buechner's reflection on earth

while visiting with us, sean came across this eloquent passage about earth in one of our books by frederick buechner (anything he has written is highly recommended):

"for thousands upon thousands of years people couldn't see it whole - only as much of it at a time as there was between wherever they happened to be and the horizon. for most of them, the question of flatness or roundness must have seemed altogether irrelevant. either way it was plainly enormous. beyond the fields and the mountains there was the sea, and beyond the sea more fields, more mountains. whatever wild ideas they had about how it came into being or who made it, they knew it had been around more or less forever. just by looking at it you could tell that - the ancient rocks, the vast deserts. nothing less than god himself could ever bring it to an end, and he didn't seem to be in any special hurry about it. in the meanwhile, though time and change eventually carried off everybody and everything else, it was as clear as anything was clear that at least the place they were carried off from was for keeps. spring would follow winter like the ebb and flow of the tides. life in one odd shape or another would keep going on and on, the old ones dying and the new ones being born.

then suddenly pictures were taken from miles away, and we saw it at last for what it truly is. it is about the size of a dime. it is blue with swirls of silver. it shines. the blackness it floats in is so immense it seems almost miraculously not to have swallowed it up long since.

seeing it like that for the first time, you think of jesus seeing jerusalem for the last time. the ass he's riding comes clipclopping around a bend in the road, and without warning there it is. his eyes fill with tears, as luke describes it. 'would that even today you knew the things that make for peace,' he says. 'for the days shall come...' (luke 19:41,43). the holy city.

the holy earth. we must take such care of it. it must take such care of us. this side of paradise, we are each of us so nearly all the other has. there is darkness beyond the dreams of avarice all around us. among us there is just about enough light to get by.

(sherry)

time

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining a few members of our church in a meeting for discussion and discernment. At the middle of our table sat an antique wooden kneading bowl, crafted in 1896 by Sherry’s great-grandfather, its rich wood evident of quality and good use. As Geoff told us the story of the centerpiece, something tugged at me about the quality of things built with time and perseverance. Kind of like things built before 1950. And, how some relationships and deep communities can be.

As a child of this consumerist culture of instant gratification, quick fixes, and cheap imitations, I feel that I’ve barely had the eyes to see or appreciate this sort of thing fully. It just hasn't dominated my mental vocabulary. But, I’m beginning to suspect my vision could be adjusting.

I hear God laugh, and say, “just wait.”
This makes me a bit nervous. :)

Either way, I believe this kind of wholeness and depth formed through perseverance is something creation and it's children are desparately crying out for. So, be encouraged today.


A couple quotes that have spoken to me lately:

“If a problem can't be solved as it is, enlarge it.”
- D. Eisenhower

“You never change by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”
- R. Buckminster Fuller

My Cadence

Yours is the air I breathe,
your streets, the veins and arteries
the fluid rhythm of my existence.
The pulsating cadence of schedule and time and clocks
are my day to day business of to and fro.
Your buildings and towers, your ghettos and suburbs
are the jungle in which I hunt and gather.
And your people are my bread and wine,
a sustenance they know naught about.
Yet their lives and mine, intertwined,
are a community in a place where a space has sprung,
soil in which the roots of a kingdom grow.
Subverting you, converting you,
and so, transforming your jungle into paradise.

communality retreat 07

we had a brilliant time together on retreat in the far south-east of our state (Eolia, KY).  our time together was one of service as we worked to build a porch and attach a deck to a community center and a home.  several people also sorted donations for an upcoming thrift store sale.  go here for more information about the place we visited....and here's a brief outline from the website:

"ECCO is an MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) partner that provides clothing and emergency services to an area often referred to as "the forgotten part" of Letcher County. ECCO's ministry touches many people, serving their physical needs, and witnessing the love of Christ.  Eolia is a beautiful area of about 2500 people, and is separated from the main part of Letcher County by Pine Mountain. This physical and psychological barrier is difficult for most Letcher Countians to cross, and seems to impede county services and attention that may otherwise be available."

i have uploaded a set of pictures from the weekend.  click here or on any of the images below to see them.  thanks to all who were able to come.  special thanks to ryan for making all the arrangements.  it was a beautiful time of eating, talking, and relaxing together while also serving our kin in Appalachia. (Sherry made some notes about the weekend over here...)

(geoff)

 

Happy Birthday Maria!

Today is my wife's birthday (number 37 to be exact)! So, I want to give thanks to God for my beautiful and wonderful wife and for the amazing life that we have together. I know that this picture of JFK and Miranda will warm her heart and make her happy, so I will not spoil it with any further words. We celebrate you and all the love that you have passed our way Maria.

cancel debt fast

the jubilee USA network is encouraging widespread participation in a fast to raise awareness and boost support for important legislation called "the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt cancellation of 200" (H.R. 2634).

here's what they're saying: "Individuals, congregations, and local organizations can participate in the Cancel Debt Fast by committing to fast for a day or more and on the same day to contact or meet with their Member of Congress, asking the congressperson to support the Jubilee Act as well as just trade and poverty-focused development assistance to fight global poverty. On any given day during the 40-day Cancel Debt Fast, debt cancellation advocates across the United States and around the world will be engaging in this powerful act of solidarity with those who are bound by the chains of unjust and oppressive debts."

jubilee is appealing for anyone to join them in fasting for a day by october 15th. if you are interested you can register online at www.jubileeusa.org/canceldebtfast.html. in addition, please consider calling your representative and ask that he or she support the above legislation.

(sherry)

delicious

chicks dig watermelon baskets. our rand ave. chickens are growing so quickly! thanks, browns, for taking such good care of them.

downtown over the weekend

 

it was great to be active over the weekend in our city and see so many communality peeps out and about.  here are some pics from last weekend: lexington bike summit, gallery hop, jeremy joybomb explodes at 3rd st stuff, isaac takes inspiration from the joybomb and rocks out.

part of a beautiful life

currently i'm reading a book i picked up at greenbelt called "the beautiful life: ten new commandments: because life could be better." it is written by a long-time priest of the church of england who now works at a grocery. i think it might be one of my top three books. in it, he invites the reader to go on a journey of transformation leading to a freedom and a better understanding of self. i could quote the whole thing, but this is a small bit on self-observation that i read this week which brought real conviction:

"The workplace is not always a happy place. Long-running hostilities often exist. People arrive at work knowing who they like and who they do not like. A splitting of humanity has quietly taken place, a separation of good and bad. We will display charity towards those whom we regard as good, but give little room to those deemed bad.

Self-observation quickly exposes such personal vendettas, however, and questions the low-grade happiness we experience in their pursuit. How different the day at work wold be if we refused to split humanity, and started the day with a clean slate for all.

If the sea can twice daily wipe clean the beach, then once daily I can wipe clean the past."

(sherry)

sunday gathering

here are mr will samson and mr ryan koch harvesting/cultivating.
i've uploaded some more pics from our sunday gathering at the community garden (click on the pic to be transported to the flickr page). we had a bless-ed time celebrating Z's birthday and the fecundity of the earth. activities included frisbee, eating, throwing the football, eating, trampoline jumping, creek wading, croquet, eating, weeding the garden beds, and eating smores.

An interesting story..........

Well, many of us know that the whole idea of the "American Dream" is the "American Nightmare" for many, at best only a partial truth that does not apply to all or is not accessible to everyone. Nonetheless, I thought that this story was interesting. I guess it kind of has the "Pursuit of happyness" flavor to it. See what you think.............

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StartInvesting/GettingRichOnA20000DollarSalary.aspx

golfview goodtimes

great cook-out/gathering at the Golfview place yesterday. thanks for hosting us lads of the manor. click on these photos to go to my flickr account and see some more images.

A Love Poem...If I May

This poem is a little bit of a turn from what I normally post here, but since it is still my expression of worship, I figured I'd post it. Oh, when I say that it's my expression of worship, it's not necessarily a "love poem for jesus." Just a love poem. For someone. I wrote it reflecting on the idea that love, relationships, etc. work in a seasonal way. Sometimes the love is raining down in sheets and sometimes it seems to be evaporating as the last dew drop chases the the wind into the air. Enjoy.
________________________________________________________________

Lay me down beside you,
that I might arise in the morning light.
Morning after morning after morning after morning
until the twilight fades into sleep's long night.

Raise me up beside you
from wrinkled sheets and threads worn bare
in the moment the last dew drop
chases the wind into the air.

Lay be down beside you,
for I fear to not see your face,
so I'll take this moment of eternity
and wrap you up for days upon days upon days.

the blessing of daniel

last night we gathered for our weekly fellowship meeting. for geoff and me, it was a pleasure just to be there, to be reunited with our family of faith. it was a special night however because as a group we joined the leffel family in praying for and sending out their son daniel. today he leaves for the peace corp. he'll be serving two years in senegal, africa. he completed his studies at uni of kentucky and he will use his studies in language (french), economics and political science to assist in micro-enterprise where it is much-needed.

as we joined together to pray for him, two things were profoundly obvious. the first was the power of the sacrifice of one life. we've watched daniel grow into an adult over the last ten years. he is bright and gifted and he is giving his future and his occupation over to the purposes of god. i could not help but be deeply inspired. the second was the unity. for those moments, the room was filled with love and commitment as we stood before god in faith and entrusted daniel to god. there were hands on my back and my hands touched and held those of others. i didn't know who was around me and it didn't matter. the space was shared and it was sacred. i could not help but be deeply encouraged.

we will continue together to pray for daniel, his work and his family here. and by god's grace and the faithfulness of the spirit we will be unified. blessings daniel.

(sherry)

The Practice of Entertaining Angels

Thanks to Jeremy, we had great conversation tonight at fellowship. This week's scripture readings dealt with issues of fear and faithfulness, entertaining angels and the sacredness of the ordinary.

I have been stuck thinking about the Hebrews verse... Don't forget to show hospitality to the stranger because some have entertained angels without knowing it.

I shared tonight how CG and I found out this afternoon that the Honduran family we welcomed is moving to California tomorrow. As I first thought about the verse, I found myself wanting to find comfort by thinking that our neighbors could have been the angels spoken of here. But then I think of those in scripture, such as Abraham, that did entertain these angels. They did not do it just on special occasion. They were able to welcome the angels because they were in the practice of welcoming foreigners. Not because they were expecting angels or looking out for something extraordinary. Hospitality was simply a core practice of their lives. Maybe they welcomed many strangers who were ordinary (and possibly even rude, unappreciative, and manipulative) but because this was what they practiced, there was an occasional angel thrown in the mix as well.

I pray I learn not to expect much before I'm in the habit of being faithful with little.