The gift of relaxation

 

 

 

Chris and Abba relax in our new (unstained) chair.  The chair will eventually be the same color as the table.

I mentioned this in my post yesterday, but this week, Chris and I were given the gift of two Adirondack chairs, matching footrests and a table.  All five pieces were hand crafted by someone from church.  It was a wonderful gift for which we are very grateful.  Not only because of the generosity of the person who made them, but also because we now have a place in our backyard for comfortable relaxation.  I can see spending a lot of time out in the yard sipping on iced tea and reading a book.  For the gift of relaxation, we are very thankful.

I'm too young to feel old

Friday night I went to the Jazzhaus to watch a member of church sing with her band, Coversmith.  It was great fun and Coversmith was amazing.  I had never seen them perform before, but I got to see them debut some new songs (they are a cover band, btw).  The new songs were just as awesome as the ones they had done before, but they were also songs that had been more recently released.  And as they began to sing "I believe in a thing called love" my mind flashed back to Christmas 2003, which I spent in Rome during my time studying abroad.  Could it really have come out 9 years ago?  Was I really on study abroad 9 years ago? 

I let it drop.

Then Sunday, I walked into the youth room for confirmation and the two young ladies who had already arrived were talking about getting on facebook for the first time (they had both just turned 13). 

"You know, I started using facebook when it first came out my senior year in college...it was just for college students back then"

I received the same blank stare that I got when I mentioned to that class that I didn't get my first cell phone until I was in college...either I was lying...or I'm that old (when you're 13, 28 can seem old, I have been alive twice as long as they have). 

But I'm not old! I'm still a year and 3.5 months away from 30.  So, technically, I'm still 61 years and 3.5 months away from old (though I hesitate to say this because I know quite a few folks in their mid to late 90's who are anything but old...old is really just a state of mind).  As I say this, however, there are many things that I enjoy now that I didn't when I was 13...or even 25, for that matter.  For instance, last night Chris and I spent a very enjoyable evening staining the first piece of our new patio furniture.  Last Tuesday, I spent a lovely hour creating a baby garden with two tomato plants, a basil plant, and a rosemary plant...I'm contemplating seeing if I can also get some lettuce to grow. I've also been plotting how to make the patio area of our back yard more attractive. Since when are these activities super fun?  Apparently it became fun in the very same time frame that spending 6 hours deep cleaning my kitchen and bathroom became something I found enjoyable (I give a lot of credit to the 80's music I was listening to while doing that...because I'm pretty sure that this was a fluke and it's not going to happen again for a while).  I don't do these things, I'm not a very domestic type of person...or at least, I wasn't until recently (this is not saying I'm a dirty person...I clean, I just haven't enjoyed it until now).

The really cool thing about humans is that evolution affects our personalities and our habits as much as it affects our physiology (i.e. wisdom teeth are no longer necessary for our survival, so more and more people are being born with fewer and fewer wisdom teeth).  So the me that hated getting up in the morning now enjoys having breakfast and a cup of coffee, while catching 20-30 minutes of the today show, before getting ready for the day.  It's not about getting older, it's more about perspective and what works for you...for all I know, I this could be a brief phase and I'll go back to hitting the snooze 5 times a day next month.     

Stats:
Weight - Lost 1 pound! I won't be reporting on this again for a while, I've been banned from even looking at my scale for 6 weeks...and I'm fine with that.
Miles - 30
Updates - adjusted myfitnesspal to reflect a much more realistic expectation of my daily caloric intake, now there isn't nearly as much red on the calendar (this happens when you go over on calories)

Awe and Ascension - a sermon

Feast of the Ascension

May 20, 2012

Acts 1:1-11

July 21, 2011 marked a very important day in American history.  It was the day that the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery landed for the final time, ending an era of space exploration as we knew it.  For over 49 years, humans had been embarking into space, and showed us a world beyond imagination.  And the best part was that we had access to the ascension of those space craft into the clouds, through the atmosphere, and out into space - whether you traveled down to Florida to take in the sights in person, or watched from the comforts of your own home.  I can only imagine what that would be like to be there in person, to watch the shuttle launch and move further and further from the face of the earth until finally it disappeared, leaving only a trail of exhaust that would let you know where it had been.  A feeling of awe would overcome the strain on the neck as you watched, I’m guessing.  Would you stop and wait a moment to take it all in after the shuttle disappeared, or would it be just something you just walked away from soon after it was over?

I’m guessing that the level of awe that the apostles felt after watching the ascension of Jesus was probably 100 times that of watching a shuttle launch.  Here they were, a mere 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection.  They thought that Jesus had been taken from them by death, but then they got him back and now their teacher and their Lord is being taken from them again. This time, however, it is to go into heaven to be with God.   And Luke tells us that there are some instructions to follow.  Hang out in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit arrives…then after she arrives and performs her own unique form of baptism, you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

They seem to have been paying attention to Jesus this time because in the verse after our text ends, the eleven return to Jerusalem and choose a replacement for Judas, restoring their number to twelve, one for each tribe of Israel.  But still, how do you process something like an ascension, especially the ascension of someone who was really important to you? 

Ascensions are not something that we think about…because they don’t generally happen.  As far as I’m aware, the only ascensions that have taken place in history, that don’t involve rockets and other advanced technology, have taken place in scriptural sources. And even within our own scriptural history, there has only been one other ascension besides the ascension of Jesus, that of the prophet Elijah who was taken into heaven by a whirlwind and chariots of fire.  His side kick Elisha was left standing there yelling out the details of this ascension, ready to take on the ministry of his mentor having received a double share of Elijah’s spirit. 

This time there were multiple witnesses to the ascension of Jesus…and they just kind of all stand around staring up into the sky like they have no idea what just happened or maybe they’re hoping there will be some sort of fireworks or message from on high or something. Maybe they were hoping that this really was the time when Jesus going to restore Jerusalem, but they just had to wait a couple minutes for Jesus to get to heaven and get settled in at the right hand of God the father before things began to happen. 

All of a sudden, though, they are jolted out of their daze by two men dressed in white who ask “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” In other words…Men of Galilee…you’re doing it wrong. 

They were asking the wrong questions and looking in the wrong places.  And really, if you think about it, they’d been asking the wrong questions and looking in the wrong places all along. John the Baptist sent his followers to Jesus and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to ask “are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another” aka “really? You’re the messiah?” When Peter, James, and John went with Jesus to the mountain and saw him transfigured, and watched his conversation with Moses and Elijah about the day he would be lifted up…the day of his ascension…Peter was content to stay, rather than go back out into the world and to assist Jesus in completing the work he set out to do. One of the most frustrated moments we see Jesus enter into is when the disciples started arguing over who was the greatest of the twelve. And just moments before Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples…now apostles, ask the question “is this the time when you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

When the women reach the tomb, we have *surprise!* two men in dazzling white clothes who inquire “why do you seek the living among the dead?”  You’re doing it wrong…haven’t you been listening?

This Jesus who has been taken up form you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven….from among you.  When Jesus comes back, he is not going to descend…but rather, he is going to come among us once again.  And actually, more than that, the essence of who Christ is still resides here amongst us.  We just have to allow our hearts to open up to seeing it.  And I think that this is the difficult part.  I think that this is why sometimes the church is still asking the wrong questions and looking in the wrong places…because in order to be Christ’s witnesses out in the world, we have to open our hearts and allow ourselves to become vulnerable to those around us.  We have to be able to vulnerable enough to receive hospitality ourselves before we can truly understand what it is and extend it to someone else.  Jesus knew this about the disciples, which is why he led by example…”you’re not going to get how meaningful it is to humble yourself and wash someone’s feet unless I show you what it feels like to have your feet washed.”  “you’re not going to know true, pure, self-giving love until someone loves you so much that they are willing to give their life up for you…and I am going to show you what that kind of love is like”

And now that you’ve witnessed this, don’t just stand there with your necks getting strained from staring up into the clouds waiting for me to send you a secret message from on high, go and be my witnesses in the world, looking for me out in the world and looking for ways to serve others just like I showed you.  You’ll know exactly what to do when the Holy Spirit shows up…and when you lose your way, she’ll help you find your way through.

With ascension comes a call to go out into the world and look for Christ among us…but with ascension there is also a promise…the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will lead us through times when we lose our focus on what God would have us to do. 

So imagine the awe of watching the ascent of a shuttle, multiply it by 100 and carry that awe with you out into the world while the church awaits the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  You’ll be amazed how often you will find Christ out in the world in the coming week.         

Thankful Thursday, or, Why I'm thankful that God created the pig

It's Thursday! Which means it's time to give thanks (I give thanks everyday, but Thankful Thursday has a real ring to it)
 
Today's thankful Thursday shall include my recipe for pulled pork for you enjoyment.

I am thankful for:
Walks with Chris and Abba
My new mini garden (which hopefully I won't kill)
Wednesday night worship
The children of Trinity
The arrival of the chapel chairs and new outdoor sign
Miracles in the lives of people around me
God's creation of the pig

I think God really had a great idea the day he created the pig. The pig allows us to enjoy barbequed ribs, pulled pork, bacon, the potential of a whole roast pig, bacon, pork chops, pork loin...did I mention bacon?

On Monday, I made the most amazing pulled pork.  I would like to share the recipe with you now.

Ingredients:
2lb pork shoulder (or larger depending on how many people you have to feed)
Emeril's Essence
BBQ sauce of your choosing (I prefer Sweet Baby Rays or Gates)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Place pork shoulder on a rack in a roasting pan
Season the entire shoulder thoroughly with Emeril's Essence
Cover with tin foil
Put in oven
After 5 hours, remove the tin foil and let the pork continue to roast for 3 more hours
After the extra three hours, turn the oven off and let the pork sit in the oven for 1 hour
Remove the pork from the oven and place in a large bowl
Using either your fingers or two forks, pull the pork (It should be falling apart at this point)

Consume either as a sandwich or on a baked potato or just straight up.  The BBQ sauce is optional. 
I roasted the pork shoulder fat side up to let the natural juices and the flavor of the pork fat soak through the whole shoulder. If you would like a leaner pulled pork, put the fat side down (Warning: if you do this you totally miss out on the awesome flavor that the fat part of the pork contains).

"excuses, excuses" or "how I finally got my husband to say yes walks"

My husband and I have a lot in common...our music taste, our willingness to try new foods (most of the time), etc, etc, etc.  One thing we do not have in common is our exercise methods.

Chris prefers the peaceful solitude that is afforded when you crank up your ipod and hit the treadmill and the pull up bar that we have at our house.  I am more of a communal exercise person...I'm more willing to exercise if others are around. Which is why the gym and the outdoors are my preferred exercise locales.  I have more motivation to move when I'm outside or when there are others around me who have the resistance settings on their elliptical machine just that much higher than mine is set.  Also, I hate treadmills, which is something I failed to tell Chris when he went out and purchased one about 1.5 years ago (I'm told that if I had spoken up, we could have gotten a nifty exercise bike instead...but I was sick enough with strep throat the day we bought it that I really didn't care what we got as long as I could go home and take a nap afterwards).

While I respect the difference in our optimal exercise locations, I do still like to take walks with others and who more convenient to walk with than the person you share a home with.  So, here and there, I've invited Chris to join me and Abba on a walk. It finally on Monday night he said "yes," and it was really nice.  Getting to walk around the neighborhood and chat while watching the dog try to chase random animals made for a good end to the evening.  But last night, Chris was the one who decided we should walk...which I didn't object to.  Actually, I was kind of excited when he got Abba's leash out after I finished planting my mini-garden (two tomato plants, sweet basil, and rosemary).  We took a different route than the night before (living blocks away from a college campus makes this very convenient).   Chris' excuse for wanting to go for a walk was that it was good for Abba and he wants to help me with my health goals...but I think that secretly, he likes it as much as I do. 

Stats:
No weigh in until Friday
Miles- 23 (this is miles walked plus the equivalent of other exercises done)
Progress - successfully drinking at least 10 cups of water a day, cutting down on diet soda intake, eating smaller portions, reintroduced multivitamins. Also, feeling amazing!

New Motivation

The National Youth Gathering is coming up sooner than I thought, and with it is going to come about 5 miles of walking per day...it's time to start get moving.  So I'm using this as well as a couple other events this summer (presiding at a college friends wedding, preaching at my home congregation) as new motivation to get moving. 

I want to be able to walk from the convention center in NOLA to the superdome, and back, multiple times within 4 days without being exhausted afterwards (I will be exhausted, but I don't want it to be because I'm not used to that much walking).  And plus, everyone wants to look good when seeing your college friends.  

I also realized how important research is in this.  I really like "my fitness pal" and I know a lot of people who it has been SUPER helpful for in losing weight.  The amount of calories it recommends for me seems way too low, though. So I checked and in fact, their recommendation was about 100 calories below my BMR (Base Metabolic Rate: the amount of calories my body needs to survive every day in a sedentary state).  I'm glad I checked this because now I can readjust (and not send my body into starvation mode).

Stats: 

weight - 166.8 (some progress is better than none!)

miles - 13 (I will log about 5 more tomorrow!)

progress...still working on it...motivation helps!!

Music Monday

Last night we blessed and dedicated the organ console, pew cushions, and rocking chairs.  It was going beautifully until a lightning strike caused a single phase power outage and shut the organ down.  But we did get through most of the evensong liturgy before this happened, so the Stanford Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis got sung/played (and they were fabulous).

This got me thinking again about how much music pervades our lives.  As we sang the hymns, the magnificat, and the nunc dimittis, the rain storm outside was singing with us providing an alternate accompaniment.

Everyone who knows me has probably realized that I love music.  Unless I am trying to concentrate on something like reading a book or writing a sermon, I have to have some kind of sound around me.  At church, it's the wide variety of Pandora channels I have on my account, or NPR, or a radio station I love (because sometimes, listening to the DJ's from your hometown is healing when you're having a rough day).  At home, Chris and I are constantly rotating whose Ipod is on the speakers in the house or in the car (it makes me very glad that we have similar taste in music).  Even at night, I need white noise to help me sleep...which is its own form of music, if you think about it.  But I realized, in my wellness quest, that I haven't been listening to music as much recently.  I finally grabbed my ipod the other day, for the first time in a couple months, and plugged it into the ihome dock and it was awesome.  This has been the area of my personal wellness that I have been missing.  So I intend to be more aware of the presence of music in my every day existence. 

This is all a part of improving spiritual wellness.  Last week I was on retreat with the other first call pastors from the synod at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS.  I had the opportunity to attend eucharist both mornings with the sisters, and this year I actually took them up on that opportunity.  It was really great to get to start the day with eucharist (even though it was at 7:30am) and to end the day with evening prayer.  Sometimes, I wish that we could participate in some aspects of monastic life, like eucharist every morning and evening prayer every evening.  

No updated stats to provide...though I have noticed my wrists look a bit smaller in the last week or so, so that's something (hopefully I'm not seeing things!) and my dress for the civic choir concert was bigger on my than I thought it would be, so there's that as well...I know that with summer coming, things are going to be pretty busy so I need to take advantage of a lighter schedule now to get into better habits so that I can be more aware that end of the wellness quest.

Music mood: Pandora - Jason Mraz Radio (with Joni Mitchell, Jack Johnson, Cat Stevens, etc, added for variety)
New wellness habit: Have added B-vitamin complex to diet

If you'd like to join me in this quest...I'm using the ELCA wholeness wheel as a guide to overall wellness...here is the link

A sermon for Easter 5

Easter 5

May 6, 2012

John 15:1-8

There is a new game that has developed in recent months amongst young people.  It’s a social game…an experiment really…that tells you a lot about my generation and the generations that have come after us.  What you do, is get a few of your friends together and go out to eat.  After you have been seated at your table, your water has been poured, and menus are in hand, you take a moment…pull your cell phones out of your pockets and stack them in the middle of the table.  They are not to be touched until the bill has been paid and you are all ready to walk out the door.  Sounds boring, doesn’t it?  But here is the catch…say one of these phones goes off during the meal…and you or your friend feel compelled to reach for your tether to the world…unless it is an emergency situation, the person who touches their cell phone first during the meal becomes responsible for picking up the check for their friends.  There are variations that don’t involve a monetary penalty, but you get the picture…how sad is it that we have had to invent a game to keep us off of our cell phones for one whole hour while we sit and have actual conversations with actual people, building on actual relationships? 

Advertising agencies have picked up on our addiction to social media and our technologically mediated social lives and have banked on it.  Last year, a dentyne gum marketing strategy urged customers to make face time with friends and family by playing scenes of people interacting with each other and at the bottom of the screen there was a description of what was happening.  A soccer player jumps in the air and runs to his team that embraces him…description – friend request accepted.  Two friends whisper a joke back and forth…description – voicemail.  It was wonderfully clever but pointed out this same problem.  In the age of smart phones, facebook, twitter, tumblr, it seems like technologically mediated relationships have taken over the social scene.  We are more and more connected to the world every day…and yet, studies suggest we have never been lonelier.  We need more genuine relationships, more real face time…we need to somehow become more connected to the source of our life together...

In order to help us to talk about this, we need to back up a few weeks…back to Maundy Thursday…back to a table where Jesus and his friends spent their last meal together…they had an advantage over us, as they had no cell phones, no facebook, etc, at their disposal…though folks sure have had fun guessing what holy week would have looked like if Mark Zuckerberg had been born a few millennia earlier and facebook were in existence.  Fortunately this was not the case and what we have is simply a rabbi and his friends gathered around a table sharing a meal.  It is during this meal that we hear the gospel text for this morning, a text which is part of Jesus’s farewell to his friends. 

And for those of us who have a love hate relationship with the gospel of John because of its simultaneous concrete and abstract concepts, this is one of the classics that get folks hung up…I am the vine, you are the branches…my father is the vine grower…abide in my love and bear much fruit. 

Think about what a grape vine looks like…a strong base attached to the roots that is woody in appearance, then a main vine coming out of the base which branches off in all sorts of different directions, intertwining with one another along the way…but each one ending in its own unique spot, where the fruit has an opportunity to grow.  The vines need occasional up keep, pruning, to make sure that the optimal amount of fruit is produced and that that fruit is healthy, ready for whatever application is in store for it, be it eaten off the vine, made into wine or grape juice, turned into jams.  And sometimes, for whatever reason, a branch withers and dies and must be removed so that the health of the entire plant can be sustained and so the rest of the branches can maintain a strong connection with the main vine, which provides them with all that the branches need to thrive and produce much fruit.

Jesus told all this to his disciples as they sat at the table and shared their last meal together, Judas was about to run off to the Pharisees to tell them where Jesus was going to be that evening…Peter was merely hours from denying Jesus three times…the other disciples were hours away from deserting their beloved rabbi…and Jesus was nearing the cross.  Soon, his disciples would be on their own and they would need to be prepared to continue to be in relationship with one another and to remember and put to practice the teachings of their rabbi…to abide in those teachings…without Jesus being physically present with them. 

As modern day disciples of Christ, we are charged with the same task as the first disciples. We, too, are like branches on a grape vine, intertwined with one another and connected firmly with the main vine.  No one asks disciples of Christ if there is going to be pain, disappointment, and hurt associated with the ministry we have been called to carry out…or if there is going to be withering every once in a while during the course of this ministry…but rather the question is when this is going to happen.  We are all pruned from time to time so that we can grow and thrive and bear much fruit. 

We were chosen be disciples of Jesus because we are beloved children of God, and we have received an invitation to be in relationship with Jesus.  With this invitation to be in relationship with Jesus comes an invitation to be in relationship with one another.  Like branches on a grape vine are intertwined, so are our lives intertwined.  The stronger the connection of the branches to the vine are, the stronger the connection between the other branches are.  It works in reverse, too….strong connection with the branches can lead to a stronger connection to the vine.  This is what happens in genuine community. We physically come together and get real face time with real people and our relationship with one another grows.  And what draws us together is our relationship with Christ. This is why church is so important. We are brought together by Christ from different backgrounds and interests and political views and are united by our love of Christ and our desire to serve our neighbors.  This is something that requires person to person interactions.  As much as we like to think it can, technologically mediated relationships cannot replace in person relationships…true, they can help us to keep in touch with folks that we do not see often, but these relationships are no where near as satisfying and healing as being with friends and family…be it biological family or church family. 

It is because of our life together on Sundays and during the week that Christ has made us into a family, so that we can show the love of Christ to those who need it most, so that no one is alone in the midst of a stressful or tragic situation, so that we do not have to be afraid to be vulnerable with one another and admit our shortcomings, our failures and our doubts, so that we can all grow in our relationship with Christ, and remember and put to use the teachings of Christ and bear much fruit by loving one another and serving our neighbors.