Here we are, gathered around our Christmas tree two years ago with our good ol' dog, Howie, who doesn't know how to look at the camera and smile.
Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christ
~Charles Dickens
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Riley Sarah Sara hiking at Laurel Falls
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
~Tennessee Williams
The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right.
~Mark Twain
~Tennessee Williams
The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right.
~Mark Twain
Friday, May 14, 2010
Jordan and his Beady band-mate
The latest fun thing in our kids' lives is that Jordan has started a band, Beady, and Sarah is playing with them often. Here are some lyrics from Jordan's songs...
Arianna, my angel. Arianna, please
Sometimes I think it's your warmth that brings colors to the leaves
Sometimes I think that only your eyes can always see the truth
The sky must be flattered when you are feeling blue...
If I could collect every laugh you've ever made and write them all down
I would compile it all in a book and read it to you out loud
Whenever your skies were gray and whenever your night was dark
Whenever you needed some tape for the pieces of your heart
Cus I don't where I'll go and I don't know what I'll do
But I know when I stand next to you the flowers start to bloom...
You are the April showers falling down on my head
You are the soil beneath my roots made up of all the dead
you are my sunshine and you are my clouds
I promise to stand with you until they cut me down
From "April Showers," by Jordan Trabue
I promise to be as gentle as the branches of the mountain pass
and the centuries in the ground from the flowing streams
I promise to be as strong as the ancient mineral rocks
resting, buried just beneath our feet...
Living like a work of art, stacked just like a deck of cards
seconds before they are all knocked down
I'll head back home again, grab some paper and my pen
and try to get some sad thoughts out.
From an unnamed song that Jordan wrote about our Appalachian mountains
Arianna, my angel. Arianna, please
Sometimes I think it's your warmth that brings colors to the leaves
Sometimes I think that only your eyes can always see the truth
The sky must be flattered when you are feeling blue...
If I could collect every laugh you've ever made and write them all down
I would compile it all in a book and read it to you out loud
Whenever your skies were gray and whenever your night was dark
Whenever you needed some tape for the pieces of your heart
Cus I don't where I'll go and I don't know what I'll do
But I know when I stand next to you the flowers start to bloom...
You are the April showers falling down on my head
You are the soil beneath my roots made up of all the dead
you are my sunshine and you are my clouds
I promise to stand with you until they cut me down
From "April Showers," by Jordan Trabue
I promise to be as gentle as the branches of the mountain pass
and the centuries in the ground from the flowing streams
I promise to be as strong as the ancient mineral rocks
resting, buried just beneath our feet...
Living like a work of art, stacked just like a deck of cards
seconds before they are all knocked down
I'll head back home again, grab some paper and my pen
and try to get some sad thoughts out.
From an unnamed song that Jordan wrote about our Appalachian mountains
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sarah, Jordan and Monks
Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.
~Tobler's First Law of Geography
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
~Crowfoot , Blackfoot warrior and orator
~Tobler's First Law of Geography
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
~Crowfoot , Blackfoot warrior and orator
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Donna and Dan - 4
Another post in the countdown to Dan and Donna's 25th anniversary this coming June, which I began back in December. It is my plan to post a story, remembrance and/or poem once a week for 25 weeks leading to the big date, which will soon be here...
While I started at Jeff St with not much hope that it could become a church home for our family, I was won over just about immediately. The sermons were so powerful, challenging, so... CHRISTIAN that I could not help but be impressed. The music was folky and deep and sincere and Christian in a way that my old Contemporary Christian music never was, not fully. And the people, well, they were living saints of God. It was apparent from the first day.
One of the first Sundays we attended was communion Sunday. When it was time for this, the congregation gathered in a circle. Pastor Cindy had a loaf of bread (not a stack of those yucky styrofoam wafers that so many churches used!) and a cup of grape juice.
She made it clear that all were welcome there at Jeff St and invited everyone who wished to share in the cup of Life and the bread of Salvation, to please, share joyfully. And they did. The congregation, black, white, homeless, mentally ill, displaced, the children and just "regular folks" (although they are few and far between it seems) all took part.
There was a moment where I balked. "Children can't take part in the communion!" I thought to myself. "Why, why..." but it melted away, just like that.
Of course, children are invited to the communion of Christ. ALL are welcome.
Communion is not some stuffy ritual meant to separate, it is the blessed banquet to which ALL are invited. It is life-giving and real, not styrofoam and ritualistic.
And, as children danced and squirmed and imbibed in communion, I knew I had found a home. Donna, too. As we talked about Jeff St in those first few Sundays, all we could marvel at was why it had taken us so long to find such a challenging, difficult, impossible, wonderful home of such grace.
We had found a new church home, a new community.
Soon thereafter, we began meeting with yet another group interested in community - this one largely being members of Jeff St. As part of that, we were asked to write down what it was we were looking for in a community. Here's an excerpt from my answer...
I'd Like to See...
I'd like to see a row of houses,
a block in the city - two blocks, back to back
with gardens where old gray city dirt is
loved and nurtured,
mulched and composted, turned and graced
into deep black warmth.
Where mothers and neighbors, friends and children,
fathers and grandfathers
join together with God and earth and community
to raise corn, okra, potatoes and family.
Where the pride of these united individuals who
share the neighborhood
has banished all of the broken
broken glass and papers and trash.
Yet those who have broken
broken lives and no papers and trash
are received as neighbors,
loved and nurtured, turned and graced,
shared with and sharing with.
Where stories are traded and the blues and praise
ring late into the sunset
and with each passing day
the trust grows tall as sunflowers and as bright
and love roots them all to the ground.
While I started at Jeff St with not much hope that it could become a church home for our family, I was won over just about immediately. The sermons were so powerful, challenging, so... CHRISTIAN that I could not help but be impressed. The music was folky and deep and sincere and Christian in a way that my old Contemporary Christian music never was, not fully. And the people, well, they were living saints of God. It was apparent from the first day.
One of the first Sundays we attended was communion Sunday. When it was time for this, the congregation gathered in a circle. Pastor Cindy had a loaf of bread (not a stack of those yucky styrofoam wafers that so many churches used!) and a cup of grape juice.
She made it clear that all were welcome there at Jeff St and invited everyone who wished to share in the cup of Life and the bread of Salvation, to please, share joyfully. And they did. The congregation, black, white, homeless, mentally ill, displaced, the children and just "regular folks" (although they are few and far between it seems) all took part.
There was a moment where I balked. "Children can't take part in the communion!" I thought to myself. "Why, why..." but it melted away, just like that.
Of course, children are invited to the communion of Christ. ALL are welcome.
Communion is not some stuffy ritual meant to separate, it is the blessed banquet to which ALL are invited. It is life-giving and real, not styrofoam and ritualistic.
And, as children danced and squirmed and imbibed in communion, I knew I had found a home. Donna, too. As we talked about Jeff St in those first few Sundays, all we could marvel at was why it had taken us so long to find such a challenging, difficult, impossible, wonderful home of such grace.
We had found a new church home, a new community.
Soon thereafter, we began meeting with yet another group interested in community - this one largely being members of Jeff St. As part of that, we were asked to write down what it was we were looking for in a community. Here's an excerpt from my answer...
I'd Like to See...
I'd like to see a row of houses,
a block in the city - two blocks, back to back
with gardens where old gray city dirt is
loved and nurtured,
mulched and composted, turned and graced
into deep black warmth.
Where mothers and neighbors, friends and children,
fathers and grandfathers
join together with God and earth and community
to raise corn, okra, potatoes and family.
Where the pride of these united individuals who
share the neighborhood
has banished all of the broken
broken glass and papers and trash.
Yet those who have broken
broken lives and no papers and trash
are received as neighbors,
loved and nurtured, turned and graced,
shared with and sharing with.
Where stories are traded and the blues and praise
ring late into the sunset
and with each passing day
the trust grows tall as sunflowers and as bright
and love roots them all to the ground.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Family Friendly...
Check this out.
[WARNING: when you enter your blog name and press "Rate it!" the first page you get to asks you to sign up for a dating service or something like that. You have to go to the bottom and hit "NO THANKS, take me to my results..."]
This is a fun bit of nothing-ness. I don't know why, but I found it so enjoyable that I'm posting it up here just for kicks. It's a website that will "rate" your blog, like a movie (G, PG, R, etc). It apparently has some rather odd parameters (the mere appearance of the word "abortion" or "missionary" can contribute to a more "adult" rating), but it's fun for what it's worth.
I saw this over at Brother Stan's blog Winging It, which received an R rating.
Neil over at the Eternity Matters blog got an NC-17!
And, while I got a G rating, my church's blog, Life at Jeff St got an R.
Go figure.
Have fun...
2000 Halloween
Sarah, Jordan and lifelong pals as Buzz Lightyear, a ladybug, Harry Potter and a pirate.
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~Howard Thurman
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
~Albert Einstein
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~Howard Thurman
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
~Albert Einstein
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!
I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.
So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,
prepared ahead of me...
...this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,
where, for that, the leaves are green,
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.
~From To My Mother, by Wendell Berry
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.
So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,
prepared ahead of me...
...this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,
where, for that, the leaves are green,
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.
~From To My Mother, by Wendell Berry
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Grand Canyon 2004
We went to a wedding in Sedona, Arizona on a long weekend in 2004 and made a too-brief visit to the Grand Canyon while we were there. It is so incredibly, powerfully beautiful there. It's on the places we'd like to visit again.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Destroy those who destroy the earth...
Okay, so I'm trying to enjoy this month leading up to our big 25th anniversary, not really trying to think about politics much, but then we have these disasters happening - I'm especially thinking about the oil spill in the Gulf.
And then I read things like, from the AP...
Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and production projects operating in the Gulf region.
The blowout rule, the fact that it was lifted in April 2008 for rigs that didn't fit at least one of five conditions, and confusion about whether the BP Deepwater Horizon project was covered by the regulation, caught the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar....
And this from some Wall St website...
BP... will benefit from a law passed after the Exxon Valdez incident which capped the liability for oil spills at $75 million. BP says it will still bear the costs of the clean-up which its says costs $6 million a day. But, the cap is its financial salvation. The Oil Pollution Act will save it from collateral damage and liability from the fallout of the “accident” beyond its direct costs.
The safety net of the Oil Pollution Act could be cut by Congress. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey wants to raise the cap to $10 billion. It is too early to say how much support he will have among his peers, but it will certainly be politically popular to attack BP and other parties such as Transocean (NYSE: RIG) which were involved in the disaster...
And idiots like this (cited at Politico.com)...
Texas Gov. Rick Perry Monday offered a stern warning against halting oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of a massive oil leak, and he raised the question of whether the explosion was an “act of God.”
“We don’t know what the event that has allowed for this massive oil to be released,” Perry said alongside several other governors on a panel Monday. “And until we know that, I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, because the cost to this country will be staggering.”
Which would be EXACTLY the wrong conclusion to reach from this. Fortunately, I don't think US citizens hold Big Oil to be their god, like Perry must be thinking. I'm hoping we can learn something worthwhile from this and the recent coal mine disasters. There is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as "cheap" fossil fuels. The only way fossil fuels have APPEARED cheap so far is because we ignore actual costs and push real costs off on the environment, on our children, on future generations, on the sick and on the poor.
Lord, grant us mercy and at least a little bit of wisdom...
The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great--and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
~Revelation 11:18
And then I read things like, from the AP...
Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and production projects operating in the Gulf region.
The blowout rule, the fact that it was lifted in April 2008 for rigs that didn't fit at least one of five conditions, and confusion about whether the BP Deepwater Horizon project was covered by the regulation, caught the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar....
And this from some Wall St website...
BP... will benefit from a law passed after the Exxon Valdez incident which capped the liability for oil spills at $75 million. BP says it will still bear the costs of the clean-up which its says costs $6 million a day. But, the cap is its financial salvation. The Oil Pollution Act will save it from collateral damage and liability from the fallout of the “accident” beyond its direct costs.
The safety net of the Oil Pollution Act could be cut by Congress. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey wants to raise the cap to $10 billion. It is too early to say how much support he will have among his peers, but it will certainly be politically popular to attack BP and other parties such as Transocean (NYSE: RIG) which were involved in the disaster...
And idiots like this (cited at Politico.com)...
Texas Gov. Rick Perry Monday offered a stern warning against halting oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of a massive oil leak, and he raised the question of whether the explosion was an “act of God.”
“We don’t know what the event that has allowed for this massive oil to be released,” Perry said alongside several other governors on a panel Monday. “And until we know that, I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, because the cost to this country will be staggering.”
Which would be EXACTLY the wrong conclusion to reach from this. Fortunately, I don't think US citizens hold Big Oil to be their god, like Perry must be thinking. I'm hoping we can learn something worthwhile from this and the recent coal mine disasters. There is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as "cheap" fossil fuels. The only way fossil fuels have APPEARED cheap so far is because we ignore actual costs and push real costs off on the environment, on our children, on future generations, on the sick and on the poor.
Lord, grant us mercy and at least a little bit of wisdom...
The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great--and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
~Revelation 11:18
Donna and Dan - 5
Another post in the countdown to Dan and Donna's 25th anniversary this coming June, which I began back in December. It is my plan to post a story, remembrance and/or poem once a week for 25 weeks leading to the big date. And now, now that we are down to our final 30 days to the Big Wahoo, I think I'll begin posting a photo a day from our life together...
As noted in the last post, we had already met some Jeff Streeters in our time meeting with an intentional community group. Also, when Donna was pregnant with Jordan, she found out that our current pastor, Cindy, was also pregnant with what would be Dylan.
Donna and Cindy had met ocassionally through her work as a social worker and Cindy's efforts to meet needs at Jeff St. With this new common tie, Cindy and Donna began meeting every once in a while as sort of a pregnancy support group and established a friendship.
At that time, though, we still attended Baptist Tabernacle, Donna still had her job there as a church social worker and we had no plans to move. Besides, as much as we liked many of the people we were meeting at Jeff St, they were just too liberal for our tastes. The big problem for us at that time was the whole gay thing. Jeff St was welcoming and affirming to gay folk and Donna and I were not.
We had become more comfortable with the notion of hanging out with those more liberalish than us. We had always leaned towards peacemaking and justice issues, we had a concern for the poor and a desire for simple living, we shared a concern for the environment and had an appreciation for social workers, teachers, environmentalists, Gandhi, Romero, MLK, etc. In short, at that point while we may still have at least a little identified as conservatives still, we were closet liberals and just didn't know it.
At Baptist Tabernacle, funds had begun to get tight and times had begun to get difficult. Sometime, just before Sarah Grace was born in 1996, it became clear that we could not stay at Tabernacle any longer. After having spent almost ten years there at our first real church home together, we would have to find a new church.
As I said, we were familiar with Jeff St. We had attended the Urban Goatwalker - their wonderful coffee house for the homeless, poor and mentally ill - and were impressed with that. We had begun some good friendships with a few of the people there and respected them as a church of peacemakers and saints of God.
But there was still the whole gay issue.
So, we shopped around, looking for a new church home.
Nothing fit.
Sometime, in the years leading up to this stage in our lives, I had come across a book by Art Gish. Donna and I were in Nashville, IN (an arts/crafts kind of town) and I was visiting a used book store, as I am wont to do. Back then, when I was looking for books, I almost always would go to the Christian section of the store and there in a little used bookstore in Nashville, IN, I saw, Living in Christian Community, by Art Gish.
Gish comes from the anabaptist tradition and, at the time, I knew very little about anabaptists except what I knew about the Amish, whom I respected but had no great desire to live like. But because I was still interested in living in Christian community, this book just jumped out at me.
In reading its pages, I found a home. "THIS is what I believe!" I remember saying to more than one person.
Gish describes not just the various anabaptist traditions - Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish, the Brethren - but also other faithful Christian groups who attempted to live life in a more communal way, hearkening back to the early church as described in the book of Acts. The book had a great impact upon my life.
While Donna was, at the time, more comfortable with "the liberals," there was still a part of me that held "them" at arm's length. I was glad to participate with them in rallies, in opposing war, in supporting housing for the poor, Habitat for Humanity and these sorts of efforts, but I didn't really want to belong to a "liberal" church. However, one of the things that stuck with me in Gish's book (written in the Viet Nam era) was that he identified and felt comfortable with the Jesus hippies he met. And, if Gish (whom I respected) could be comfortable with them, I guess I could give it a try.
I agreed to go to Jeff St...
As noted in the last post, we had already met some Jeff Streeters in our time meeting with an intentional community group. Also, when Donna was pregnant with Jordan, she found out that our current pastor, Cindy, was also pregnant with what would be Dylan.
Donna and Cindy had met ocassionally through her work as a social worker and Cindy's efforts to meet needs at Jeff St. With this new common tie, Cindy and Donna began meeting every once in a while as sort of a pregnancy support group and established a friendship.
At that time, though, we still attended Baptist Tabernacle, Donna still had her job there as a church social worker and we had no plans to move. Besides, as much as we liked many of the people we were meeting at Jeff St, they were just too liberal for our tastes. The big problem for us at that time was the whole gay thing. Jeff St was welcoming and affirming to gay folk and Donna and I were not.
We had become more comfortable with the notion of hanging out with those more liberalish than us. We had always leaned towards peacemaking and justice issues, we had a concern for the poor and a desire for simple living, we shared a concern for the environment and had an appreciation for social workers, teachers, environmentalists, Gandhi, Romero, MLK, etc. In short, at that point while we may still have at least a little identified as conservatives still, we were closet liberals and just didn't know it.
At Baptist Tabernacle, funds had begun to get tight and times had begun to get difficult. Sometime, just before Sarah Grace was born in 1996, it became clear that we could not stay at Tabernacle any longer. After having spent almost ten years there at our first real church home together, we would have to find a new church.
As I said, we were familiar with Jeff St. We had attended the Urban Goatwalker - their wonderful coffee house for the homeless, poor and mentally ill - and were impressed with that. We had begun some good friendships with a few of the people there and respected them as a church of peacemakers and saints of God.
But there was still the whole gay issue.
So, we shopped around, looking for a new church home.
Nothing fit.
Sometime, in the years leading up to this stage in our lives, I had come across a book by Art Gish. Donna and I were in Nashville, IN (an arts/crafts kind of town) and I was visiting a used book store, as I am wont to do. Back then, when I was looking for books, I almost always would go to the Christian section of the store and there in a little used bookstore in Nashville, IN, I saw, Living in Christian Community, by Art Gish.
Gish comes from the anabaptist tradition and, at the time, I knew very little about anabaptists except what I knew about the Amish, whom I respected but had no great desire to live like. But because I was still interested in living in Christian community, this book just jumped out at me.
In reading its pages, I found a home. "THIS is what I believe!" I remember saying to more than one person.
Gish describes not just the various anabaptist traditions - Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish, the Brethren - but also other faithful Christian groups who attempted to live life in a more communal way, hearkening back to the early church as described in the book of Acts. The book had a great impact upon my life.
While Donna was, at the time, more comfortable with "the liberals," there was still a part of me that held "them" at arm's length. I was glad to participate with them in rallies, in opposing war, in supporting housing for the poor, Habitat for Humanity and these sorts of efforts, but I didn't really want to belong to a "liberal" church. However, one of the things that stuck with me in Gish's book (written in the Viet Nam era) was that he identified and felt comfortable with the Jesus hippies he met. And, if Gish (whom I respected) could be comfortable with them, I guess I could give it a try.
I agreed to go to Jeff St...
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