blower (not that we would know how to run one if we had it!).
So thank you. Really. A lot. Not only did we get the job done, but I learned a lot from you all about how to do a fall clean-up. Years from now, when I'm retired and own my own home, I'll know what to do with all those leaves!
Faithfully,
Janet+
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Leaf Raking
Dear Friends in Christ -
Not in New Mexico. Not in Florida. But in New England, leaf raking is a ritual of the fall. Not one of my most favorite rituals, I have to confess, because it's a lot of work. But it does put me in touch with the wonder of creation and the cycle of life.
Sunday promises to be the perfect day for a little leaf raking (the weather forecast predicts sun!), and the Maintenance Team hopes that you'll come to rake leaves here at St. Paul's. Why? Because we need your help! We're struggling to make budget this year, and we're hoping to save the $400-$500 we usually have to pay for fall clean-up.
Many hands make like work (and save money!), so wear your jeans to church and bring a rake. Immediately following the service, we'll get organized (and get a nibble and a cup of coffee). Then we'll rake like mad for an hour. Then we'll have hot cider and donuts. Having worked off the calories in advance, the donuts are guilt free! Bonus.
I look forward to seeing you at church - and in the parish yard afterwards!
Blessings,
Janet+
PS - If you've got a leaf blower, bring it along!!!
Not in New Mexico. Not in Florida. But in New England, leaf raking is a ritual of the fall. Not one of my most favorite rituals, I have to confess, because it's a lot of work. But it does put me in touch with the wonder of creation and the cycle of life.
Sunday promises to be the perfect day for a little leaf raking (the weather forecast predicts sun!), and the Maintenance Team hopes that you'll come to rake leaves here at St. Paul's. Why? Because we need your help! We're struggling to make budget this year, and we're hoping to save the $400-$500 we usually have to pay for fall clean-up.
Many hands make like work (and save money!), so wear your jeans to church and bring a rake. Immediately following the service, we'll get organized (and get a nibble and a cup of coffee). Then we'll rake like mad for an hour. Then we'll have hot cider and donuts. Having worked off the calories in advance, the donuts are guilt free! Bonus.
I look forward to seeing you at church - and in the parish yard afterwards!
Blessings,
Janet+
PS - If you've got a leaf blower, bring it along!!!
Friday, November 6, 2009
They won the lottery, but still . . .
Dear Friends in Christ -
The Old Testament stories in the daily office readings for the end of this week have been from the book of Ezra. Ezra was a priest of the Israelites when they were captive in Babylon. Ezra was singled out by the king for a special mission; he was to lead his people out of slavery, back to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple and their lives.
The king even gave them a whole huge heap of money and other resources to use in their journey and in the rebuilding. The king gave them everything they could have asked for, and more. It was like they had won the lottery.
The king even offered to have his soldiers and calvary travel to to Jerusalem with the Israelites, to protect them along the way. But this is where Ezra turned off the spigot, saying in effect, "thanks, but no thanks." Ezra didn't want the people to be dependent on anyone but God. If the king kept giving them stuff, how would they know whether or not they were still in relationship with God, relying on HIM as their God, their creator and sustainer?
I have to confess that I have dreamed of winning the lottery. But I have always wondered: if I already had everything, how would I remember, day in and day out, to rely on God? Ezra was stong enough to guide his people into remembering that living in a trusting relationship with God is the BEST place to be.
Faithfully,
Janet+
The Old Testament stories in the daily office readings for the end of this week have been from the book of Ezra. Ezra was a priest of the Israelites when they were captive in Babylon. Ezra was singled out by the king for a special mission; he was to lead his people out of slavery, back to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple and their lives.
The king even gave them a whole huge heap of money and other resources to use in their journey and in the rebuilding. The king gave them everything they could have asked for, and more. It was like they had won the lottery.
The king even offered to have his soldiers and calvary travel to to Jerusalem with the Israelites, to protect them along the way. But this is where Ezra turned off the spigot, saying in effect, "thanks, but no thanks." Ezra didn't want the people to be dependent on anyone but God. If the king kept giving them stuff, how would they know whether or not they were still in relationship with God, relying on HIM as their God, their creator and sustainer?
I have to confess that I have dreamed of winning the lottery. But I have always wondered: if I already had everything, how would I remember, day in and day out, to rely on God? Ezra was stong enough to guide his people into remembering that living in a trusting relationship with God is the BEST place to be.
Faithfully,
Janet+
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Geese
The geese have come.
They landed
at the far end of the field
in the near darkness before night.
They settled in quickly, strutting about,
folding and unfolding their feathers
tight against their round bellies.
They peck the ground, dinner.
But then, all at once,
from their various stations on the ground,
they lift together silently
into the air, as if pulled up
on puppet strings.
Soft finger of air moves
across my face as they pass close above me
to where?
With a twinge of grief at their departure,
the trees and I breathe
goodbye.
They landed
at the far end of the field
in the near darkness before night.
They settled in quickly, strutting about,
folding and unfolding their feathers
tight against their round bellies.
They peck the ground, dinner.
But then, all at once,
from their various stations on the ground,
they lift together silently
into the air, as if pulled up
on puppet strings.
Soft finger of air moves
across my face as they pass close above me
to where?
With a twinge of grief at their departure,
the trees and I breathe
goodbye.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Hardset Biorhythm
Dear Friends in Christ -
Since the time changed, my 4 1/2-year-old son has been getting up by 4:45 a.m. EVERY MORNING. His biorhythm is set hard and fast, time change or no time change. So I'm a little bedraggled.
But sometimes being a little bedraggled myself just helps me to notice (and have compassion for) other folks who are frayed around the edges, too. It doesn't take much to realize how people get this way. Relentless schedules. Downturned economy. Flu raging. Oh, yeah, and then there's the fact that our country's still fighting a war.
In the midst of all of that, how do I keep going? Well, I'm striving to have a spiritual biorhythm that's as attached to God as my son's biorhythm is attached to the time of day. My son knows what time it is because his stomach tells him, "TIME TO EAT." That's why he appears at my bedside at 4:45 a.m. saying, "Mommy, I'm hungry." I'm trying to get back to obeying my spirit when it yells, "TIME OUT." You know, it does say that. And often. Deep breath, a little quiet, a prayer. Nothing too dramatic. But obeying the spiritual biorhythm isn't an added extra. It's what can keep me going. Even on bedraggled days.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Since the time changed, my 4 1/2-year-old son has been getting up by 4:45 a.m. EVERY MORNING. His biorhythm is set hard and fast, time change or no time change. So I'm a little bedraggled.
But sometimes being a little bedraggled myself just helps me to notice (and have compassion for) other folks who are frayed around the edges, too. It doesn't take much to realize how people get this way. Relentless schedules. Downturned economy. Flu raging. Oh, yeah, and then there's the fact that our country's still fighting a war.
In the midst of all of that, how do I keep going? Well, I'm striving to have a spiritual biorhythm that's as attached to God as my son's biorhythm is attached to the time of day. My son knows what time it is because his stomach tells him, "TIME TO EAT." That's why he appears at my bedside at 4:45 a.m. saying, "Mommy, I'm hungry." I'm trying to get back to obeying my spirit when it yells, "TIME OUT." You know, it does say that. And often. Deep breath, a little quiet, a prayer. Nothing too dramatic. But obeying the spiritual biorhythm isn't an added extra. It's what can keep me going. Even on bedraggled days.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Rest in Peace, Rise in Glory
Dear Friends in Christ -
As we were saying our prayers during the 8:00 a.m. service on Sunday morning, our oldest member, Rose Czajkowski, passed from this life into the next. She was 97 years old.
Last week, another one of our oldest members, Virginia Tucker, 92, made her way into eternity. Both of these wonderful women had seen a lot of living.
Though I have known each of these women for only a fraction of their long lives, their passings move me to grief. As they leave this life, the ground beneath us shifts. Things will never be the same.
I felt that way, too, as we said goodbye to Marybeth and Jerry Banks on Sunday. They're not dying, they're just moving. But with their leaving, the ground shifts again.
When things change, so dramatically, so permanently, and deep inside ourselves, our hearts cry, "What's going to happen to me? With the sea of life constantly changing, is my little boat going to be swamped or overturned?"
The promise of God to us is that He will take care of us. As the Bible reminds us, "Jesus Christ is the same - yesterday, today and forever." (Heb. 13:8). We can embrace the changes that happen, even the losses we grieve, because the power of Jesus' resurrection will always see us through. We don't always like change; it's hard to move on without some of the anchors that made us feel so secure. But we can dare to celebrate the lives of those we love and let them move into their own glory, confident that Christ will move us, in good ways, into the next glory He has for us.
Faithfully,
Janet+
As we were saying our prayers during the 8:00 a.m. service on Sunday morning, our oldest member, Rose Czajkowski, passed from this life into the next. She was 97 years old.
Last week, another one of our oldest members, Virginia Tucker, 92, made her way into eternity. Both of these wonderful women had seen a lot of living.
Though I have known each of these women for only a fraction of their long lives, their passings move me to grief. As they leave this life, the ground beneath us shifts. Things will never be the same.
I felt that way, too, as we said goodbye to Marybeth and Jerry Banks on Sunday. They're not dying, they're just moving. But with their leaving, the ground shifts again.
When things change, so dramatically, so permanently, and deep inside ourselves, our hearts cry, "What's going to happen to me? With the sea of life constantly changing, is my little boat going to be swamped or overturned?"
The promise of God to us is that He will take care of us. As the Bible reminds us, "Jesus Christ is the same - yesterday, today and forever." (Heb. 13:8). We can embrace the changes that happen, even the losses we grieve, because the power of Jesus' resurrection will always see us through. We don't always like change; it's hard to move on without some of the anchors that made us feel so secure. But we can dare to celebrate the lives of those we love and let them move into their own glory, confident that Christ will move us, in good ways, into the next glory He has for us.
Faithfully,
Janet+
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