Taken from The Divine Hours Pocket Edition  by Phyllis Tickle.

I don’t think anyone’s world was too shaken when I had us worshiping in our fellowship hall, although some asked why we were back in there, “Aren’t we dont with the Sanctuary and Chapel renovations?” one person inquired. Yes, yes, we are done with the renovations and there are NO leaky roofs or building space malfunctions.  It was ALL me and my decision (with the approval of the Worship committee and Session—I am a good rule following teaching elder after all).

During the time usually used for a sermon, I did a brief mediation on Christian hope and then turned things over the Spirit and the people seated in the room.  Those present were encouraged to write, draw, ramble, etc their response or thoughts about the following questions:

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

After reflecting on the first three questions, you are invited to write your thoughts and prayers for the last question in whatever style you like—letter, poem, image, etc,—and place it in an self addressed envelope to be mailed to you later this year.

~What guides us into the coming year?  

~What lessons from last year lead us into the future?

~Where is God’s exhortation and challenge for us individually and collectively?  

~What are your hopes for this coming year—personally, spiritually, for our community, and for our world?

Then they were encouraged to either place them in a self-addressed envelope (to be mailed to them at a later date) or bring them home with them.  I was quite surprised at the number of folks who chose to have them mailed to them during the year.  Lots of great things happened in and through this worship service.  I was surprised what I wrote in response to the questions (and I made up the questions).  Praise be to God that the Spirit does truly move when we give space and trust in the presence of God.

Our 5 year old was recently learning about her five senses in her pre-k class at Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School. The teacher is great about doing hands on learning and experimenting in the class. One day they must have done a taste test and talk about how we can taste different things like sweet, salty, sour, and spicy. At dinner, still thinking about what she learned in school, she asked which taste we liked the best. My answer was spicy, her answer was sweet, and her older sister’s answer was sour. Our 5 year old asked her sister why? if you know our eldest you know there is not a simple answer. She explained how she has always liked sucking on lemons, even since she was really little. Then she said, “and you know I love sour patch”. She continued, “Sour Patch taste good only because you start with the sour and then taste the sweet. It wouldn’t be so yummy if they was just sweet.”.

I think my oldest is onto something. The sweet things in life definitely wouldn’t be as sweet and “yummy” if we didn’t also experience the more sour aspects of life. Now I can’t say that I am always super thrilled when lemons are thrown my way, but without them would I be able to fully taste the sweet?

And the worse of it for me, isn’t that I am let down, but what about our students? A good friend and fellow parent at Margaret Brent Elementary Middle School spent quite a few hours working with a 7th grade student helping her put together a speech that would tell Mayor Rawlings Blake and our councilman, Karl Stokes, just what it is like to live and studying in this type of environment.

Our wonderful 7th grader practiced her speech numerous times, she wanted the message to be clear and direct. She even practiced looking up at the Mayor and our councilperson at certain points of the speech to help drive her point home. But is hard to make eye contact when they don’t appear to care enough to be in attendance.

The good news is that there were hundreds of others there who did care. And there were dedicated councilmen and women who do care about our kids and our schools, not just when it is time to get re-elected. Mary Pat Clarke was there like she always is. She heard our concerns and I hope she will continue to be our advocate, as she has been in the past.

Councilmen and women and Mayor Rawlings Blake, I get that you are a politicians, but can you please show our kids that you care about them and their future?

I clearly remember my mom coming in to my fourth grade classroom to work an ESL student once a week.  When she did, I also remember experiencing that “rock star” status.  All the kids would come up to me and say, “Wow, you are so lucky your mom comes into school.”  I experienced the “rock star” status again in 6th grade when my mom became a published romance novelist and shared with our class the challenges of writing, being critiqued, and the many times she was rejected before she was published.

There was a semi-cool factor freshmen year when all the parents came in-town for Parents’ Weekend and a group of friends from my hall and all our parents went to dinner together—but it just wasn’t as cool as it was in 4th or 6th grade.    I miss that.

Yes, I do have lots of really super awesome proud moments—like each time my mom gets a hole in one (she has done it twice),  how amazing of a wife my was when my father was sick and in the process of dying from cancer,  and how she is always there in a minutes notice for family, friends, or her church.  As adults, we don’t get too many opportunities to make our parents feel like rock stars like we did when we were young.

I love just how proud my daughters’ are of me and my hubby.  I love that they think we have completely hung the moon in the sky.  And yes, I know one day soon they will think we are the meanest more horrible people on earth.  But I do hope when they get older they will remember the “cool” and proud moments they have of us.  And I hope they will be “rock stars” to their children.

Fall Song

Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle

of unobservable mysteries – roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This

I try to remember when time’s measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn

flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay – how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.

~ Mary Oliver ~

God of the seasons,
there is a time for everything;
there is a time for dying and a time for rising.
We need courage to enter into
the transformation process.

God of autumn,
the trees are saying goodbye to their green,
letting go of what has been.
We, too, have our moments of surrender,
with all their insecurity and risk.
Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves
lying in colored patterns on the ground,
our lives have their own patterns.
As we see the patterns of our own growth,
may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest moon nights,
there is always the dimension of mystery
and wonder in our lives.
We always need to recognize your power-filled presence.
May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain,
many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender.
We must wait for harvest in faith and hope.
Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going south
for another season, your wisdom enables us
to know what needs to be left behind
and what needs to be carried into the future.
We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers
touched with frost and windows wearing white designs,
may your love keep our hearts
from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life,
you believe in us, you enrich us,
you entrust us with the freedom to choose life.
For all this, we are grateful.
Amen

It is a little disgusting just how many items the average family owns. And we are probably about to own some more things, like two new costumes, as Halloween is right around the corner.

I read recently in Real Simple Magazine (October 2011 issue) that 6,250 tons of landfill waste could be avoided if half the kids in America traded Halloween costumes instead of buying new ones. I also heard that October 8th is National Halloween Costume Swap Day. Anyone interested in doing a little swapping? This would be a great way to declutter my closets, resist the consumerism bug, help a friend, and not contribute to landfill waste.  Anyone game?

For more information on how to have “green” Halloween visit www.GreenHalloween.org