Friday Five: Summertime Edition

Dorcas over at RevGalBlogPals encouraged some general sharing today and I've been longing for the perfect...something... to get me back to regular writing.

She writes: Share five things that are happening in your life, personally or professionally or some of each, in this season of life.

1. Exercise! In training for a triathlon in June, I managed to push myself from seeing as exercise as something I needed to do to something that I enjoyed. It has become something that I need to do. I bought a bike rack and drive with my bike on the back of my car at all times and I keep gym clothes and a few shower items in a bag in the car. This past Sunday, I managed to grab a 6 mile bike ride in between services (morning and evening) and visitations! I felt great. I'm really trying to get my tolerance and speed up so that when I have to go back to the gym in the winter months, I will be faster and leaner. I do miss my weight-lifting, so that will get back on the agenda when the weather is cooler too.

2. Toddler love: My son is not-quite 2 years old, but for sure the cutest thing I've ever experienced. I love his soft neck, his giggle, his excited discoveries. He yells in the car about what he can see and we're in a "buck" phase. Buck= truck. There are a lot of bucks around. It's never been easy to leave him and go to work, but it is so much harder to leave a toddler than an infant. I'm making a kissy-face right now in my office, thinking about how I will just squish him when I pick him up in about 45 minutes.

3. Bible exploration: I'm big on the book of Judges, which was left out of this year's narrative lectionary passages. I'm trying to figure out how to slot one of those stories in and which one. The bonus of Deborah's story is that it includes two powerful women, but it's early in the book. I once wrote a paper on Jepthah's daughter's story as the hinge of the Old Testament, but that's a different kind of preaching. I'm thinking, maybe, Gideon. Pondering, pondering...

4. Watermelon: Don't tell my nutritionist, but I haven't quit the watermelon. I'm supposed to stick to the higher fiber, less sugary fruits. She wouldn't actually be surprised, though, because I told her I would still eat watermelon in season and I refused to feel guilty about it. If you are going to take watermelon, garlic or lemons from me... I might as well throw in the towel now. Blech. No watermelon in Alaska tastes like the sun-warmed watermelons of my Southern youth. I can only get decent watermelon in the short season when we get them from California. So I'm eating it while the eating is good. I would say you can have my watermelon when you pry from my hands, but I'd stab you before you got that far. (Not somewhere too essential, but serious enough to be a distraction while I finish the melon!)

5. Ecumenism: Our congregation is starting to do more and more with the United Methodist Church up the street, which makes sense in many ways- not the least of which is our mutual love of Jesus! (Imagine that!) However, I'm surprised at all kinds of ecumenical gatherings when so much of the time is spent rejoicing in how alike we are and how small are our differences. How true.

Religious Holidays in Anchorage

You may have read in the Anchorage Daily News about a new policy regarding certain religious holidays and the scheduling of school activities. If not, a link to the article is here . The new rules do not mean that school will be out on these new holiday inclusions, but that the Anchorage School District will avoid scheduling activities, like sporting events, on these days. The new list includes Passover, Rosh Hashanah , Yom Kippur , Eid al - Fitr and Eid al - Adha . They are added to a list which includes New Year's, Orthodox Christmas and Easter, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. The new holidays may be unfamiliar to some: Passover is a Jewish celebration, in the springtime, that commemorates the events in Egypt that led up to the Exodus. The name of the holiday comes specifically from the fact that the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the Israelites during the plague which killed the eldest sons of the Egyptians. Passover is a holiday

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the

When the Body of Christ is Fat

Bitmoji Julia enjoys tea Within a very short amount of time, two people whom I love were called "fat ass". One of these slurs occurred in the church building and the other occurred in the same building and within the context of worship. Both incidents were the result of a person with already impaired judgment lashing out at the person who was in front of them, perceiving them to be unhelpful or denying aid or service. Regardless of the "why", the reality is that the name was uncalled for, hurtful, and aimed to be a deep cut. The reality is that a person who is under the influence of legal or illegal substances and often displays impaired judgment can still tell that body shaming- comments about shape, appearance, or size- is a way to lash out at someone who is frustrating you. That means those words and that way of using them are deeply rooted in our culture. An additional truth is that when we, as a congregation, attempted to console and listen to those who h

Faith, Grace, and Hope

Search This Blog