Vacation Time

I can't wait for Friday, not just because it's Friday but because la familia y yo are going to California. We're spending time in SF and then Monterey and then Yosemite. It's our first "big" vacation. We've been waiting for our youngest to (a) get big enough to walk at least an hour without much complaining and (b) be able to remember what she saw. Our daughter is so excited she's already packed.

I plan on taking a mix of faux black & white, and color photos. I'm worried about the color photos turning out. For some reason I don't focus the lense so well with color film. I'm also worried about driving in SF, luckily it's very limited driving.

My wife's parents are going to watch the house, the dog, and the hermit crabs for us; I hope PaPa doesn't spoil the dog too much. I wonder if Nannie will make PaPa take care of the hermit crabs...hmmm.

I can't wait; I'm so excited about this trip, I lived in Monterey for a short time many moons ago and getting to share a place that was special for me is a real treat.

Love Your Enemies

An excerpt from “A Knock At Midnight” from Martin Luther King’s sermon “Loving Your Enemies”

It’s not only necessary to know how to go about loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love.
…
Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

I share these words of wisdom mostly as a reminder to myself. I copy them out here to engrave the message into my being. I copy them out as a reminder of how Jesus’ words and actions are able to transform all our lives. We live in a global world at odds with itself; Torn between the love of universal brotherhood and the love of power.

I end with two of the promises I made and reaffirm at every baptism from the “Book of Common Prayer:”
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
I will, with God’s help.
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
I will, with God’s help.

A Prayer

This prayer comes from Rueben Job's book, "A Guide to Spiritual Discernment." I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking not only to discern God's will for themselves, but to anyone who wants to build a closer relationship with God.

This is week four's closing prayer:
Living and present God, we thank you and praise you for your presence with us
in all of the experiences of life. We seek your guidance in every decision of life,
and even as we ask for your help, we offer our lives to you anew and ask you to do
with us what you will. Our promise to you today is to follow wherever you may lead us. We are yours. Amen.

Serenity Prayer

Saw this on my friend's blog and thought I'd like to post it here as a reminder to myself:

Serenity Prayer
God,
Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.

Amen.
–Reinhold Niebuhr

Poem

Run swift run quick
So light of foot no echos left
What chases you chases me
The exhilaration of "tag you're it"

Poems

Willow shire

Weeping willow beside the river
Bowed down and thick trunked
Seasons flowing past
But steady you stay baring the memories
For the rest



Sitting Together

Mama you forgot we have to do the
sitting down close our eyes thing
Oh, you remembered, you want to Ok
Sit crisscross apple sauce
Rest your hands on your knees close your eyes
Think one happy word and say it inside your head
Breathe in – breathe deeply so they hear me –
I listen for their echoed inhale
Exhale loudly now do it again
again
again
again – giggles breath giggles are we done
Yes, I come back to them and they to me

More photos

It may just be me, but can anyone else see/find the face in the tree? ALT, I just had to post my hat pic once I saw yours.

Random Photos

The top two photos are of Garner State Park (a really great park to take the family to).

The mid-three photos are taken at a fellow parishener's ranch in Sisterdale.

The bottom two photos are of Lola and Blue - the family's hermit crabs curtesy of ALT.

Poem

Listen, listen, little heart
Take thine eyes and ears
into the great wide dark
Listen, listen, little heart

On My Mind

I decided that I wanted to post some of what I've read today:

In an email from Intergity which was sent me (Also see Intergity's blog: Walking With Integrity - The official blog of Integrity USA):
Friday, May 4, 2007
Nigerian Primate responds to letter from Presiding Bishop By StaffEpiscopal News Service
May 03, 2007

Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola has responded publicly to an April 30 emailed letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, asking him to reconsider plans to install Nigerian Bishop Martyn Minns as head of the Nigerian-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).

The installation service is set for May 5 at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian event center in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Jefferts Schori said the installation "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation." Such action, she said, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ.

Click here to read the full ENS article.

Click here to read Archbishop Akinola's entire letter.

Then while at the Thinking Anglicans website I read the lead article and the following link
(Anything But Straight: Nigeria’s Frequent Flyer):
Anything But Straight: Nigeria’s Frequent Flyer
By Wayne Besen
Thursday, 03 May 2007

Snip: According to international election monitors, the April 21 vote in favor of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua was rigged, threatening the very freedom and stability of this oil-rich, but corrupt nation. Braving threats of a brutal governmental crackdown, thousands of courageous Nigerians took to the streets on May Day to protest the political charade that passes for political liberty.

Clearly, these demonstrators could benefit if they stood side-by-side with a moral leader who demanded an end to corruption and called for new elections. Such a man would be regarded as a true national hero who could lead Nigeria from a kleptocracy to genuine democracy.

Anglican Archbishop Peter J Akinola is perfectly situated to step in and fill this role. Not only is he a local powerbroker, he is also the leader of the largest province in the worldwide Anglican Church. This offers Akinola a unique international platform to draw attention to the electoral sabotage that is ripping apart the very soul of Nigeria.

But, instead of staying in Nigeria this week to bring his convulsing country together, he is flying to the comfy confines of Virginia to tear the Anglican Church apart. While his country is on the verge of a Constitutional conflagration, the Nigerian archbishop is burning with rage because in 2003 the Episcopal Church installed openly gay V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

Just something to think about.

Poetry Today

My wife got me a miniture rock garden as a gift
It sits perfectly still on my desk
Neatly raked everything in its place
Three stones three models (cottage cottage swan)
Two trinities
Equally spaced perportional grace
Swan fallen awaiting its arising


Questions of place and space and my place within the space
Questions of grace within divine conversation of late
Questions to grapple and wrapple and untangle within inner sactum

Internalized treasure chests lay claim to anwsers yet unvocalized
Open me open me open me you see
Ah yes maybe no what if what if not oh so oh bother

What kind of risk taker am I
Well that depends on whether you ask the mother or the other idealist inside
What balance what risk what compromise

Gifts upon gifts and life experience
Heavy from the holding in
But for the grace of God where go I

Update

The family is pretty excited about going camping this weekend. It’s our first camping trip of the summer. I just checked the weather for the weekend and it’s a lookin’ good!

I need to check my camera batteries before we leave – I think the power supply is going. If that’s the case, the camera probably won’t even be worth keeping. What really stinks is that the camera is only a few years old and only moderate use.

In Sunday school we’ve been discussing what the Book of Revelations is and isn’t. The book that goes with the class provides a really nice overview about what it means to read Rev. as a road-map, myth, or historical-critical. It’s been nice having my paradigm shift. It’s no longer this going to hell scripture but a “wake up” call to what being Christian means.

FindHabeas.com

I would encourage people to check out FindHabeas.com to find out more information about The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) and why the ACLU (and we too) should be concerned about what the MCA means.

The below is pulled directly from the FindHabeas.com website:

"The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) gives the president absolute power to decide who is an enemy of our country, to imprison some people indefinitely without charging them with a crime, and to define what is — and what is not — torture and abuse.
Just before the 2006 elections, Congress passed and the President signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA). Under the Military Commissions Act, the U.S. government can now:
- Imprison some people indefinitely without charge or legal justification
- Deny detainees any court review of their imprisonment
- Hand down convictions based on evidence literally beaten out of witnesses
- Redefine torture and abuse as they see fit, without regard for the Geneva Conventions or any other human rights law

The MCA was sparked by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the original military commission system established by President Bush to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay was unfair and illegal. It ratifies key parts of the illegal commissions, reversing in part the Supreme Court decision.

This wide-ranging and dangerous legislation eliminated a cornerstone of our Constitution by taking habeas corpus rights away from certain individuals. It allows our government to continue to hold hundreds of prisoners with no end in sight.

Without due process, we are almost certainly holding innocent people behind bars. In fact, the Bush administration has already acknowledged that at least 140 of the prisoners held at Guantanamo are not terrorists — they are individuals who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

High-ranking officials must be held accountable for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody. And we must challenge the practice of “extraordinary rendition” — the kidnapping of foreign nationals for detention, interrogation, and torture in overseas prisons.
The Military Commissions Act, torture by our government and extraordinary rendition stain our nation’s legacy as the standard bearer for the protection of human rights.

We must not tolerate our country being engaged in acts of kidnapping and torture or a law that says the President can simply decide what is and isn’t torture. It is up to all of us to restore respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. You can do your part; take action today.
The Restoring the Constitution ActThe Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007, introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA), fixes all of the problems that the MCA caused in undermining the Constitution and the rule of law. The legislation restores habeas corpus and due process to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and to other detainees held indefinitely by the federal government. It would specifically block any president from arbitrarily deciding who is an enemy combatant and limit that designation to people actually engaged in armed conflict with our country.

In addition, this bill would prevent this and future presidents from making up their own rules on torture, and make clear that the federal government must comply with the Geneva Conventions, which have been America’s laws for decades. The bill makes clear that the Constitution is the law of the land — and that no president can make up his or her own rules regarding torture and abuse.

Congress made a mistake when it passed the Military Commissions Act. But the ultimate responsibility lies with us, the people. We know what America stands for, at home and abroad. We must call on Congress to correct its mistake: restore respect for the Constitution, restore habeas corpus and restore all the constitutional and due process rights Congress took away. Take action today to restore the Constitution."

Misc

Tempered silence
Booms
within the chambers of my heart
Far away spaces
Unfold
within the dimensions of my soul

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
God.
God who?
God to know ya.

BBQing tonight – angus burgers and bratwurst - yum. My wife’s friends from college are visiting tonight. Grocery shopping, and yard work tomorrow (need to replace one more vine and the gazebo flora is done). Church on Sunday. My wife and I just joined our church’s Bread for the World group…so we’ll be doing that Sunday too.

Otherwise, not much happening. Wife insistent about us camping - so that’ll be in May. Our big vacation isn’t until the end of June to San Francisco. Ho hum…it’s always off to work I go J.

Interspersing Martin Luther King Jr’s “Why We Can’t Wait” into “church” reading for variety.

Saying too much in too few words

Easter week is is shaping up to be quite busy...

But for me this Easter marks a continued affirmation of a connectedness to a faith community...

I feel as though I've emerged from the depths and have broken free to the surface and gasp that first lungful of oxygen...I feel new.

I wonder at what discernment will bring, what it will entail...ah, continued resounding affirmations one hopes.

...To think about it but not too much...listening, listening, listening...worrying about earwax :) ah, well it will fall where it may...

...Zeitgeist (the spirit of the time) keeps "popping up" today hmmm...

p.s. The Chill Out Lounge rocks (if you use Windows Media player Internet Radio), as I write this post lyrics keep repeating Delivery me, won't you delivery me...I know you're the one to delivery me...now that i've found you i know that you're the one to believe in me
...nice

Sooo...

Been reading like crazy...finished "The Close" - it was interesting...at the beginning of "The Episcopalians" - I think it's going to provide a very nice overview of the Episcopal church, a much lighter read than "The Reformation: A History" which what I read was good (it just got overcome by other books, and I had to return it to the library). I'm really enjoying "Living in the Spirit" which I don't have the internal pressure of speed reading through, since it's not due back in two weeks. Then off to "Being Christian" along with the all everyday readings.

Greek has been resurrected - I was getting overwhelmed with lots of other stuff. I seem to be stuck on chapter 7 vocab. But, plow, plow, plow through I will.

I'll be starting EFM at the end of summer and they're having a Seder Meal. I'm really looking forward to the meal and to meeting everyone.

Centering Prayer in the morning is hard for me, I find that my mind once mildly awake wants to begin thinking about everything I need to do - sacred word, sacred word, sacred word. I wonder if anyone else has the sensation of upon "leaving" centering prayer of their limbs feeling heavy as if rooted to the ground?

Was looking for something to listen to and decided upon the M People - I forgot how much I like this group - you can't help but tap a foot and sing along.

Nicho Workshop and a poem

This Saturday my wife and I attended a nicho workshop. This is the first nicho I've ever made and I don't think it will be my last. Everyone's nicho was truly different and all were beautiful. It was soothing and I didn't talk often, my wife and a friend were chatterboxes...but it provided pleasant backdrop.

Nicho are altars you make to remeber and honor loved ones.

I tend to forget how much I like using my hands to make things. Maybe because most of my creative time is spent in my head and only later do I use my hands, and usually it's to type.

Speaking of which here's my "green" poem for last Saturday:
Luscious how it rolls off my tongue
Rigid and serpentine
Along the ridgeline of your taut neckline
Pin you to me in a coiled embrace
Swaying softly with you – mesmerized

Not Much Happening

Not much going on, BBQed last night, and finished the book I was reading by Carter Heyward - she was one of the "Philadelphia Eleven" in 1974; she and ten other women deacons were ordained priests in the Episcopal Church.

I'm looking forward to the "build one's own altar" class this weekend.

Elements and Pulling Weeds

So my wife and I bought a 2007 Honda Element this week (above is a picture of it) only ours has running boards and a roof rack. It's a pretty cool little SUV. We were having problems with our minivan and were starting to get the feeling that the service department wasn't doing a good job anymore, hence we shifted brands and downsized in the process. That was last Monday, and here it is Sunday and I've no buyers remorse :-)

The rest of the week was alright. My wife and I and our daughter pulled a whole lotta weeds this weekend. Now we're down to the tiny ones; some clover, teeny tiny pricker plants, and some crab grass. I mowed for the first time in months. It felt really nice to be outside after so much rain; which also made pulling weeds easier.

Still Out There

I found a beautiful place to walk at my work. It's like entering into an oasis: no cars, no buildings, rarely any noise; the occassional rabbit, the occassional deer. It's absolutely wonderful - a slice of heaven.