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.

A poem for the planters in our midst

Here is one of my favorite poems that I was reunited with just yesterday when a friend returned a book to me that I'd long since forgotten. I was on the way to the funeral celebration of an amazing lady named Sally Rogers when I received the book and read the poem. It seemed to me quite appropriate for the occasion.

Fueled

Fueled
by a million
man-made
wings of fire-
the rocket tore a tunnel
through the sky-
and everybody cheered.
Fueled
only by a thought from God-
the seedling
urged its way
through the thicknesses of black-
and as it pierced
the heavy ceiling of the soil-
and launched itself
up into outer space-
no
one
even clapped.

Marcie Hans

Untitled

The journey is long and often tedious,
on this stretch of narrow road.
Weary feet worn down from miles and miles
of travel make for broken and blistered soles.
The company kept, when kept, is often joyous,
and humble lives make hopeful
the times when the sun sets and the clouds overhead
mock the desire to see the way in the moonlight.
Yet, I am not Sisyphus on his lonely hill,
condemned to eternally roll a boulder up and down.
Though I often shamefully offend the Divine,
there is a place on my knees to stop, repent, and rest.
And so forward I move, toward a destination we trod,
though the place is true, the city wonderful and the kingdom good,
it is the journey that is life, it is the making and molding
of children become heirs no more damned to slavery.

Perspective

The blessed. The damned. The wise. The fools.
We are they all.
Perspective takes her hold on the minds of all
while humanity peers through windows stained with the stuff of life.

The blessed.
Freed for love by one who chose to die,
a wise innocent, seen as a fool, portrayed as a heretic,
thrust into the midst of a mob screaming for blood.

The damned.
Failures fallen from the altar of success and wealth,
abandoned to a generous hope
that only few can even begin to grasp.

The wise.
A wisdom of beggars and blind, lepers and lame,
the wisdom of a crucified god,
suffocating to death on a cross constructed for a murderer.

The fools.
Are we all,
dancing for delight on streets paved with piss and shit,
bowing before the body of our dead god,
the example we follow when the influence of perspective's grasp
loses its hold.

Morning Glories Bleed White

Morning glories bleed white on a hot summer's day,
broken from the vine, life irretrievably snatched
earlier than had nature taken her slow but steady pace.
The sticky, milky white substance developed by
the process of photosynthesis, sun from the hot sky,
water from the deep roots, it falls, one drop
like a tear from an eye, the preface of a roaring
river dammed by an incessant need for growth.
Morning glories bleed white while Adrian bleeds out.
She was the chance-less, opportunity-less product
of the simple yet virile act of coitus,
a thing unwanted while a daughter desired,
a child whose life promised more brokenness than window panes
shattered by rocks thrown from a distance.
Hers was a life snatched from the umbilical vine
which, for a short period, provided a regular diet of fifths.
Morning glories bleed white while, internally, Anthony bleeds.
The river has crashed through the dam,
for the heart cannot contain the turbulence of life
ripped from the place where nature works her slow
but steady miracle.
Morning glories bleed white; Adrian bled red.
One flower plucked in its prime, the other before her time,
while morning glories bloom on a hot summer's day.

food and religion

found this interesting article at the new york times -
Of Church and Steak: Farming for the Soul
here's the first few paragraphs...

NEAR a prairie dotted with cattle and green with soy beans, barley, corn and oats, two bearded Hasidic men dressed in black pray outside a slaughterhouse here that is managed by an evangelical Christian.
What brought these men together could easily have kept them apart: religion.

The two Hasidim oversee shehitah, the Jewish ritual slaughtering of meat according to the Book of Leviticus. The meat is then shipped to Wise Organic Pastures, a kosher food company in Brooklyn owned by Issac Wiesenfeld and his family. When Mr. Wiesenfeld sought an organic processor that used humane methods five years ago, he found Scott Lively, who was just beginning Dakota Beef, now one of the largest organic meat processors in the country.

Mr. Lively adheres to a diet he believes Jesus followed. Like Mr. Wiesenfeld, he says the Bible prescribes that he use organic methods to respect the earth, treat his workers decently and treat the cattle that enter his slaughterhouse as humanely as possible.

“We learn everything from the Old Testament,” Mr. Lively said, “from keeping kosher to responsible capitalism.”

Humane, sustainable practices like Mr. Lively’s are articles of faith for many Americans concerned with the way food gets from farm to plate. But they are even more deeply held matters of faith for a growing number of farmers and religious groups. In the past few years protecting the environment has emerged as a religious issue. Now, something similar is taking place in the way people of faith view their daily bread.

the miracle of the uneventful

i am currently reading a douglas coupland novel that is quite good. he is a great student of culture in the west. here is a perceptive quote from "all families are psychotic" that captures the central theme of the story:

"our lives are geared mainly to deflect the darts thrown at us by the laws of probability. the moment we're able, we insulate ourselves from random acts of hate and destruction. it's always been there - in the neighborhoods we build, the walls between our houses, the wariness with which we treat the unknown. one person in six million will be struck by lightning. fifteen people in a hundred will experience clinical depression. one woman in sixteen will experience breast cancer. one child in 30,000 will experience a serious limb deformity. one american in five will be victim of a violent crime. a day in which nothing bad happens is a miracle, a day in which all the things that could have gone wrong didn't. the dull day is a triumph of the human spirit, and boredom is a luxury unprecedented in the history of our species."

(sherry)