True Colours

by Cyndi Lauper, but I especially love Phill Collins' version

You with the sad eyes
don't be discouraged
oh, I realize
it's hard to take courage
in a world full of people
you can lose sight of it all
and the darkness inside you
can make you fell so small

But I see your true colours
shining through
I see your true colours
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colours
true colours are beautiful
like a rainbow

Show me a smile, then
don't be unhappy, can't remember
when I last saw you laughing
if this world makes you crazy
and you've taken all you can bear
you call me up
because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colours
shining through
I see your true colours
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colours
true colours are beautiful
like a rainbow

poetry party 28

Abbey of the Arts: illumination!


Christine took this beautiful photograph at a retreat center on the Hood Canal.



luminist painters revealed light—
we otherwise wouldn't see
luminaries in arts, in sports, in politics, too—
are more than usually visible
luminarias show pathways—
during a season of darkness
the smile on your face—
illuminates your love
J the B decreases because in him, just as in us—
the light of Jesus Christ increases...
illuminating the world!

Happy Thanksgiving!

poetry party 27

Abbey of the Arts Poetry Party 27


Christine tells us "the image was taken in the summer of 2007 on Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands in Ireland."

What is written on my heart?
Little more than endless pain.
Decades of
"tomorrow will be different
"this next thing will work
"all I need is a long night's sleep..."
imagining and actually believing sorrow, loss, grief and hope
were the night that Spirit
would transform into dawn

poetry party 26

Abbey of the Arts poetry party 26


In Christine's invitation she writes, "This week I invite you to celebrate your own ancestors, either as a group, or dedicate your poem to a particular person (human or animal in nature). For this week’s party, I also invite you to email me a photo of this person (if you have one) to accompany your poem.

This photo was taken last March in a cemetery in Ipswich, Massachusetts when I traveled back to trace some of my maternal ancestors.

North Shore

Today rather than people or places or pets, I'm stepping back to honor one of my own previous lives, still wondering how the crooked path got to this current here and where. Not that Ipswich, Massachusetts was quite point of origin, but for those years going up the shore at first from Boston and later from Salem on a summer Sunday afternoon, stopping at the Clam Box for fried clams and simply being stripped clean and purified by salty Atlantic air meant going home renewed and hopeful. During Holy Week before Robert and I were leaving the East Coast for the Left, senior pastor of the congregation I'd been serving took me to lunch at the Clam Box. I almost never regret any of the big choices I've made for longer than a split second, yet what could I have done differently that would yielded the life of service I prepared for? I don't know, yet I do know "these things" don't happen in 1^st or 2^nd world countries. So I dedicate this paragraph to Boston's North Shore and commit myself to making at very least a virtual pilgrimage back, and filled with the bright hope of Atlantic sea air to retrace, refine and reinvent my own journey.

locations 5

location location location...Friday 5 from the RevGals

For today's Friday 5, Singing Owl asks, "Tell us about the five favorite places you have lived in your lifetime. What did you like? What kind of place was it? Anything special happen there?" I'm not quite convinced any of these qualify quite as favorites, and I'd love to write lots about all these and others, but due to time constraints will say just enough to be suggestive, but each one would make a great separate blog topic. I have pics for each point but haven't organized my photobucket account well enough to retrieve them on time, so here's my play for today.

1. Boston's North End: basic studio with full kitchen, 3/4 bath--a block away from the Prado with the statue of Paul Revere with his horse that was a few yards away from the back end of Old North Church (of Paul Revere fame). I lived there as an undergrad and then for the year I substitute taught in the Boston Public Schools.

2. The Orne-Prince House [1788] in Salem, MA: top level of a 3-story Federal style house, and this Cat's Meow collectible almost exactly matches; the only difference is the windows in our 3rd floor were 6 over 6 like in the 1st and 2nd floors—even the yellow clapboard siding is identical!

3. 3 parsonages: almost mindless living, but bummer in that I couldn't do much of my own decorating style in terms of painting, customizing the interface, etc., but it was great to have yard and exterior regularly maintained.

4. In the Dorchester section of Boston during summer 2000, just before I returned to Paradise, probably for only a year. This is called a Philadelphia style house; I lived on the 1st floor so Nick, my friend and the owner of the house who lived upstairs could have a lot of freedom to come and go while he again was trying to renovate it for again another tenant. Nick had attended the church I'd served not that far away and over the previous couple of years we'd become good friends. Lots more to say, but that's enough for purposes of this blog.

5. Right (technically Left) here in Paradise: again on a 3rd floor, this time a 64-unit complex and this time it's a coastal desert close to the ocean for walks on the beach, not far from the hot desert with its promise of spectacular newness, a short drive from the mountains and not far from the international border. Here we regularly get weather forecasts for 4 different climates: coastal, inland, desert and mountains.

poetry party 25

Poetry Party 25: celebrating the gift of the written word

Introducing this week's Poetry Party, Christine says,

The photos below taken this past summer in the library at Melk Benedictine Abbey in Austria...From their website: "In the order of importance of the rooms in a Benedictine monastery, the library comes second only to the church"–another reason I love the monastic tradition! This week’s theme is simple, I invite you to write a poem celebrating the gift of the written word in your life.

Rather than attempting a formal poem about the suggested "written word" topic (it would fill at least one book), I'll thank Christine for the images, inspirations and friendly support. It's rare that I don't start a poem or reflection or retrieve one of my own graphic designs for the party, though only a little more than half of what I begin is ready to post by Friday. Nonetheless, the Poetry Parties have helped me remember past places, persons and events, ponder this present now and dream of a somewhere future in healthy, non-obsessive ways. This has been a sparse blogging year in terms of formal theology and of writing more directly about my own stuff, but uncharacteristically I've been allowing myself an amazing number of naps! Many of those slumbers have featured long, interesting dreams that have recast experiences from my past into where I am now and have helped me finally start sorting through ways to express my ongoing sense of call to serve world, church and creation in ways related to my gifts, passions and education. Thanks, Christine!!!

appleseed 5

♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ Oh, the Lord is good to me
and so I thank the Lord
for bringing me the things I need
the sun and the rain and the appleseed
the Lord is good to me
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen! ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫
this is Johnny Appleseed day, so Singing Owl brings us today's 5 in his honor. part of his bio includes:

September 26, 1774 was his birthday. "Johnny Appleseed" (John Chapman) is one of America's great legends. He was a nurseryman who started out planting trees in western New York and Pennsylvania, but he was among those who were captivated by the movement west across the continent.

As Johnny traveled west (at that time, the "West" was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois) he planted apple trees and sold trees to settlers. With every apple tree that was planted, the legend grew. A devout Christian, he was known to preach during his travels.

1. I'll pick a pair of favorite apple dishes: the harder to make apple dumplings wrapped in flaky piecrust and perfectly seasoned with more nutmeg and less cinnamon and also, easier to make apple cobbler, with either from-scratch biscuit or bisquick topping. I especially love heavy cream on the dumplings, vanilla ice cream on the cobbler, but a shot of whole milk is an okay stand-in.

2. back in the Intermountain West (the real west, by even today's standards!) I participated in a ceremonial tree-planting (one of those events that gave us a spot and a soundbyte on the late evening news), but I don't recall the why of it...

3. roaming around the countryside wouldn't exactly be the first choice of adventure for this city-girl, but if God called me to do so, I could preach and pray a little, display some design and get some commissions as well as play a few piano recitals.

4. two on the historical legend front, as well: Johann Sebastian Bach and Martin Luther. We have a lot of factual info about both of them, but there's a ton of hearsay we can't tease out from their realities.

5. when I'm trying to get cheerful, praise songs such as "Shout to the Lord" and related are wonderful; if I feel really despondent, a symphony by Beethoven brings back perspective in a heartbeat.

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To introduce Abbey of the Arts poetry party: equinox edition Christine observes, "Today is the autumnal equinox, a time when the sun rests above the equator and day and night are divided equally. It heralds in a season filled with change and the brilliant beauty of death. I invite you to write your own ode to autumn. What are the gifts, challenges, and invitations for you in the days ahead?"



[...BLUEBERRIES!!! was my first thought about Christine's pic...great colors and contrast!]

starting out with equal parts
day and night
with leaves falling
colors richening
and differently scented air
autumn eases into cooler longer nights
for better dreaming

creation winters in sleep
until on the other side
spring bursts open
splendid in resurrection liberty
reborn in greater wisdom
and overflowing depth

so instead of sadness
over another sorrowful summer
I'm ready to welcome
a season of settled quiet
and excited to anticipate
next summer's festivities!

autumnal equinox 5

(north of the equator) fall equinox Friday 5 on the revgals

for this September Friday, Songbird suggests, "tell us five favorite things about fall."

1) A fragrance: Thanksgiving dinner baking in the oven with scents of onion, celery, sage and turkey permeating the house

2) A color: I'll pick a palette of 3...

plum
camel
indigo

3) An item of clothing: corduroy anything

4) An activity: walking on a tourist-less beach when the weather is cool but not too chilly or otherwise intemperate

5) A special day: Thanksgiving Day USA

back to school 5

back to school friday 5 on the revgals site

Mother Laura lines out this week's 5:

1. No one in this house is going back to school this year.

2. Until a couple of really good HS teachers (I also had a couple of fine art teachers in elementary school), I was close to indifferent about school in general, but at least I didn't detest it, so when some good teachers and interesting subjects showed up, I was rarin' to go. But I always enjoyed getting a few new clothes for back to school and I always was particularly interested in that season's special colors (styles, too), though I hated the end of warm summer weather.

3. No historical rituals for the Autumn New Year. And now? My last really formal educational course of study was design school a few years ago, but we began in January and attended classes 25 hours a week for 9 months until mid-October, making it an interesting back-to school time, since it wasn't exactly a 2^nd semester beginning. I enjoy putting away summer clothes and getting out the ones I wear only in the cooler weather, but that's about the extent of any fall ritual.

4. My answer to (2) about new fall colors and styles works for this one, too.

5. My best year of school...depends...but getting a 2^nd undergrad degree probably was the most exciting time in school because I was old enough to be highly intentional enough about getting a solid background in the social and behavioral sciences in order to be well-prepared for seminary.

Thanks, Laura! I was delighted to find F5 online in time to post before going to bed. I haven't been blogging at all, so I very much appreciate having a ritual way to stay connected with Friday 5, which I almost never miss.

5 about vulnerability

RevGals vulnerability Friday 5

Sally introduces today's Friday 5:

It seems almost crass to post a Friday 5 after Mary-Beth's last post and prayer request for our dear Gannet Girl and her family (many prayers arising from here, needless to say). So I hope that folk will take this in the spirit with which it is offered; that of continuing prayer and concern tempered by the knowledge that we are called both to weep and to rejoice with our communities.

I have recently been reading a book entitled Jesus wept, it is all about vulnerability in leadership. The authors speak of how Jesus shared his earthly frustrations and vulnerabilities with a select group of people. To some he was the charismatic leader and teacher, to others words of wisdom were opened and explained and some frustrations shared, to his "inner circle" of friends: Peter, James and John, he was most fully himself, and in all of these things he was open to God.

So I bring you this weeks Friday 5:

1. Is vulnerability something that comes easily to you, or are you a private person?
Less and less easily every day, though despite being people-seeking and people-craving, I've always been what you refer to as "a private person," for whatever reasons.

2. How important is it to keep up a professional persona in work/ ministry?
In front of any audience (in the chancel, greeting people in the narthex after worship, at council/session/vestry, community meetings) very majorly ultra extremely so. Other, less public settings are on a case-by-case basis.

3. Masks, a form of self protection discuss...
A healthy person does not and will not spill their guts right away to everyone they meet as soon as they meet them, though on the other hand, if someone cannot ever reach a stage of basic trust and openness with anyone, that's not healthy, either. Again, time and place. Masks are essential to healthy functioning, but you gotta know when and where to unmask gradually and what parts to reveal. And I'll say no one (except Jesus) ever did it right all the time.

4. Who knows you warts and all?
No one whatsoever any more.

5. Share a book, a prayer, a piece of music, a poem or a person that touches the deep place in your soul, and calls you to be who you are most authentically.
Dozens and dozens! Here's a quote from one of the most so, Robin Williams' "Don't Let me Come Home a Stranger..."

When the ties no longer bind, Lord save me from this darkest fear
Don't let me come home a stranger
I couldn't stand to be a stranger
In this place so far from home, they know my name but they don't know me
They hear my voice, they see my face; but they can lay no claim on me...
Though I wouldn't exactly say that song calls me to be my most authentic self, too many times I've believed I was returning to a kind of home and discovered otherwise. Last night I finally realized the best strategy for right now is to start acting like I'm brand new in town and to begin introducing myself and reaching out once again.