September 16, 2010

Peach Pickin' @ Eckert's Orchards


From the first day I started this new job (actually, since I first interviewed for the job), at least 15 people have asked me why I was willing to leave beautiful Berkeley, CA, to move to Saint Louis. "It's so humid, and so bland," they said. Well, one reason is because I now live near a sibling who is willing to venture into a peach orchard to pick peaches under the killer midwest sun.

If you are in the area and would be interested in picking fresh fruits, visit Eckert's Orchards and you will immerse yourself in wholesome, fresh-fruity goodness. For September, it's not peaches, but Pick-Your-Own Apples!

September 12, 2010

Hide and Seek: Being Found is the Best Part!

Hide 'n Seek Print
When I was young, although I played it quite often with my young church friends, I did not enjoy the game of Hide and Seek. The trouble of searching for well-hidden friends was always too tiresome, and the risk of not being found always made me a bit scared of hiding too carefully. Even scarier was the possibility that my young friends with their short attention spans, having found some other game even more interesting than this one, would turn their attention away from seeking me out from my secure hiding spot, and I would stay so well-hidden that I would be completely forgotten -- left alone to my own devices.

Although the point was not to be "found out" too early in this children's game (it was for some a test of how deceptively they could hide and for how long), for me, the point of the game was in the discovery -- of me! I enjoyed being sought out, and in fact, I was many times relieved to be the first or second person discovered by the seeker. I didn't care too much about hiding, and was often intentionally careless in selecting a hideout.


In this Sunday's gospel reading (Luke 15:1-10), Jesus tells two stories of Lost and Found. I think the poignancy of the story is in the endings of the stories -- the rejoicing that occurs when the lost items are found. It is a collective joy, one in which the whole community participates. I like that emphasis much more than the one that I hear in sermons that I've heard in the past, in which the emphasis is typically placed on the fact that the Seeker (whether it be the shepherd or the woman with coins) never gives up. As listeners of the story, we are reassured that the seeker will always go searching for the lost, no matter how small, no matter how insignificant it may appear in the eyes of others. As the audience of this very familiar story, we are often lulled by the reassurance that Jesus is our Seeker, the shepherd, and no matter how much we stray, we'll be found.

At dinner earlier this evening with some colleagues, we talked about the communal and catholicity of God's universal church -- in essence, we can't be Christians alone. Believing this, I'd like to shift our focus to the seeker not as one individual -- one shepherd or one woman -- but as a community of faithful disciples. Remember the stories? The shepherd "calls together his friends and neighbors" (v.6) to celebrate with him; the woman who lost the coin calls her own friends and neighbors together, inviting them to rejoice with her - not by herself. 

Following their examples, how can we who are the body of Christ be a church that works together to seek out and celebrate the discovery of the lost? And, imagine how much more fun the game would be if we had an entire community of people looking for us, letting us know that we are special, wanted, sought after, desired. The rejoicing would never end. It would be like an infinite Jubilee!

September 10, 2010

"African women find God at prayer tree"

African women find God at prayer tree - UMC.org

An Excerpt:

Edith Bwawa, 49, and Rachel Mukoyi, 48, do not break stride as they veer to the left, along a smaller path barely visible under the tall grass on both sides. Reaching the side of a large hill, they wind their way up large rocks and slippery stretches of loose stones and dirt, holding on to bushes and boulders for support.

Nearing a clearing, they begin to sing, “Mwari mubastiri wangu,” or “God is our helper.”

At the top of this steep part of the hill is a small tree surrounded on three sides by walls loosely constructed from piles of stones. Bwawa and Mukoyi take off their shoes before approaching the open side. There, in bare feet, they kneel on rocks that litter the ground and pray.

Like generations of Zimbabwean women before them, they have made the pilgrimage to this natural shrine on the hillside to encounter God. Here, in the place called Chin’ando, they know they will not be disappointed.

365 until 9/10/11

One year from today, I will be celebrating 9/10/11. Thank God for the many blessings that have been showered upon me (deserved or not). Thank God for my family and for my friends. Thank God for a roof over my head and a beautiful home to enter at the end of a long day at work. Thank God for a pitiful white Sentra that faithfully takes me to work and back home. Thank God for good books filled with words, and music. Thank God for rain today.Thank God for food on my table, for the tomato plants in my garden, and the dogwood tree in my yards. Amen.