Seeking Authentic Voice

 RevKarla over at the RevGals offers this delightfully random Friday Five: Can you believe it is April 12????  Have you finished your taxes?  Here in Boston, the city is abuzz with Boston Marathon anticipation.  We are finally hearing birds chirp in the morning, and even though it was in the low thirties last night, many of us are bravely sporting open-toed sandals.   None of this has anything to do Friday Five, except randomness.   So, in that spirit....... 1.  How are you doing?  What's going on in your life? Well. My life is full. My daughter has recently moved and I helped her pack. This required driving to Chicago on Easter Monday. It was good to be there and help her. I was, however, exhausted. I have celebrated the 75th wedding anniversary of a couple in the parish. I am preparing to go to clergy conference next week and then a few days later to CREDO. And, I am tending to details following the death of my younger brother. I have ...

I am busy. Oh my, really busy. All in good ways. I helped organize and send off our delegation to Liberia. I arranged, also, for the church to do a wire transfer of some money to help the church in Liberia build their school. I have never done an international wire transfer before - but trust me it is not like what one sees on television. It's a little more complicated...but very cool! Then I spent a week following the delegation's posts on Facebook of their travels while they were there.  I wrote newsletter articles and a bunch of other documentation trying to help the congregation understand what we are doing. It is amazing how complex it can be to people who are not part of the day to day conversation. I know that leadership is always several steps ahead of the congregation, and this has really made that point clear. Despite very intentional efforts to communicate well! In addition to all of this, along with a lengthy Vestry meeting to finalize the budget (with a pr...

I hear it everywhere: on television commercials and shows, from friends and even from my daughter. Men have, or want to have, “man-caves.” You know, every man wants to have a room he can decorate with posters of sports and beer. A place where he can house his weight lifting gear or running shoes, pool table or tools.     Now, I wonder, when did this phrase, “man-cave” come into every day parlance? Or more to the point, “why” did this phrase come into common use? When I think of cave I think of Elizabeth George, the mystery writer from England who once played out a story along the caves of coastal England. Or I think of the story in the news some years back and retold by Barbara Kingsolver in “Small Wonder.” She writes  “On a cool October day in the oak-forested hills of Lorestan province in Iran, a lost child was saved in an inconceivable way.  The news of it came to me as a parable I keep turning over in my mind, a message from some gentler universe tha...

 Revkjarla over at the RevGals blog offers this Friday Five: Is it really August 10??? Oy....where has the summer gone?   I have NOT been productive at all, but I am sure you have....so, with no theme in mind, because I have wasted lots of time  have spent much time in prayer in meditation, here is your Friday Five:  1.  Have you planned anything for the fall/winter  that you are so proud of yourself for doing so?  What is it? One issue I face every year when I take vacation time in August is the reality that the fall schedule is pressing on my mind. As soon as I return I need to call a meeting of the various teams who enable the fine ministry of this place to come to life. We will once again offer the "Michigan Alternative Holiday Market" - the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It is a buy local initiative for our Christmas and holiday shopping that offers free tables to local artists, crafters, farmers and cheese makers (are you thinking of the L...