slips of the tongue-openings to the soul

I occasionally suffer from "flying fingers syndrome."  Last week I realized that my email signature, "In Christ's Joy," was transposed "Im Christ's Joy."  That feels like kind of a bold statement, little touch of hubrs there. So I changed it back.  But the typo stayed with me.  Why shouldn't I claim God's promise to delight in me?  Who was it that used to say, "God doesn't make junk?"  That simple letter switch teased out an opening in my soul and made me admit I dismiss God's handiwork way too easily.
You'd think I'd learn.
BUT yesterday, signing off on a message in a rush I shortened the greeting to "Im Christ."  That's a whole new level of typo.  The soul door slammed shut again and again the typo stayed with me.  I am not Christ.  But I now from experience that the evidence of Christ in my life may be the first glimpse someone gets. And.....don't I claim to be part of the Body of Christ.  What about all the years spent trying to "put on Christ?" The opening into my soul slipped open again.
I found myself remembering one of my favortite seminary classes.  We were asked to proclaim Jeremiah chapter 9 with a creative art project. This is a tough passage.  God speaks through the prophet's voice, "O that my heard were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my people.  O that I had inthe desert a travelor's lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them......"  I'll let you visit Jeremiah and read God's accusations for yourself.  (Its a great companion to James chapter 3's teaching about what comes out of our mouths.)
My project became a simple tent of indigo died sheer cotton, ribbon tears of intercesory prayer streaming from the top of the pole.  It was just big enough for one person to sit inside.  When you entered the tent, you sat on a surface of newspapers with their own witness to the violence we inflict on each other and the ways we tear at God's heart.
Being in Christ is not always easy.  Most of the time we'd rather run ahead and dare God to catch up.  But I'm Christ's Joy.  I'm (in) Christ.  In the rush of living, if we don't risk letting Jesus live in and through us who will?

before

Rising From the Task
                     (draft)
Rising from the task,
unbending arms
and legs
and neck
muscles,
seeing the objects,
removed from my hands,
I wonder.

Was the time spent
gripping red mottled carcasses,
cracking thirty backs,
scrapping knuckles,

Were three hours of
breathing salt, wet & dense,
picking legs,
tossing shells,
holding cats at bay,
worth it?

We'll know this winter.

I just came across this poem.  How perfect for harvest season and right in keeping with recent scripture readings in worship!  Being and Doing-in balance.  That's the art of living.

Let every word
be the fruit
of action and reflection.
Reflection alone
without action
or tending toward it
is mere theory,
adding its wieght
when we are overloaded with it already.
Action alone
without reflection
is being busy
pointlessly.
Honor the Word eternal
and speak
to make a new world possible.
           -Helder Camara

Back to School

The end of summer always feels to me like a combination of "the party's over" and "Let's get this party started." Our thoughts may lag behind while our commitments tug us forward.

I left my book in Hawaii

On a beach in the sand somewhere,

I was suposed to practice my spelling,

But I just couldn't concentrate there.

The oceans whispered, "Come surfing,"

The beaches bechoned, "Come play."

I followed the sound of their voices,

And I threw my spelling away.

For a week I rode the free winds,

As I surfed a wide blue sea;

And the sound of the ocean breathing

Became a part of me.

I'm sorry, Ms. Jones, I forgot it,

On a beach in the sand somewhere,

How I wish that book was remembered, 

And I'd been forgotten there.

              I left My Book in Hawaii

              by Kalli Dakos, Peoms About School

The last days of August are a good time to sort through summer memories looking for gems to carry forward into the renwed energy of fall.
What were some of your highlights?  Do you have a photo or two that you can stick up on a wall or screen near where you work to look over and put yourself back in a "mini-break" of remembered relaxation?

Mine will definately be camp and wedding photos!

Meanwhile, its time to do a fall tune-up: work through through the list of school supplies, set up catch up appointments, straighten the desk (don't forget to add those summer photos or a sea shell or two!)

Is your Head on Nice and Tight?

Do your kneecpas fit just right,

Did you shine up all your skin,

And bring your belly button in?

Have you lost a toe or two

And could your brain be overdue?

Please look in the Lost and Found,

If your ears are not around. 

Students must remember parts,

Be they books for pens or hearts.

How can your school day begin

If you're searching for your chin?

               Is Your Head on Nice and Tight?

               by Kalli Dakos, Poems About School

Is my head on straight?
Have I left space for deep breathes and time for people who matter to me?
Is my soul is good working order?
What arrangements do I need to make for God in my life each day as sunlight shortens?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to.......
hmmmm,

This weekend brings a change of happy hiking tunes whistling in my head.  Our second "child" (isn't it marvelous how they're still our child even after they're a working professional) will be married on Saturday.  Gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiney day.....
Lots of other families will spend some time back to school shopping for or with their children this weekend.  School's out for summer....turning to the wheels on the bus go round and round.....
While you're out, why not teach your child the buddy system by picking up similar school supplies to send through Church World Service and the United Methodist Economic Ministry in Solon and Salem, ME? Our ingathering is coming up in worship on August 26 when we bless our own children's backpacks as well as these gifts we send.
This is a day of new beginnings....time to believe what love is bringing....our God is making all things new.  Those words are paired with one of our hardest hymns to sing, melodically and thematically (United MEthodist hymnal 383).   But lyricist Brian Wren was helping us sing a new song to the lord with its verses.  Christ is alive and goes before us to show and share what love can do.
How will I, how will you, experience Christ's love in this season?
How will I, how will you, help another experience Christ's love in this season?
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to love we go!

Boxes

As month #2 in Brunswick begins for the Munson household, we are almost out of boxes (woo hoo!) and settled into the parsonage that was so beautifully prepared for us.  The ginger cats have found their favorite corners.  I know where the grocery stores are and the Portland Press Herald now arrives on the doorstep each morning in time for Jeff's sodoku/caffeine fix.  Even the office books are shelved, though don't ask me to put my hands right on any one in particular, order will come later!  Life is good.

VBS message in a beaker

Vacation Bible school was a blast, with energetic/curious/courteous kids (and adults) bringing the church to life.  Worship is joy and people are so patient as I search names and faces in the recesses of my brain.

Jeff Munson's labor of love.

How's your summer going?  Are you finding food for the soul?  In Maine's warmer  months, we're like  squirrels-storing up good energy and nuggets of summer fun that will tide us through long winter days down the road.
      In college, friends in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship taught me about "quiet time," daily moments set aside to spend with God.  These moments fill us with God's goodness and cultivate God's purpose and peace to carry through each day. Camp is a place that reminds me to claim God's promises just as Vacation Bible School is an environment in which many kids come to hear of those pomises for the first time. These times and places are holy ground.  May God bless the ground you find yourself walking this day and fll you with goodness for days to come.  Its a goodness that takes us out of the boxes we sometimes find ourselves caught in!

When are Books more than books?

Maribeth McFaul

Today there's been some chatter about books being just books.  Is the careless disposal of Korans in Afghanistan  just an excuse for pent up anger to break out?  In the west, where books are being replaced by e-readers and even made into altered book art, its really hard for us to imagine that anyone who have this depth of feeling about books.

This is a perfect example of assumptions running past each other, as we talked about on Diversity Day.
We have to listen and use our imaginations which, far from child's play, turns out to be essential tools in diplomacy.

Imagine the most important thing in your life.  It may take a while, and some honesty with ourselves, but all of us have something that is "ultimate," that gives meaning to our lives.
It might be friendship, family members, a particular faith, or set of practices.
Now, imagine that someone treated the person or thing with the utmost disrespect, beating, burning, belittling.  (Have you ever seen someone angry because their mother was direspected?)  Now ramp that up by 1000% and you have an idea of how Muslims feel when a Koran is disrepected.

Most faiths have something that "embodies" the holiest of holies for them.  For Christians it's a person, Jesus.  For Muslims, its the words recorded in the Koran and spoken by believers.

Does this make it right to break out in violent protest?  No.  But it explains why people feel as strongly as they do.  And explains why we need to learn a little more about what we hear in the news.