Happy Halloween!

Awhile ago I ordered a book of vintage Halloween postcards from Amazon.com. They quickly arrived and soon I misplaced them. I had intended to send them to friends, but am now reminded of this saying my father used to repeat: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," as I have not done so.

Happy Halloween!

This is the first Halloween I have not bought any chocolate for trick-or-treaters, because I am committed to buying only Fair Trade Chocolate candy. (Husband CB complained that we don't have any "good" candy, but that's healthier for us, too.)

Whatever Halloween candy you have in your house, Hungry Girl has a handy guide to those treats. She posts the calories and the Weight Watcher points for each "fun size" and other handouts.

Anne has a cheery Halloween reflection at her Reverent Irreverance blog.

Last Minute Success

Unfortunately, that seems to be my motto. In high school, college and grad school, I lived this out--I always wrote papers the night before and got A's. Unfortunately, age has set in and I'm not as gifted on the spot like that anymore.

Today I was lucky enough to think of a way to get my car's annual safety inspection done while I was at my Tai Chi class. Last night CB noticed that the inspection sticker was expiring on Halloween, something I had completely ignored. Usually by waiting until the last minute, one spends hours waiting for one's turn.

Instead, this afternoon I left my car at the service station to be in the inspection queue and then I walked two blocks to the church for my Tai Chi Class. Two hours later I walked back, and the inspection had been completed.

What a satisfying day, especially with it being cooler and much less humid outdoors--in the mid 70s this afternoon. (Like a Bellingham summer day!)

Us at 60!

Jan and CB
Austin, TX

O God

O God, the Spirit of truth,
help us to be truthful with one another.
O God, the Spirit of gentleness,
help us to be gentle with one another.
O God, who knows what is in our hearts
more clearly than we do ourselves,
help us to hear one another.
O God, lead us in the way
of truth and love. Amen.

~~Richard Harries

Harries, Richard. "#362."The Book of a Thousand Prayers. Ed. Angela Ashwin. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. 150.

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

Centering?

Thanks to my friend Ron who emailed this cartoon.

The Best Season of Life

My friend Mary Jane sent me this card for my birthday. It is a perfect expression of how I feel about turning 60 years old.

Last week I was reading in the Gospel of John and was surprised by a rarely-noticed (by me) verse in the story of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12):

Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

With this landmark birthday approaching, I noticed the latter part of verse 10: "you saved the best till now." That perfectly describes how each successive decade has been for me: life keeps getting better. It seemed "old" to turn half-a-century ten years ago, but my 50's have been happier and happier. Now that I'm even older, I am anticipating that my 60's will be, too.

My faith in God and meditating have helped me to realize more of the abundance in my daily life, especially in my family and friends. I am such a blessed person; today I am grateful to know this as truth.

Today is the first day of my seventh decade!

SURPRISE!!

Monday is a big birthday for me (60!), so my only wish was to have dinner with my children, which was on Saturday night at my favorite Austin, TX restaurant The Eastside Cafe. Of course, daughter AE and KA from Seattle would not come, but Austin was an ideal location for daughter MJ from San Antonio and son BJ from Houston to meet us, because DC and 8-months-pregnant AA live there.

So we drove to Austin on Saturday, with two slight mishaps on the way. First, a Suburban sounded (and looked) like it hit our car when we were turning left from the right lane onto a one-way street--and the Suburban on our left went straight! We both stopped, but could see no damage, except for a scrape low on the front left fender, which seemed too low to be from the Suburban. So with a sigh of relief, we went on. Then about 10 minutes later, I realized that I had brought blouses along but NOT my skirt, so back home we drove. (That turned out to be beneficial, because we decided to make our own sandwiches for our lunch before driving on.)

We met at DC and AA's home in Austin and got to see the future baby nursery (in 3-4 weeks!), which is painted aqua with pink accents. They know they are having a baby girl, whose name will be Avery Elizabeth. Right now it is estimated, from a sonogram, that she weighs about 6 pounds.

After BJ and his girl friend TP got there, MJ arrived. We were telling her about the above-mentioned misadventures when suddenly from the kitchen came two figures I was not expecting at all -- AA and KA! From Seattle! MJ had picked them up at the Austin Airport for their 24-hour visit to TX. Husband CB and the kids had planned this for months to surprise me; I am overwhelmed by their love.

An even better surprise was my present from my children--a proposed pre-Christmas portrait of them all, including Avery! The last portrait was taken in 1997, and I am so pleased and excited that they'll do this for me. What a gift!

Today is the last day I will be 59, and I already received the best birthday presents possible -- and my birthday has not even come yet!

Let our fears be transformed

I have recently rediscovered Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill. It is inspiring in a mystical way and a great aid before sitting in contemplative prayer.

Here is a portion of one of the Psalms I read a few days ago:

Impregnate us with Love, O Comforter!
Let our fears be transformed;
let all that keeps us separated
and confused flee!
As smoke is blown away, so let our
fears rise up before You;
as wax melts before fire,
let our fears be melted by Love!
Then will we be released
from bondage;
we will exult before the Beloved;
we will be jubilant with joy!

Merrill, Nan C. "Psalm 68." Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness. NY: Continuum, 1997. 129.

Easy Vegetarian Garbanzo and Tomato Soup

I recently had this delicious soup at the Mustang Island Retreat Center. Tonight I made it (minus the leeks). It is easy and quick to make.

Garbanzo and Tomato Soup

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 leeks, sliced
2 zucchini, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cups canned chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 fresh bay leaf
3 1/2 cups vegetable bouillon
14-16 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz. spinach

Serve with:
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
sun-dried tomato bread

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the leeks and zucchini and cook them briskly for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

2. Add the garlic tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, vegetable bouillon, and garbanzo beans.

3. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Shred the spinach finely, add to the soup, and cook for 2 minutes. Season to taste.

5. Discard the bay leaf. Serve the soup immediately with freshly grated Parmesan chees and warm sun-dried tomato bread.

Friday Five: Friendships

Old Friends by Michael Leunig

Songbird brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals: some questions about friendship.

1) Who is the first friend you remember from childhood?
The first best friend I made was in first grade. Her name was Cece. We made up a "secret" language of substituting all first letters with "M" and so she was "Meme" and I was "Manet". (In first grade I insisted about being called "Janet" because my first grade teacher Miss Golden called me that. I even told my parents to stop calling me "Jan.") I was very impressed with Cece's mother, because a couple times she substituted for our teacher, and I wished so much that my mother could have done that. (Maybe that was the beginning of my desire to become a teacher, myself.)

2) Have you ever received an unexpected gift from a friend?
The most extravagant and surprising gift was that my friend Beverly made me a handmade quilt! She presented it to me in the Wisdom Class. It has an African theme, and I love it. (You can see both sides in this picture.)


3) Is there an old friend you wish you could find again? Or have you found one via social media or the Internet?
I wish I could find Cece!

And I am surprised that I've made blogging friends whom I have never met (except for Diane and Serena!).

4) Do you like to get your good friends together in a group, or do you prefer your friends one on one?
Usually I like one-on-one, though close friends in a group are fun.

5) Does the idea of Jesus as a friend resonate with you?
I have never felt a personal relationship with Jesus.

Prayer for Our World

Our Loving Creator God,

We bring before you this day
the burden the whole world carries
as it endures extreme poverty and hunger
in every land.

Stretch out your loving arms, we pray,
to embrace the suffering women, men and children
whose bodies, minds and spirits are shrinking
before our very eyes.

Help us to look, really look,
with clear eyes and open hearts,
to see the pain and hopelessness
in their bewildered eyes.

Kindle within each one of us
a flame of love and purpose,
and then

Enable us to channel our love into action
in every way possible
and impossible.

For this we pray. Amen.

~Mimi A. Simpson of Santa Barbara, CA

Ed. Margaret Rose, Jenny Te Paa, Jeanne Person, and Abagail Nelson. Lifting Women's Voices: Prayers to Change the World. NY: Morehouse Publishing, 2009. 90-91.

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

Gay Teen Suicide Awareness Day

My daughters AE and KA in Seattle have contributed their personal testimonies that "It Gets Better" to the U-Tube Project begun by Dan Savage. Their stories and those of many other LGBT people are profound, hopeful and compassionate. I hope gay teenagers will look at one or more of them to realize that things will not always be so bleak and dismal.

Here is some info about Dan Savage and this project:

"What started out as a single video uploaded by the Seattle-based sex columnist and gay activist Dan Savage has quickly turned into an Internet phenomenon, with "Project Runway" star Tim Gunn, talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, and other celebrities releasing powerful videos telling gay teens they aren't alone and that their lives will improve.

"The hundreds of videos uploaded to the It Gets Better project have been viewed more than a million times, Savage says."

To read the rest of the article, go here.

Dan Savage

Two Frogs

One day, two frogs were enjoying the day in the barn when they accidentally fell into the farmer's bucket of cream, and they couldn't get out. The two frogs kept swimming around to keep from drowning, and every once in a while they would try to climb out, but this was becoming very tiring.

One frog kept saying, "This is useless, we should just give up." But the other frog just ignored the comment and kept swimming. Finally, the pessimistic frog gave up and drowned. The other frog was sad at the loss of his friend, but he wasn't going to give up. He kept swimming and swimming, and, finally, the cream turned into butter and the frog simply climbed out.

This story shows that even if we stumble and others try to pull us down, we got to keep on swimming because, eventually, the cream will turn into butter and we'll make it out of the pail.

(Our priest Sandy Casey-Martus read this story in Sunday's homily.)

Blessing 2

These two quotes, from yesterday and today, speak of receiving God's blessing and returning the blessing, creating a continuous circle or world of blessing, love. (However, the following words were written by an Orthodox theologian in patristic language. The italics in parentheses are my way of trying to be inclusive.)

"Man is a hungry being. But he is hungry for God. Behind all the hunger of our life is God. All desire is finally a desire for God. To be sure, man (humanity) is not the only hungry being. All that exists lives by 'eating.' The whole creation depends on food. But the unique position of man (humankind) in the universe is the he (she) alone is to BLESS God for the food and the life he (she) receives from God. He (A human) alone is to respond to God's blessing with his (her) blessing. . .

"To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it. And in the Bible to bless God is not a 'religious' or a 'cultic' act, but the very WAY OF LIFE. God blessed the world, blessed men (humanity), blessed the seventh day (that is, time), and this means that God filled all that exists with God's love and goodness, made all this 'very good.' So the only NATURAL (and not 'supernatural') reaction of man (humankind), to whom God gave this blessed and sanctified world, is to bless God in return, to thank God, to SEE the world as God sees it and--in this act of gratitude and adoration--to know, name, and possess the world. . . The first, the basic definition of man (humanity) is that he (she) is THE PRIEST. He (Humanity) stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his (her) act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God--and by filling the world with this eucharist, he (she) transforms his (her) life, the one that he (she) receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with God."

~~Alexander Schemann in For the Life of the World

Blessing 1

"Blessing involves relationship: one does not bless without investing something of oneself into the receiver of one's blessing. And one does not receive blessing oblivious of its gracious giver. A blessing spirituality is a relating spirituality. And if it is true that all of creation flows from a single, loving source, then all of creation is blessed and is a blessing, atom to atom, molecule to molecule, organism to organism, land to plants, plants to animals, animals to other people, people to people, and back to atoms, molecules, plants, fishes."

~~Matthew Fox in Original Blessing

Dinner for Six

Like many other churches, All Saints Episcopal Church began organizing "Dinners for Eight" starting this fall. Our group dwindled to three couples, instead of four. Tonight is the dinner at our house.

CB is going to grill steelhead trout on the grill. I made a curried rice salad this morning. Others will bring a salad, a vegetable and dessert. It will be fun.

I thought I would share the recipe for the salad, because it is a favorite of my family:

Curried Rice Salad with
Apples and Chick-Peas

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice
5 scallions, sliced
1 medium apple, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (I use yellow)
1 cup cooked chick-peas
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (or vegetarian variety)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, 40-45 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork, and set it aside.

Combine the cooled rice in a large bowl with the scallions, apple, raisins, pepper, chick-peas, and cilantro.

Whisk together the turmeric, curry powder, salt, mayonnaise, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Stir the dressing into the salad and serve at room temperature.
(However, we like it chilled.)

Callan, Ginny. Beyond the Moon Cookbook. NY: HarperCollins, 1996. 109.

IT GETS BETTER: Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire

BLOG ACTION DAY!

Pause and think about that for a moment!

Today is Blog Action Day concerning our need and access to WATER around the world.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

• Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.
• 890 million people lack access to safe water.
• 2.5 billion people don’t have a toilet.
• $25 brings one person clean water for life.
• Over 200 million hours of labor each day are consumed each day to collect water.
• The majority of the world’s illness is caused by fecal matter.
• More people on earth have cell phones than toilets.

For more information about FACTS about the water crisis go here.

Friday Five: Connections

I am currently reading Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam, where he explores the changes in community in the USA in the 20th Century. He explains how communities, people, and especially children function better when they live where there is high social capital. Basically, it means that "relationships matter."

We all know this because Christianity (and other religions) emphasize the Golden Rule:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:1*

So here are some questions to ponder for this Friday Five about connecting with:

1. Self: Who was your hero/heroine when you were about ten years old?
When I was ten, I had just skipped fourth grade while being in a 3-4 grades combination class. I was in fifth grade and reading and reading Louisa May Alcott's books. While in that 3-4 combination class, an "older" student challenged me as the younger that I wasn't "old enough" to read Little Women, so (of course) I did! That was my favorite books for years and years; I was disappointed when my oldest daughter did not like it because it was so anti-feminist. Thus, all I can think is that my hero (or favorite author) at that time was Louisa May Alcott. She patterned Jo after herself, so I guess that independent spirit is what I admired. (I am glad to see that my two daughters feel more independent than I did at their ages.)

2. Family: Who are you most like? Who is most like you?
Having no siblings, I am like both my parents. I always wanted to be more like my mother, but have shown the insecurity of my father much of my life. After visiting my cousin Margaret in Canada, I was validated by her telling me I was more like my mother and her family than I had ever realized.

3. Friends: How do you stay in touch?
I stay in touch through sending cards, some emailing, blogging, and reading about friends on Facebook. I am not good about calling people; I like them to phone me, but somehow it is a hurdle for me to make the call.

4. Neighborhood, community: What are ways you like to be involved?
I am involved in small spiritual groups; two different Renovare Groups meet in my home every week. I need to be friendlier with my neighbors. I know I fall into the decreasing "social capital" relationships described in the Bowling Alone book.

5. Job/church: Do you see a need that will help in developing connections?
Small groups are helpful and asking individuals one-at-a-time reaps benefits. (But that usually means phone calls. . . .)

Bonus: I am impressed with Robert D. Putnam's writings and efforts to increase community connections. His group compiled 150+ ways to get involved, which are illuminating and surprising to look at. To print that list, go here. Just to see the list, go here.

* And I appreciate MomPriest printing other translations of Matthew 7:1-5:

Matthew 7 from The Message
A Simple Guide for Behavior
1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

or this one from the NRSV

Matthew 7:1-5
7“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.