Vietnamese Zodiac / Astrology

Visit VietHoroscope to find your sign. I for one am a yin earth goat:

In the Vietnamese horoscope, the goat people enjoy the comforts of having great friends and an amiable relationship at work. They are not born leaders, but they make excellent members. They have smart opinions, which they willingly share to achieve success for the group.

Visit Wikipedia's entries on Chinese astrology to know more about the luni-solar calendar, upon which the Vietnamese zodiac is determined.

Vietnamtravels.vn also has an interesting quick-reference article on the Vietnamese zodiac, which a brief snapshot description of each animal sign.

Visit Eric's binary world if you want to enter your birth year to quickly find out which animal sign belongs to you.

When trying to traverse the lunisolar calendar, an easy rule to follow is that years that end in an even number are yang, those that end with an odd number are yin. The cycle proceeds as follows:

* If the year ends in 0 it is Yang Metal.
* If the year ends in 1 it is Yin Metal.
* If the year ends in 2 it is Yang Water.
* If the year ends in 3 it is Yin Water.
* If the year ends in 4 it is Yang Wood.
* If the year ends in 5 it is Yin Wood.
* If the year ends in 6 it is Yang Fire.
* If the year ends in 7 it is Yin Fire.
* If the year ends in 8 it is Yang Earth.
* If the year ends in 9 it is Yin Earth.

Tallis: If Ye Love Me

Tallis Scholars: Spem in alium (40-part Motet)

Don't Stop Believin'

Prayers of the People

Today being Thanksgiving, I felt it appropriate to post a prayer which was lifted up in petition during our worship service last Sunday. While it was offered up as a litany for the whole congregation, I think it would also be apropos for individual prayer. (The form is taken from the Methodist litany of intercession, which has roots in the Anglican tradition.)

God of Grace,
we give thanks to you
for the family immediate and extended,
all of whom are known intimately by You;
we lift tem up now in name
to remind ourselves of your surrounding love
as embodied by them through your Spirit

God of Grace,
we give thanks to you
for the circle of friends, companions, and coworkers
with whom we break bread;
we name them now as reminders
to one another of your blessings
of companionship and faithfulness

God of grace,
we give thanks to you
for the world you have entrusted in our care;
we are mindful of the earth,
and of the abuse she has endured
under our stewardship,
eroding mountains,
polluted the air,
drilling the crust,
poisoning the waters;
we give you thanks for the new opportunities,
still, to be better stewards of all your creations
so that together we and all the earth
can praise you with our very existence

God of Grace
we give thanks to you
for all our clergy and for all our lay leaders
to whom you have given vision
and passion to answer your calling,
for Pastor Peter, Pastor Emily,
for our Bishop Brown,
for Bayview District Superintendent Extrum-Fernandez,
and for all others whom we now name

God of Grace
we give thanks to you
for all our government leaders
who will lead us uinto a new century
of peace, justice, and equality,
for leaders of the G8
and all the United Nations,
for President Obama and his family,
for V. President Biden and his fmaily,
and for all other world leaders
whom we now name

God of Grace
we give praise and thanks to you
for the chance to rebuild lives
and homes for the survivors
of disasters and tragedies
at Fort Hood, China, Taiwan,
Samoa, Phillippines, Tongan nation,
Louisiana, India,
and other that we now name

God of Grace
we give praise and thanks to you
for your mercy, love, and faithfulness
throughout the ages;
we your people cry out in joy
in anticipation of your coming;
show us how to help one another see
signs of your Spirit at work within us

All this we pray in the name of the One
who showed us the Way, Jesus our Christ,

Amen.

On the earth distress among nations...

How goes it with my soul during this Thanksgiving season? As I've said before, my journey to pray the hours using Thomas Merton's A Book of Hours continues to be fulfilling, and challenging, during this time of year when there are so (too) many things to do. I remember to pray at the Dawn hour, at mid-Day, at Dusk, and in the Dark hour, and this ritual has helped center me in many ways, calling me to tune into the special moments at work, at lunch, at rest, etc. This attentiveness to the ordinary reminds me of the chapter in the book Seeds of Faith in which we are asked to practice prayer in ways that rejuvenate us.

A few Sundays past, one of the lections invited me to reflect on the power of prayer, and most pointedly, Hannah's prayer. The readings started me thinking of how I normally pray, and how fervently I do pray. Is it a primary part of my daily ritual? Is prayer even a part of my daily ritual?

In addition to reflecting on the ways in which I pray, I also began focusing more closely on how Eli mistakes Hannah's praying as drunkenness. After she feasts, Hannah prays, but does so silently. Because he is only reading her lips, and because he misread the context of the feast preceding her prayer time, Eli chastises Hannah for displaying drunkenness. How interesting that a priest, a man of God, would make such a mistake. Unable to see Hannah's deep sadness and intense distress, Eli tells her to put away her wine. How long does it take for a holy man to fall out of Love and out of Grace in such a way that prevents him from reading the signs? Perhaps it had been far too long since he last witnessed such earnestness in prayer. Perhaps it had been too long since Eli had experienced anything similar to Hannah's suffering. Perhaps he had forgotten how to recognize sadness.

This week's Gospel reading invites us to pay attention to signs, to not be lulled into passivity and complacency, to stay awake, to take note that "worldwide suffering accompanied by unstoppable cataclysm...marks the promised redemption (GBOD Worship). In Luke chapter 21, the people are told that the signs pointing to the new world, new kingdom, are quite different than what they expect. If they do not stay awake and attentive, they will misread the signs. And perhaps they will not only lose focus, but will miss the signs entirely.

As I mull over this text, I keep thinking back to the movie "2012" which I saw recently. Like many other movies of the cataclysmic-end-of-world genre (e.g. "Day After Tomorrow", "Armageddon", "Deep Impact"), 2012 also deals with signs. It begins with signs pointing to the earth's ecological destruction and ends with signs of renewal, rebirth, humanity (or attempts to gesture towards an ideology of justice, peace, equality, love). There are, of course, characters in the movie who are identifiers and interpreters of signals -- both the environmental/ecological signals and the other, more intangible signs of community, life, humanness. What's interesting is this: whether they are attempting to read signals emitted by the earth (recognized by massive, destructive earthquakes and tsunamis), or they are reading subtler, more nuanced behaviors demonstrating a certain kind of compassion, some "get it" (the signals) from the very beginning (the Woody Harrelson character maybe? or the scientist protagonist?) and attempt to broadcast/interpret what they see. Some don't "get it" until the very end (there are several characters that I can think of in the moview, but I'm also remembering Eli who finally understands Hannah's situation). No matter what, there is always a messenger, a voice calling out in the human desert, interceding on behalf of others, on behalf of humanity.

For me, the challenge this week is not in reading the temperatures to gauge whether the earth will explode, or whether the ice caps will melt causing tsunamis, or whether earthquakes in California will send me floating out into the Pacific. I'm unable to read the stars or the sun or the moon.

For me, the invitation is to pay attention to the human signals, those emitted and transmitted by the people around me/us, who are oftentimes difficult to understand. It is, in a way, similar to Eli attending to Hannah's signs of distress, finally being able to recognize her sad countenance which was later transformed after her prayers were interceded by Eli. The community within which I live, work, and play provides the barometers to which I/we should attend. Those are the signs telling us there is food to be served, there is hunger to be fed, there is disease to be cured, there is homelessness to shelter. There is compassion to be shared and experienced.

Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength...

A More Perfect World

"This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities. Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered:

+ pandemic poverty and disease;
+ environmental degradation, and
+ the proliferation of weapons and violence.

Despite these interconnected threats to life and hope, God's creative work continues. Despite the ways we all contribute to these problems, God still invites each one of us to participate in the work of renewal. We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it."

Earlier in November, the council of bishops of the UMC produced a pastoral letter called "God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action." The bishops issued the letter as a challenge to all Methodists (w/ hearts "strangely warmed"?), and "all ecumenical and inter-religious partners and people of goodwill around the world." Theirs was an invitation calling all people to renew our hope and take action to transform the world.

The English version of the letter can be found at God's Renewed Creation, along with versions in Korean, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.

The bishops hope that congregations will read this letter and incorporate its challenge into liturgical worship during Advent. Check out more information here.

World Methodist Council Calls Congregations to Pray for Peace

GBOD | Worship

Hunger and Climate Change

Fight for Hunger and Climate Change: "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the summit hunger is the most devastating weapon of mass destruction on our planet. He said it does not kill soldiers, but innocent children." Read article here at Voice of America News.

News on the World Food Summit in Rome: "Over 1 billion people worldwide suffer from food insecurity, and the challenge ahead will only be exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and rural-urban migration. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon cautioned today that food security cannot be tackled without addressing climate change." See article here on the ONE blog.

Room at the Table: on Christ the King Sunday and Harvest Thanksgiving

Soon and very soon, we will load our dining tables with baskets of bread and butter, Indian corn, and cranberry sauce. We will have turkey meat and mashed potatoes with gravy. We will dine on pumpkin pies and whipped cream or hot chocolate and creamed coffee. Perhaps we might have a steaming bowl of beef porridge with Chinese donuts. Maybe an extra large bowl of pho noodles with tripe and brisket. In whatever way we celebrate Thanksgiving, most of us will not fret about whether or not we will be fed, be clothed, be warmed. We will surely appreciate the abundance of food that will nourish our bodies, and we will certainly feast on the laughter, joy, and conversations in the presence of family and friends around the table.

Yet, as we move towards Thanksgiving, as we await the celebratory feasting, let us not forget that there are those who hunger. Starve. Those with empty stomachs growling as they line up at soup kitchens and food pantries in the cold Bay Area weather. Are there those around us who desire something more? Where we are now, who are the people in need of "something to eat, drink, or wear" (Mt 6:25 CEV)? Matthew 6:32 reminds us that "only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things".

If we examine this statement from our self-focused point of view, then we might frame the clause in this way: I worry about this and this and this, therefore I don't know God. That is a worrisome conclusion, indeed. Today, let us hear the invitation in a different way: People to whom we have not shown signs of God's love and mercy and grace might always worry about such things as this or this or that...

This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, which is a major feast day in the Christian calendar, a day when we celebrate the just and merciful reign of God. Regardless of the diverse definitions and interpretations for the "kingship" of Jesus our Christ, this day should remind us to answer the invitation -- meet the challenge -- which we have been given as children of God and a community of faith: As we feast and dine with abundant thanks, how do we embody God's reign of peace, justice and love? How do we exemplify love, joy, peace to those around us? How do we help "people who don't know God" to worry less, to be clothed and fed, to be filled and warmed? Because doing that is bringing the reign of God into reality.

Perhaps there are those who hunger and worry because they need us to embody God to them, now. Perhaps there are those just waiting for us to show God's love in concrete ways that help them remember God. In this coming week, seriously consider the invitation for you to make room at the table...

Let us then continue united in prayer and faith, and realize more nd more the truth and mercy of God in our lives. For we are called above all to be signs of His mercy in the world, and our fidelity will in its turn be a small sign to others of His fidelity, not that our fidelity has nay value of itself, but it enables Him to give us richer blessings and to manifest Himself in doing good to us who are nothing. - Thomas Merton, The School of Charity, Pg. 261-262

a Prayer for Christ the King Sunday

This coming Sunday is the last Sunday in the Christian year. Go here for a prayer of thanksgiving on Christ the King Sunday.

The Worship section of GBOD offers a wealth of resources. Check it out!

Hannah the Prayer Warrior

1) As you read through the story of Hannah the first time around, what images come to mind? Think of all the different types of imagery that might leap out from the narrative: visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic, etc.
2) For the second reading, what phrases capture your attention? What words did you concentrate on?
3) For the third reading, what ideas or thoughts or questions come to mind?

1 Samuel 1:4-20
1:4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;

1:5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.

1:6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb.

1:7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

1:8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"

1:9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

1:10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly.

1:11 She made this vow: "O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head."

1:12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.

1:13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

1:14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine."

1:15 But Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.

1:16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time."

1:17 Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him."

1:18 And she said, "Let your servant find favor in your sight." Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

1:19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

1:20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, "I have asked him of the LORD."

+ How easy it was for Hannah's posture of prayer to be confused with drunkenness...
+ Is it because Eli is so disconnected from that kind of intense praying that he is unable (no longer able) to recognize/see Hannah's ardor, and therefore mistakes it for drunkenness?
+ Isn't it true that sometimes we define our practices of prayer in such limited ways that prevent us from appreciating the mystery and power of prayer?
+ Sometimes, we are reminded that people who are labeled/titled "holy" can still learn from the laity; in this narrative, Hannah manifests more faith, more earnestness, more holiness than Eli expected
+ How presumptuous of Eli to take Hannah to task for displaying drunkenness!
+ Elkanah: demonstrates attentiveness and a level of sensitivity almost unheard of in husbands within other narratives, yet he still is unable to understand Hannah's grief and deep hunger/desire; he recognizes her sadness and seeks to fill her emptiness with "double portions" and loves her, but still does not comprehend the source of her emptiness
+ While some narratives highlight wives' barrenness and often attribute it to sin committed on their part, this narrative lifts up Elkanah's love for his wife despite the fact that they have no children; no blame is heaped on her by him... or,
+ Or is it that he blames her but still loves her despite her barrenness? Is it possible for us to entertain the idea that he does not attribute her barrenness to her sin, like some interpretations are wont to do?
+ Could Elkanah, as husband, have done something to alleviate the rivalry between the two women? Questions of polygamy enter into the scene here... For years Hannah endured the pain caused by Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah... Might he have done something to change the situation? Or, did he do something to aggravate the situation?
+ Surely his favoritism of Hannah over Peninnah contributed and aggravated the rivalry between them... Doesn't this remind us of the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah?
+ Hannah's deep hunger could only be understood by God. Neither husband nor holy priest understood her bitterness, her sadness, her distress. Hannah knew that and recognized it.
+ Hannah's vow to God to dedicate her son, to commit him to a priestly vocation -- what an amazing sacrifice!
+ What if we were to think of prayer and define prayer in such radically different ways?

Juggling the FRIENDS Ball

Last Sunday, our invincible Children's Time preachers came together to share with the congregation a message about Juggling the Balls of Work, Health, Friends, Family, and Faith. They were impassioned with the Spirit of God, speaking with clarity, energy, and focus. Although they said disparagingly that it was disjointed, disorganized, and unrehearsed, I could tell the Spirit was speaking through them with clear messages for us, the people in the pews, to reflect upon. The following is an excerpt of what Donna shared about juggling the FRIENDS ball (symbolized by a lovely snow globe).

Friends are important in my life-are they in yours? I want you to close your eyes and think about your very first friend, your best friend, the friend you did lots of stuff with, the friend you got in trouble with you-know that friend. Okay I see a lot of people smiling, so I know you know what I mean. Okay open your eyes, but continue to think about your friend or friends. So friends are important. They are so important that there are even songs about friends –

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...
(Friends theme song)

You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you
We stick together and can see it through
Cause you've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
(Toy Story I)

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come runnin' to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend
(Carole King)

So through whatever goes on in my life I know that my friends will be there for me. We can travel, we can explore and we can have adventures. I can call my friend at 2:00 a.m. and it’s okay, because that friend is the best listener. We can go shopping or not and just window shop. We can sit in the car and talk for hours and then when we get home call each other on the phone and talk some more. Friends doing stuff together, talking with each other about stuff at home, at work, when you're sick or even when you just need a prayer. My friends, my peeps - the kind of friends you have too and that is what’s important in my life -- helps keep my life balanced. I would be crushed if I ever lost my friends-it would be like having a snow globe that didn’t have any snow.

The desert has many teachings

In the desert,
turn toward emptiness,
fleeing the self.

Stand alone,
ask no one's help,
and your being will quiet,
free from the bondage of things.

Those who cling to the world,
endeavor to free them;
Those who are free, praise.

Care for the sick,
but live alone,
happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,
to kindle Love's fire
with the twigs of a simple life.

Thus you will live in the desert.

- Mechtild of Magdeburg

Juggling the FAITH Ball

This past Sunday, our invincible Children's Time preachers came together to share with the congregation a message about Juggling the Balls of Work, Health, Friends, Family, and Faith. They were impassioned with the Spirit of God, speaking with clarity, energy, and focus. Although they said disparagingly that it was disjointed, disorganized, and unrehearsed, I could tell the Spirit was speaking through them with clear messages for us, the people in the pews, to reflect upon. The following is an excerpt of what Brenda shared about juggling the ball of faith.

We have heard how important Work, Family, Friends, and Health are, but when all things fail or fall apart, what can we cling to? For me my FAITH in God has helped me through a few disasters in my life. God is in the midst of our storms as he was in 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. God was with 5 yr. old Jelli as she hid under a table at a friend’s house, and with Matthew alone under the public library tables, and Micheline bouncing up and down in the van after her violin lesson and with Jenise at her piano lesson when I heard the Bay Bridge collapsed. Somehow faith helped me know that all would be ok even though my kids were scattered all over Castro Valley.

When I thought I would die earlier this year when I heard I had a spot in my lung, health was a major issue. Xray after xray showed the same spot. Thoughts raced through my head, I can’t die now, who’s going to take care of my mom and Vince…they’re helpless! Many prayers were said and faith somehow gave me strength to face each day. I trusted God to know what was best for me. If my life were to end now, he would provide for my family. I was ready to accept God’s will even if it meant I would die. Then the CT scan came back and the spot was just scar tissue. All my fears and heaviness lifted.

Even though I have faith in God to be my refuge and strength, I still worry about things like my 95 yr. old mom, my kids, future grandkids maybe someday, growing old, my upcoming cruise and if I would be safe or in danger xxxxxxxx etc.and drop the ball, but the Bible says in Ps. 145:13 The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. Our faith may be weak at times, but God’s isn’t. His faithfulness continues through all generations as it says in Ps. 119:90. God has given my mom a deep faith which is still in heart, even in her dementia and loss of memory. In each painful and unsteady step she takes and falling twice this week, she is often heard praying, “God please help me.”

This faith ball when dropped lights up. We may drop it and neglect our faith, but the light is like Jesus calling us back, who is our light in darkness, our guiding light when we are lost or confused, giving us hope and growing our faith. Faith is a gift from God which is precious.

As Naomi and Ruth had faith in God after the death of their husbands, to provide food, shelter and protection as they lived in Moab and later traveled back to Bethlehem, we can remember that in our disasters, our faith grows as God carries us through our trials.

- Words from Brenda Wong, "Juggling the Faith Ball". Nov. 8, 2009

a Hymn, at the Dawn Hour

How long we wait, with minds as quiet as time,
like sentries on a tower.
How long we watch, by night, like the astronomers.

Heaven, when will we hear you sing,
arising from our grassing hills,

And say, "The dark is done, and Day
laughs like a Bridegroom in His tent, the lovely sun,
His tent the sun, His tent the smiling sky!"

How long we wait with minds as dim as ponds
while stars swim slowly homeward in the water of our west!
Heaven, when will we hear you sing?

How long we listened to the silence of our vineyards
and heard no bird stir in the rising barley.
The stars go home behind the shaggy trees.
Our minds are grey as rivers.
O earth, hen will you wake in the green wheat,
and all our cedars sing:
"Bright land, lift up your leafy gates!
Your abbey steeple, sing with bells!
For look, our Sun rejoices like a dancer
on the rim of our hills."

In the blue west the moon is uttered like the word:
"Farewell"


- from Thomas Merton

Lectio Divina: what's up with Ruth

During this past Sunday's practice of lectio divina, we were invited to think about a particular section of the narrative retold in the book of Ruth (see below). As we moved through the multiple readings of the text, several thoughts came to mind, and I share them here as nothing but HAT's observations about a very peculiar story of, in my opinion, faith and family.

+ Wonderful mother/daughter-in-law relationship. See how Naomi calls Ruth "daughter" as if it is a close relationship. See how Naomi wants to care for Ruth's security
+ Working together as mother/daughter tag-team: what a great story of guile, cunning, perhaps also a bit of manipulation? Is this a story of entrapment?
+ Ruth was so independent, strong, free-willed. Yet the narrative here only has her respond in a very obedient way, agreeing to this plot of Naomi's without so much as a word of protest. Narrative/story tellers frustrate me. What are they leaving out?! Why is the story retold in this way? What's with the mystery twists and turns?
+ Ruth does the hard work, and Naomi is praised and blessed by the women of the village. What? Where's Ruth in this?
+ See how the women recognize/acknowledge that Ruth loves Naomi and is dearer and better than seven sons... leave it to the women to recognize such power. The narrative gives voice to the women of the village!
+ Power of naming is a privilege, an honor, an authority and in this instance, the women name the child Obed. Not Ruth, not Boaz, not Naomi.
+ Strange, but I like it -- that Boaz is not mentioned in the naming section of the narrative. Biblical stories so often lift up the men, the patriarchal society, the male-dominated communities, and Boaz is clearly a man of wealth, power, influence, honor, integrity... but this story belongs to Naomi and to Ruth, and not to Boaz. Ha!

A brief, brief guide from the practice of Lectio Divina, suggested by Jeremy Langford in Seeds of Faith (pg. 73):

• Lectio (Reading): Read the chosen text reflectively and slowly. Enter into it as deeply as you can. Reread all or part of the text several times. If it helps, read aloud. Stop when a particular word, phrase, or image strikes you.
• Meditatio (Pondering): Stay with whatever touches you. Ponder and savor it, letting it penetrate your awareness, mind, and heart.
• Oratio (Praying): As you ponder, a prayer of thanks, repentance, need, or love may emerge. Allow yourself to express your prayer. Take as long as you need. What is it you seek most in life right now? What do you most want to say to God? What do you most want to hear from God?
• Contemplatio (Resting in God): At times, your prayer moves beyond words and images. When this happens, you are "resting in God." Let yourself trust enough to yield to the moment. As the sense of resting cease, return to reading the text and let the rhythm of reading, pondering, praying, and resting in God play itself out naturally and fluidly.
• End each time of lectio divina with a prayer, such as the Lord's prayer.

Lectio:
1) As you read through the story of Ruth and Naomi the first time around, what images come to mind? Think of all the different types of imagery that might leap out from the narrative: visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic, etc.
2) For the second reading, what phrases capture your attention? What words did you concentrate on?
3) For the third reading, what ideas or thoughts or questions come to mind?

Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
3:1 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you.

3:2 Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

3:3 Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

3:4 When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do."

3:5 She said to her, "All that you tell me I will do."

4:13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son.

4:14 Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!

4:15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him."

4:16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse.

4:17 The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

a Prayer for the People

This past Sunday, as an 11th-hour substitute, I was asked to offer a prayer for the people during our worship service. Those of you familiar with the contemplative Thomas Merton will recognize large portions of his litany of intercession. His prayer touched my heart and though a large portion of the words were penned by him, I offered it up as a petition from my own heart. Let us, again, center ourselves with a deep breath, and open our hearts to pray together for the global community, and for the church universal...

Almighty and merciful God,
Father and Mother of us all,
Creator and Ruler of the Universe,

Your designs are inscrutable
Your glory is without blemish
Your compassion is unending.

In you, O Lord, is our peace

Teach us to wait and trust as we juggle our day to day responsibilities
Teach us to rejoice in each act of self-giving on behalf of others
Teach us to uphold human dignity and community
Teach us to see your face in every person we meet, to stay in love with you
Teach us to recognize the diverse signs of your kingdom, hard as they are to recognize at times,
in every expression of love, justice, and reconciliation
Heal and console those who have been wounded by the shootings in Ft. Hood, Texas
Bless and console those who have been touched by death and illness in this past week
Grant wisdom and clarity to those seeking employment, to those juggling with displacement
Teach us to be joyful in the abundance of your gifts
Teach us how to share those gifts in witness of your love and Mercy
Grant light, strenth, and patience to all who work for liberty and lasting peace on this earth

All this we pray in the Name of our Servant Lord, Jesus the Christ.

Amen.

Lucky Stiff

What would you do for six million dollars? Kill your lover? Vacation with a dead body? Save some dogs? Scuba dive with a corpse?

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go see "Lucky Stiff" at the Contra Costa Civic Theater in El Cerrito.

If you are into musicals, comedies, and murder mysteries that end happily, then you're in for a fantastic treat! Visit CCCT and get swept away with a wonderful story.

All Saints' Day Prayer

This Saturday evening is All Hallows Eve, and Sunday is All Saints' Day. For me, it marks a time of reflection when I remember all the "saints" who have crossed my paths in life, all the people who have made an impact (transformative if not positive) sometime during the 30 years I've been on this earth.

For a beautiful prayer for All Saints's Day/All Hallows Eve, visit the GBOD website.

As part of the prayer, we are invited to call out the names of the saints from our families and communities.

On this Day of the Saints,* let us give honor to those who built our families, who sacrificed for our well-being, who built up our church, who founded institutions of learning, who braved the storm, who fought the good fight and who may still be fighting on. We stand on their shoulders!

Are there saints who have transformed your life in the service of God? Are there saints who are warriors of peace, justice, liberation? Are there saints whom you should name and lift up for having transformed your faith?

"Face First in the Tackle Box": A Night with Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor in real life is just as funny, deadpan, and "appropriate" as on radio. This past evening, I went to see Keillor's 90-min spiel about nothing and everything at Z-Hall. Fantastic evening.

Shooting the Breeze with the audience:
+ Experiencing a stroke around Labor Day
+ There was mention of heirloom tomatoes
+ Majoring in English Literature
+ Being in choir and singing like Pavarotti to Margaret, the tall beauty who read Albert Camus
+ Reciting "O Captain, My Captain" in a high school class
+ Having the stroke in a coop market, and driving to the emergency room, very carefully at 42.5 miles an hour
+ We imagined together what his 11 y.o. daughter would be like in her adolescence, after having broken free from the restraint of mid-western life: hidden away in her room with music blaring, and eyes, lips and nose pierced/punctured by glittering steel and metal like she had fallen "face first into the tackle box"
+ Wanting to write for the New Yorker about mid-west life
+ Being lucky that the stroke went into the "silent part of the brain" so that his stories, jokes, songs, and language are still intact
+ Being described by the attending at the emergency room as "awake, alert, appropriate, flat affect"

A few observations:
+ He talked non-stop; when he didn't talk, he sang; when he wasn't talking or singing, he was sipping water
+ He stood the entire time
+ The stage was set very starkly but artistically with one high-backed wooden chair, one mic on a mic stand, one small square table with a lilac-ish tablecloth topped by 1 single bottle of water and 1 small clear glass tumbler

HAT's self-conscious observations:
+ I was probably 1 out of 25 people under 35 sitting in the audience
+ I was the only person within 20 rows who attended alone
+ I laughed probably the loudest in my row
+ There was a bit of jealousy -- he can write, talk, sing, and capture an audience
+ I LOVED it. Why do I have to like it so much?!

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

I'm a glutton for chocolate, and I want to do something good to offset my gluttony for the choco-liciousness of cho-co-latte!

Did you know that for Halloween, you can buy Fair Trade Certified chocolate?! It's not just about finding that exotic chocolate combination (dark chocolate & chili, semi-sweet and bacon!). When I buy chocolate, I want to know that:

+ the company prohibits the use of abusive child labor in cocoa industry
+ the company adopts safer, chemical-free farming methods
+ the company uses renewable energy sources
+ the Fair Trade price I paid for chocolate raises farmers' incomes
+ the Fair Trade price I paid supports a more environmentally sustainable small-scale farming model

All this is something I learned while reading about Reverse Trick-or-Treating. Check it out!

Go ahead. Snap that chocolate bar in half to hear that crisp break. Indulge in your wildest chocolate fantasies, but do it Fair Trade!

Regina Carter: Reverse Thread

If you have not heard Regina Carter perform, you are missing out on a heart-stirring experience. A few Saturdays ago, Regina Carter performed her last show at Yoshi's in Jack London Square. The experience? Absolutely breathtaking.

Violins, bass, ancora (spelling?), accordian, drums. African folk melodies in contemporary re-interpretations. We heard songs from the African diaspora, including songs from Uganda and West Africa. First, the field recordings of the folk songs would be played, then Carter's group would play for us the new, contemporary re-interps of the melodies and rhythms. Delicious rhythms and beat. Melodies that seemed to drift in and out of some strange land that is here, physically present, and now, but also distant and of the past and of the future.

All the songs performed were from her upcoming album, Reverse Thread (release date January 2010: "a collection of infectious African folk melodies in a beautiful, contemporary interpretation").

You must, must, must get the CD when it comes out. I will.

Lost in the Corn "Maize"

We are Falling in love with Fall! This past Sunday, a small group of us took some of the youth from church to the G&M Farms Cornfield Maze in Livermore.

For those of you who don't know, the maze is basically a huge labyrinth built of corn that grows at least a foot over our heads. This year's maze is constructed in honor of and dedicated to Norman Marciel (a big, big agriculture guru who loved the pumpkin patch). The maze is the shape of his head and shoulders, wearing a baseball cap, with his name above and his dates (1940-2008) below. It was an amazingly fun experience walking through. When I got to the 2nd half of the maze, I actually followed the map and could tell exactly when we were walking the "M" or the "E" in his name. At one point, I heard myself say "We're walking on his ear". Strange.

Besides the maze, there is also a pumpkin patch ($7 each pumpkin, regardless of size), a cow train, a hay bale maze (for little children!), farm animals (I didn't look carefully but saw 4 sheeps, several cows, a few lambs, I think, but no goats), and pedal karts. Oh, and there was a GIGANTIC corn box. Picture a massive sandbox but instead of sand, fill it with corn kernels. The kids had a MAHVELOUS time. And adults, too. Needless to say, we all had to stick our feet inside -- stockinged feet or no. Very ticklish to stomp our way through the corn kernels. There were quite a few little bebes around, and I gagged a little when I saw some of the babies put the corn kernels in their mouths... Thankfully enough adults were around to prevent serious consumption of said kernels. Yuck.

Admission is $8 for adults on weekdays, but $10 on weekends. From 6-11 y.o., only $7 on weekdays, and $9 on weekends.

For more information, go here: www.gmfarms.com, or call 925-447-FARM.

Place of Hope

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Bea for the very first time. At 20 days old, she was gorgeous. Blue, blue, blue eyes framed by lightly sculpted brows. The cutest upturned nose that delicately said "pert". Long, elegant fingers and limbs that probably means she might become a dancer, or maybe a pianist. Perhaps a guitar player in her later years. Holding her, my maternal instincts kicked in, and I thought of my god-daughter or god-son to-be.

I may not have the luxury or the blessing of holding her/him in my arms 20 days after s/he will be born, but I have already committed to being a good, positive presence in her/his life.

Oh, to have that much hope about, placed in, a human being... it's so scary.

Rambling HAT

So there has been surprisingly little poetry on nothing but HAT's and that's because I've been out of practice. Every day, there is a joke dropped here or there at the office about how I should pen this article or that letter in iambic pentameter. Today, something cute and funny was said about my writing a cinquain for an eNews article. I laugh, and then I cry, silently, inside. Just a little. The truth is, lately, I've been writing very little. Ok, you caught me. I've been writing close to nil.

The most recent bit of writing I've done was today's children's storybook (12 panels) about HAT getting lost. My dear writing buddy remarks, "what a wonderful spiritual journey." Really? Thank you, dear J, because if you hadn't said that, it would have looked woefully like a pitiful little scrap of writing, squeezed onto the page out of desperation.

So, that was the whining part. Here, now, begins the part where I pretend there was some meaning to what I was writing:

The children's story that I wrote is a mix of "Where the Wild Things Are", "Peter Rabbit", and the biblical narrative of the five loaves and two fish. The story elements: a character who is lost, a family unit, a search/journey, signs/symbols, and a happy love-feast. Perhaps you're thinking I intentionally plagiarized parts of these three narratives and spliced them into my own story. You give me too much credit. If I were smarter, I might have thought of that. Truth is, I was only thinking of the simplest story to write and of the kinds of pictures I could draw to fill up the 12 panels of the storybook.

Although I've been mulling over this storyline for several weeks now (for as long as I've been carrying the booklet around in my purse), I only finished it today at our writing session. Mostly b/c I have fiendishly, delightfully, talented writing partners who inspire me to write, write, and write. ("No rough drafts!" said J.)

I also did not think of any significance to the story that I wrote. Until now. For the past week, thanks to our Bible study group, I've been pondering the practice of feeding my deepest hunger. That presumes I know and recognize my deepest hunger in all its manifestations. (No, no, it's not chocolate or ice cream.)

The questions we pondered in last week's session: What are your deepest hungers? Beneath your immediate goals and obligations, what do you really hunger for? What do you seek most ardently?

The story that I penned might very well be a poorly crafted (and badly illustrated) children's story, but the elements within the story are symbolic of the things I am searching for. I think.

Perhaps my subconscious was thinking of all these things and I was not naming them proper until I wrote the story. I look back on these storybook panels and I see what I am missing. It is easier and sounds better if I were to say my deepest hunger is to transform the world with my presence, or, to embody God-spirit in the world. But those are beautiful words and concepts. Very difficult to actualize.

My hungers are more visceral, perhaps? More concrete? My self-centered? My search takes me to the space of grieving -- that place where the rich, young ruler (from Mark 10) is surely familiar with. Sadly, it is a space focused (too much, only) on the self.

Perhaps that is why the whole story begins with a search. I need to start a journey. Having lived 1/3 of my life, I realize I'm still that little girl-character totally lost "on the day the sun and moon stood still."

Do any of your hungers surprise you? Are there any hungers that God may have planted in you to help you awaken and focus your energy in a more life-giving direction? Do you believe that God seeks us as we seek God? Is it possible that God is trying to get your attention? - Jeremy Langford, Seeds of Faith

Remember Who You Are

"So the next time you say the Baptismal Covenant, remember who you are and whose you are, and remember that God who calls you also gives you all you need to respond faithfully." - The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers, Hodges Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California

See full article "Baptismal Covenant and Commitment"

How Rich ARE You?

I am loaded. Ranking in at 86,086,957, I am in the top 1.43% richest people in the world.

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world.
Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where
would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out.

Go see where you rank on the Global Rich List.

For the month of October, our church will be re-visiting the narratives in Mark 10 in hopes of re-discovering or un-covering little gems, seeds of faith so to speak, that might help revitalize our faith journeys as we follow Jesus, the One who came to show us the Way.

In this morning's message, our associate pastor invited us to revisit the story of the rich, young man who was instructed to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. "He went away sad because he had great wealth." Our invitation this morning (this week, this month, this lifetime) was to consider whether we would be like this tortured young man, gone away to grieve over the difficult challenge presented to him, or whether we might consider daily the myriad ways in which we should answer (re-interpret, redefine) the challenge to change the world.

Grieving. Perhaps what we need to grieve is not the loss of our possessions, and not the possessions themselves. What we should mourn is the magnitude of need that is in this world; I must grieve that I often forget our common humanity and too often allow the rest of the world to suffer while I live in relative wealth.

On the surface, the Global Rich List is a fun little website that tells me I'm ranked in the top 1.43% richest people in the world. Underneath it all, it is about our skewed definitions of basic necessities. What I consider basic is not what others consider necessity. Now, I and other members of our church will not necessarily host a giant yard sale to sell our possessions. We will not immediately put our houses on the market. Neither will we donate our cars. That level of charity neither transforms our lives in a lasting way nor does it transform the world for the better except temporarily. Any action merely focused on the distribution and redistribution of material possessions -- just stuff -- could not possibly transform the world.

This October, let us mindfully ponder the question of what we must do to gain eternal life...

Just an Imaginary Rabbit

Today, I had the pleasure of seeing "Harvey" at the Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito. Written by Mary Chase and directed by Kathleen Ray, it is a magical foray into the mind of a Mr. Dowd who has an invisible rabbit (white 6' 1.5" pooka) as a friend.

Harvey: An invisible rabbit and his whimsical pal, a frustrated social-climbing mother and daughter, a nutty psychiatrist, and love in bloom are all you need for a side-splitting comedy that is just as popular today as it was when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945, and when it helped to launch CCCT in 1960.

The comedy saddened me. Surprise, surprise. Questions about life perspective arose in a strange billowy cloud, and I had no answers. Am I the naive, frustrated daughter whose sole ambition at this juncture in her young life is to find love, make money, impress strangers? Am I the social climbing mother/sister whose only concern is the neighbor and society column's judgment of her social status? Am I young, inexperienced Dr. Sanderson who can't tell the difference between a reasonable person and a person with reason? Am I the crazy, impatient orderly whose only desire is a sandwich to feed his hungry belly and who manhandles patients with mental illness?

None of those characters portray me in all my complex HAT-ness, but there are certainly character flaws that, when highlighted, I readily recognized in myself and in each person on stage. ITragic, and peculiar. In the end, even Dr. Chumley himself wanted to achieve whatever it was that Harvey offered to Dowd. And in the end, I too wanted some of that... peace, acceptance, awareness, generosity, graciousness, a positive outlook on life.

I enjoyed this show, and look forward to the next show at the CCCT, which will be "Lucky Stiff", directed by Amy Nielson

Lucky Stiff
Books and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Based on "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" by Michael Butterworth
Directed by Amy Nielson

What do you get when you combine one dead guy, a nerdy English shoe salesman, six million bucks in diamonds, and a lot of dogs? The hysterically funny musical Lucky Stiff! Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the authors of Ragtime, and the animated film Anastasia exploded on the musical theatre scene with this madcap murder mystery farce that takes us on a whirlwind adventure through London, Atlantic City, and Monte Carlo, as the cast tries to figure out who did what to whom!

If you are interested, check out the '09-'10 season.

Green Idiots, the American Way

Sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll. This past Saturday, I went with She-Who-Is-Named-TMMITU to see American Idiot at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

It was breathtaking, no, it was heart-thumping, head-swinging, wild, crazy ... The opening number had me leaning forward in my seat (partially b/c I could barely see over the raised bar on the Mezz), feet tapping along, head rocking. What I really wanted to do was jump up and down, but they had warned us to stay in our seats. The play was a non-stop performance of grit, dirt, sex, drugs, rock and roll...

Green Day won two Grammys for its multi-platinum album American Idiot, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Now those searing songs seize the stage with the director behind Spring Awakening, the groundbreaking musical that earned eight Tony Awards and enthralled audiences around the world. American Idiot follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration. This high-octane show features every track from the album, plus several new tunes from Green Day’s newest release, 21st Century Breakdown. With an on-stage band and a cast of 19, American Idiot will take you on an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day’s electrifying songs.

The three characters, Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr.), Will (Michael Esper), and Tunny (Matt Caplan) were amazingly portrayed on the stage. Watching the scenes unfold, I could not help but ponder how it is that such young people could harbor so much talent, angst, passion, devotion, hurt -- all wrapped up, stapled together, bursting forth, spewing over, in a trundle of laissez-faire attitude.

music by green day
lyrics by billie joe armstrong
book by billie joe armstrong and
michael mayer
choreographed by steven hoggett
directed by michael mayer

The setting was incredibly well-done: T.V. sets embedded into the walls on the stage from top to bottom; Musical instruments used as furniture and props; Windows appearing and disappearing behind the mask of virtual graffiti blanketing the stage walls.

At one point, I realized that the cellist was hidden under the stairs, a stage detail that I didn't notice until the 19-member cast wheeled the stairs around the stage and proceeded to climb all over the contraption.

What I am amazed by:

+ The artistry of weaving Green Day's music into a story, a narrative that begins in, departs from, and returns to Jingletown, America
+ The fusion of incredible beat and rhythm, melding rock and roll with sex and drugs with politics and war
+ The subtle questions of relationships, commitment, sacrifice that undergird the loud, broiling, boisterious definitions of self, identity, nation
+ The not-so-subtle defiance (re-writing) of identity narratives, communal history/histories, justice, apathy, authenticity

What I wonder about:

+ How did Michael Mayer write that story out of a bunch of songs on a Green Day album?
+ How can I use my own talents, my own writings to inspire such passion and devotion?
+ Why did I never join a rock band? Would anyone take me?

It was a wonderful adventure into a completely different world. As I watched the play, along the journey, I felt like an idiot, totally green, totally naive to what things might have been. What is my version of Jingletown, I wonder?



Song List from the Play
American Idiot
Jesus of Suburbia
City of the Damned
I Don't Care
Dearly Beloved
Tales of Another Broken Home
Holiday
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Favorite Son
Are We the Waiting
St. Jimmy
Give Me Novacaine
She's a Rebel
Last Night on Earth
Too Much Too Soon
Before the Lobotomy
Extraordinary Girl
When It's Time
Know Your Enemy
21 Guns
Letterbomb
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Death of St. Jimmy
East 12th Street
Nobody Likes You
Rock and Roll Girlfriend
We're Coming Home
Whatsername

New HAT Status: Godmother

My dear, dear friends M and T recently announced that they are expecting their very first baby. The excitement, the joys, the mystery, the expectation... I get to experience one degree of all those emotions because M and T have also asked me to be Baby's godmother!! Lord, believe that? Can you imagine me as anyone's Godmother! I will be maaaagnificent... I can't even describe my delight, joy, excitement, thrill, etc, etc, etc...

Baby is not due until the spring, but I'm already getting a headstart in my new status as godmother-to-be, which, as I understand it, is uber-difficult to describe and fulfill. In December, we will find out if it is Baby Girl or Baby Boy. Baby's mom has already informed me that whether it be XX or XY, that little baby is going to be all blue or all pink. So, I'm having to wrap my mind around very color-coded and gender-specific toys, books, clothes, etc.

In the back of my head, I think, as godmother, don't I get to be the voice of dissent? Will I be the one who says, hey, pink isn't just for girls! And football isn't just for boys! and, hey, what's wrong with bringing G.I. Joe figurines in for tea time?

It appears I'm going to face a tough battle ahead of me, but in the meantime, I'm going to pick out the pinkest yarn there is and am going to knit me a pink baby blankie.

Unfulfilled Commitments

"The United Nations Millennium Campaign is disappointed that the recently concluded G-20 meetings ended with nothing more than vague commitments to the needs of the world’s poorest represented by the Millennium Development Goals."

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Saw them at Zellerbach on Tuesday, 9/22. Heard Joe Temperley's most beautiful rendition of Ellington's "Single Petal of a Rose." Please, please go buy a copy of it. It is so beautiful. You will be reminded of Rumi:

We, who are parts of Adam, heard with him
the song of angels and of seraphim.
Our memory, though dull and sad, retains
some echo still of those unearthly strains.

Bay View from Scenic Drive

Seated Buddha

Seated Buddha,
dated 338, China
Later Zhao dynasty
(319-350)
Gilt bronze
The Avery Brundage
Collection













This sculpture is the earliest known dated buddha image made in China. We know this thanks to the fragmentary inscription on the back of the base.

Stylistically, this figure belongs to
a group created in China from the
appearance of Buddhism to around 450.














This style was influenced by Buddhist sculptures
of the ancient region of Gandhara (which included
parts of present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and
northwestern India). Scholars theorize
that the models for such pieces were small
sculptures carried along the Silk Road.
Most of the surviving Chinese versions
are small gilt bronze buddhas.

Instant Messaging?

Message boards (samdra) are ingenious Tibetan devices
that do not require using precious hand-made paper.
The two painted covers enclose three double-sided blank boards
that would have been used for sending formal messages
between officials and noble house-holds.

Prior to a message being written,
the boards were preased with butter
and coated with a fine layer of ash or white chalk;
then they were written on with a bamboo pen.

The boards were stacked together --
their raised borders protecting the message
from being scratched --
and placed in an elegant case.

They were carried by a servant to the recipient,
who, after wiping off the first message, inscribed a reply.

Tibetan Message Boards
Tibet, approx. 1875-1925
Lacquer, ink, and colors on wood
Gift of an anonymous friend of the Asian Art Museum











This past Saturday, I visited the Asian Art Museum in SF for the Samurai exhibit. It was very busy because of the Labor Day Weekend, and b/c the exhibit is about to close, but it was worth every minute. Because we were forbidden to photograph the special collection, I had to make do with the permanent collections. My previous visits to the museum were with other people and I did not have the luxury of several quiet hours to myself, just walking from one artifact to another, leisurely reading, viewing and contemplating without being rushed. This time, I spent as much time as I could (12:30-4:45pm!). Today's post about the Tibetan message boards is the first of a small series.

Hiding in the Bushes in Berkeley

...somewhere near my house is this very fantastic looking creature made entirely of tires! Do you have old tires that don't work like they're supposed to? Are you thinking of expressing a different side of creativity? Are you hoping to reduce your carbon footprint? Look at Mr. Elephant...

Love and Kindness

The grief of death and dying surround us everyday, and yet such profound sorrow is so quickly and easily forgotten. I recently found out that a friend had taken his life -- removed his shining, magical, kind presence from our midst -- and we are left with an emptiness that nothing could fill. I have no words.

His parents and brother have consoled us -- his grieving mourners -- by encouraging us to speak and share our love to everyone around us. Every day. That sounds just like what Landon would say to us even as we mourn his absence.

To all my friends, near and far, know that I am always deeply, deeply grateful of and for your love, your support, your presence, your silence, for who you are.

To my readers, take every opportunity to express love. And kindness. And generosity.

Love,
HAT

Landon

Landon Carter Schmitt, proud descendent of Virginia, citizen of Vietnam, adoring son, loving brother, citizen servant, loyal friend without equal, global citizen, financier, proud son of The Potomac School and Brown University, we will never forget you. May God receive you into his loving arms.

Dry Eyes

Some of you might think I'm winking at you, but really, I'm not... It's the stress and dry eye irritation that's causing this involuntary spasm in my left eye. You might think it annoying to have someone's eye twitching at you, but believe you me it's far worse to have this constant tugging on your upper eyelid.

Even harder to figure out is how to de-stress to alleviate the eye twitching. I've wondered about just poking out the eye, but that still leaves the eyelid which is the actual part that's twitching. Also possible is to walk around with a fish bowl over my head thus immersing my eyes constantly in h2o. A third possibility is to walk around with my eyes closed all the time -- might create a bit of traffic flow problem, but if people will stay out of my way, they'll be fine.

Any suggestions?

Meramec Caverns

Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major

When there's been too much self-reflection...

...Then, she realized, dear God, she's underachieving! Are there people out there who have higher expectations for her? What is she doing in this lifetime? Pushing paper? Hole-punching? Is she making anyone happy? Is she happy? What is happiness?

Atrophied Synaptic Connections: NOT Dead and Gone!

I love the sounds in this sentence:

"Atrophied synaptic connections in the decisive regions of the prefrontal cortex resprouted, while the overgrown dendritic vines of the habit-prone sensorimotor striatum retreated."

Read on:

Reporting earlier this summer in the journal Science, Nuno Sousa of the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute at the University of Minho in Portugal and his colleagues described experiments in which chronically stressed rats lost their elastic rat cunning and instead fell back on familiar routines and rote responses, like compulsively pressing a bar for food pellets they had no intention of eating.

Moreover, the rats’ behavioral perturbations were reflected by a pair of complementary changes in their underlying neural circuitry. On the one hand, regions of the brain associated with executive decision-making and goal-directed behaviors had shriveled, while, conversely, brain sectors linked to habit formation had bloomed.

In other words, the rodents were now cognitively predisposed to keep doing the same things over and over, to run laps in the same dead-ended rat race rather than seek a pipeline to greener sewers. “Behaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach,” Dr. Sousa said. “I call this a vicious circle.”

Water Crisis & Asia

Scientists have warned Asian countries that they face chronic food shortages and likely social unrest if they do not improve water management.

Experts say: "countries in south and east Asia must spend billions of dollars to improve antiquated crop irrigation to cope with rapid population increases.

Without water productivity gains, south Asia would need 57% more water for irrigated agriculture and east Asia 70% more...

Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable...

The scenarios forecast do not factor in the impact of global warming, which will likely make rainfall more erratic and less plentiful in some agricultural regions over the coming decades...

Can You Hear Me Now?

Sunday, as I was walking home from the rose garden, I passed by an area where my cellphone could not receive a strong cell signal. My conversation with the Sis was abruptly interrupted with loud buzzing and whirring noises, plus strange sounds similar to robotic voices. Interrupted in the middle of my engrossed storytelling, I immediately sequed into "Hullo? Hullo? Can you hear me? Can you hear me now? I can't hear anything...Hullo?"

In the worry of trying to connect with the Sis, I couldn't hear what she was saying and so we were throwing signals back and forth to each other, but neither really connecting with any coherence. We were not connecting b/c of bad reception -- and it was not just the cellphone towers that were guilty of bad reception. I wasn't tuned in, either, being too busy to hear anything but the sound of my own voice being echoed back to me.

It made me think of this coming week's lesson in I Kings 8.

8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

8:6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

8:10 And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD,

8:11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven.

8:23 He said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

8:24 the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand.

8:25 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, 'There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'

8:26 Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

8:27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!

8:28 Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today;

8:29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

8:30 Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

8:41 "Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name

8:42 --for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm--when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house,

8:43 then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.

- I Kings 8

Yesterday (Aug. 16th) was the anniversary of the first message to be sent successfully across the TransAtlantic Telegraph Cable. The endeavor to extend a cable across the oceans is only one of many, many attempts to improve the way human beings communicate with one another. Sometimes, it takes way too long -- the first message to be transmitted through the 1858 telegraph cable (from Queen of England to President Buchanan) took 17 hours to transmit (according to Wikipedia!). Imagine waiting to receive that message!!

Sometimes, we don't connect like we want to. I have been playing phone tag with quite a few friends lately. One lives in Florida (three hour difference!) and another lives in LA. Yet another lives in Texas and another lives in Viet Nam. We simply don't connect -- bad timing, bad signals, etc. We end up leaving messages with one another like a virtual "poke" to say "Hey, you still alive over there?" and we wait to see if there are big news we need to check in about.

There are few things we can rely on, but one sure thing is that God hears our prayers. When you "pray toward" God, you're connected. There's no such thing as a bad connection. You might not like what you get from the other end of the line, but what you're receiving and hearing depends heavily on what you're willing to listen to, as well.

Regardless of what worship house/building/tent we construct, we know that God is available 24/7. And, even better, you can be friend or foe, foreigner or native (ha ha those distinctions are soooo relative), anyone can get in on "the family plan". You don't have to be part of the Favorite 5, and you don't have to the part of the Top 10, and you don't have to be on the same calling plan. If you want to connect, you'll be surprised to know the Listener is already on the line.

open / like a hinge

I wanted
the past to go away, I wanted
to leave it, like another country; I wanted
my life to close, and open
like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song
where it falls
down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery;
I wanted
to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know,
whoever I was, I was

alive
for a little while


- excerpted from "Dogfish" in Dream Work by Mary Oliver

Because wax imitations taste so good...?

So here I am thinking again about the Bread of Life passage in John 6, still trying to figure out what it all means to eat the real bread and not the fake one, not the one w/ empty calories that won't fill me, that won't sustain me w/ "eternal life" (anyone try to explain that one to me?).

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;

6:55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

6:56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

- John 6:51-58

I am reminded of an episode of the t.v. show "I Love Lucy" in which Lucy is invited to dinner at the house of Ricky's boss. The couples were supposed to have a beautiful, delicious dinner prepared by the boss's wife, but due to several Lucy-esque mishaps, the Ricardos are over an hour late and therefore miss dinner entirely. Alas, alas. Because she missed her meals, Lucy is starving as she sits in the boss's nicely decorated living room. Spying a gorgeous plate of fruits sitting on the coffee table, in desperation, Lucy grabs what appeared to be a juicy apple only to discover she had taken a huge chunk of empty, tasteless wax apple. Not only that, the wax imitation is stuck in her mouth and to Ricky's chagrin, she is unable to remove the thing without some un-gentle help from the hostess.

Lucy's escapade is comical, but in many ways, I identify with Lucy's predicament. There have been many, many instances in which I feel hollowed out with hunger and I'm taken over by some maniac with a fiendish, narrow-minded focus on satiating that insatiable hunger. And when the agony rips me apart, I find myself willingly, blindly, maniacally reaching for some cheap, empty, tasteless product to fill me up. And of course those things never fill me up. I end up in a ridiculous, figurative pose of empty waxen apple in my open mouth -- not unlike a pig hollowed out and ready for the fire.

On my spiritual journey, too, I've often reached for the waxen substitute instead of going to the real, true source of spiritual nourishment. Eating better, said my associate pastor, is about tasting the one, true Bread of Life. It's the stuff that Michael Pollan would be proud of -- the wholeness, the organic, the true source of sustenance.

There are three things that I have to remember:

1. Never let yourself become so spiritually hungry that you reach for things without looking.
2. Know the difference between the real fruit/bread and the waxen imitation.
3. Always have a buddy around who has quick hands and who can help remove you from a pickled situation.

Chew the Fat

For these past few weeks, our lectionary has invited us to investigate what it means to eat of the Break of Life. This coming Sunday, we are asked to chew on the verses recorded in the gospel of John 6:51-58, in which Jesus challenges us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. We are not asked to eat the fluff that still keeps us hungry, the empty calories, or the un-healthful. We are asked to partake of the real sustenance, the real "soul" food, to eat better so that we could be filled spiritually and soul-fully.

As I think about these verses, I can't help but remember Millennium Development Goal #1 of the UN Millennium Campaign: Eradicate hunger and extreme poverty.

Did you know?

One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes. That’s 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US. (Reality of Aid 2004)

Every year more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases – that’s over 30,000 per day and one every 3 seconds. (80 Million Lives, 2003 / Bread for the World / UNICEF / World Health Organization)

I'm quite certain I have never been truly hungry in all the years that I've been alive. A friend of mine from Viet Nam described it artfully, but I can't remember the words he used in the analogy. True hunger is agonizing pain. It is absolute, extreme gnawing pain. You feel like you can eat 10 bowls of rice in one sitting, but you are given half a bowl to eat for the entire day. You want to stuff the entire breadloaf into your mouth but you only get a morsel that disintegrates in your fingertips. You get just a bit, but never more. This abiding hunger stays with you for days and days without relief.

How, then, does one chew on the flesh and bone of Jesus for eternal life? How do we fill aching stomachs and soothe empty, protruding bellies with the spiritually nourishing Bread of Life?

In Brazil, the project called "Fome Zero" (Zero Hunger) carries a very lofty (and perhaps unrealistic?) goal of providing every Brazilian with three meals a day. I don't imagine that the meals are elaborate five-course meals or sushi buffets, but this goal might very well be considered an insurmountable challenge, considering that "one quarter of Brazil's 170 million people live below the poverty line" (according to EndPoverty2015.org).

When a nation's citizens are starving with physical hunger, how can we bring them to, or bring to them, the Bread of Life? How do we embody the Bread of Life? After we eat the bread which is the bread of life and drink from the cup which is the cup of salvation, how do we embody that newness, that fulfillment, that nourishment, that satisfaction?

Chew on this, chew, chew, chew...

Churches in the Current Recession

Not less people in the pews, but less full collection plates? Saving that $3 latte for the Sunday offering? Looking for divine inspiration, seeking ways to live out your call in a recession?

Thoughts about our churches in the current recession, by Dr. Marion Grau.

Chew On This

When the swine flu swept through various parts of our nation, many were afraid of catching this sticky little virus from unexpected sources. Not surprisingly, quite a few people were afraid of taking communion during worship services. The questions of hygiene and holy communion cropped up, I'm sure, especially during those moments when we were standing in line waiting to receive the host, or kneeling at the altar waiting for the chalice. I'm certain a good number of people probably wondered if the servers at their church had thoroughly washed their hands prior to administering.

In response to (or perhaps anticipation of) the concerns over eucharistic health issues, the Dean of Chapel at our school disseminated a notice to the community explaining the precautions that had been taken, reassuring one and all that drinking from a metal chalice might in fact be more sanitary than intinction -- imagine all those grimy fingers possibly dipping into that wine! Yuck.

However disgusting that all might seem, and however unsanitary the steps might appear, precautionary measures aside, I understand that partaking of the broken body of Christ requires a certain faith in the mystery of communion. We are, after all, eating of the fragments, chewing on the bits and pieces, grinding, gnawing, and swallowing all that have been offered.

When I think of this week's lectionary (from John 6:51-58), I ponder about the challenge/invitation/call we hear from Jesus: "eat my flesh" and "drink my blood".

Chew, grind, crush, gnaw, masticate, roll it around and crunch it up, soften or reduce it to pulp then swallow. It's one tough piece of meat, and chewing on it is going to take all your energy and concentration. (Or does it?)

And perhaps, it's the swine flu causing us to question, to reconsider whether or not we partake. Other times, it's something different causing us to pause, to hesitate.

What would you say has been causing you (me, her, him, them) to not chew on this bread of life, not eat from the table?

If you choose not to partake, there's so much more lost than just the swine flu. You might fear this little sickness, but you'll miss out on the sweet nourishment, too, especially the abiding in part. You lose out completely. The whole part about being one bread, one body? Lost. Eternal life? Lost.

Come, taste and see.

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;

6:55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

6:56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

- John 6:51-58

BBK: Blocked by "Knowing"

This week's HATnote is about BBK, something that was expounded upon by our new associate pastor in today's message based on John 6. One who suffers from BBK is unable to expand her horizons, incapable of moving beyond her "mental blocks". What she presumes to already know may be stereotyped, inaccurate, and entirely fictitious, but BBK typically renders one's mental faculties into mush. She suffers, in short, from a bad, bad case of self-intervention from encountering the "new".

Two samples from my own case-study:

1) Going to museums. I like to view and review everything in a museum. I never know whether I will like this painting or that painting, and I don't know if I enjoy or don't enjoy a particular artist until I see his/her work, so I try to see everything -- even stuff that are tucked in a some backlit corner of the SF MOMA (if some curator put it there, then I should look at it to see if I like it, right?). This is one reason why many of my friends don't like visiting museums with me. I take 2 hours to view what others would view very selectively within 1 hour. Lesson: Visit more museums more often in order to cultivate greater discerning taste about museum-stuff. Other lesson: Give friends ample warning.

2) Going to jazz shows. Several weeks ago, I saw a notice about this group that would be performing in Berkeley. So I put it on my calendar and made a mental note that although I've never heard of this band, and although I've never heard of the composer they're performing, I would go support them. I was duly warned. ("Avant garde" a certain friend said. "Art song.") But, I thought, in their field, as artists, musicians, experimentalists, they were on the edge, breaking new ground, trying to carve space in the music world for something different.) And, you never know if you'd like them until you try, I thought (oh, so foolishly). Folks, I want to say that I tried my very best to kick my case of the BBK, but I could not stand it. I have never walked out of a jazz performance -- or any performance for that matter -- in my entire life. Eck. I debated waiting until the second set to see if the cellist and the drummer would change things around. But I couldn't wait. I left after two songs. Bummer.