wasteful.

o.k.,
I will admit it.
I have completely wasted the better part of this morning of my day off.
I am feeling sluggish and uninteresting and fat (due to the fact of eating cold pizza and coffee for breakfast).  I woke up when my beloved left for work, early, and then laid in bed and watched morning t.v.--while playing with doggies, kitties, napping, reading facebook, napping, with a quick jaunt outside to get the recycling out.  Finally at 11, I forced myself fully vertical,
and upstairs to my office to repair my harp to take over to Cambridge so a grad student can play it for a few weeks.  
Instead, I sat down and started reading blogs, which is, imho, catching up with friends...
but is also fairly passive.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely full (but whose aren't, really?)...I am just kind of in that momentary sluggy spot.

So, after I post this,
I really am going to take care of that harp,
really.

Fair Week

So it's our Fall Fair week...and it's my favorite week of the program year.  The people who sort for the gigantic flea market prepare lunch everyday--someone brings a homemade pot of soup or chili, and we all sit down and gab at lunch. The book sale people fill up the sanctuary with books, and people have been baking apple and plum pies to sell, and in short, the church is full of her people all week long, and I get to hang out with them as much as I want.

I love it. Love, love, love it.

But I need to work on my sermon now....and since we are having a fire drill on Sunday for safe church, plus an extended moment for mission, I have about four minutes to preach on the lectionary.  How the heck can I do that?

just more stuff...

So,
the flag discussion went well. There were feelings about the aesthetics of the building being compromised, others thought it was so pretty, everyone believed in the message. Some people didn't even NOTICE it!!!  For some, a flag, any flag has so much power...and to hang just one, and not the UCC flag, or the state flag, or the American flag felt, well, wrong....I am not a big flag person in that way, so I just have to respect the sentiment. 
Anyway, they decided to send the issue back to the facilities commission to find a way to hang it differently so that it didn't mess up the aesthetics....maybe a flag pole or something.  Until then, it will stay where it is, and when it moves, it will be more visible.

I am so glad for this...because the current climate of homophobia has expanded, with DADT, with gay teen suicides, and abuse...I want our congregation to show that we are not only welcoming, but a safe sanctuary full of love and hope. 

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday, one night) three of us are taking some of our youth to Monhegan Island, Maine.  We will spend the night in....(Clyde? somewhere close to the dock)...and then hire the mailboat to take us over in the morning to the island to explore.  In Sunday School they have been talking about sacred places and altars and one of the teachers talked about Monhegan.  So, the kids wanted to go and see it.  So...off we go!  It will be brisk (hah, read COLD) but fun. 

So, nothing really important...just trying to write--whatever these days.
I will get back to deeper things...
Just for now, I am being present to my moment.

Holy One...
Singing in the cool wind,
Humming in the traffic out my window,
Whispering in the quiet of my office...
you are here.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.

whoooofffff

Can't believe I haven't checked in since September...
Lot's of unbloggable but good stuff going on...
plus, dang, it has been busy around here, more than normal.

I really hate it when people say they are soooooo busy, so I guess I should delete that.   Mostly, I don't like it when you  ask someone how they are doing, and they say, "busy".  Aren't we all busy?

Maybe I am just cranky because I have had this horrible headache all day that advil hasn't touched.

Back to checking in.  I am having a great fall---made even better by vacation last week!!! Three days of unstructured time to get stuff around the house done plus read and make pottery.  Then Thursday-Sunday we took a little trip to Rehoboth Beach Delaware which was so great.  Ahhhh, the skies were blue, the ocean gorgeous, the Dogfish Brewpub delicious!!!  Oh, and there was a Greyhound Rescue convention, and there were tons and tons and tons of Greyhounds walking their people oh so elegantly and quietly.  Heaven--so many doggies! If we didn't currently have five canines.........

I read a couple of books---one by Jon Katz, who writes books about his dogs, and sheepherding.  "Dogs of Bedlam Farm."   I enjoyed it, because, oh, I love dogs.  He's a decent storyteller, but when he is being profound, he isn't so...profound.  But still, good.   I also read The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton (spelling?).  It was over before it really got started.  A little dissappointing, imho, however, entertaining in its own way.   I did NO PROFESSIONAL READING WHATSOEVER.

So, today, my first day back....lots of emails, little fires, whatnot.  Council meeting tonight, where I will talk about why I hung a rainbow flag from the portals of our church.   I guess we have a policy about no flags, but no one was around this summer to ask, so I just did it...and...well, you know.   I thought it would be a great "marketing" tool--Straight people look for GLBT friendly churches, too...and a flag is a pretty obvious invite to extravagant welcome.   Should be interesting!!

Well, that's it for now. Just a quick note so my blog doesn't disappear!!!