November 25th, 2009
Recently I went through a very dispiriting week. Three of my friends have been struggling with cancer. The husband of my oldest friend in the world is being treated for bladder cancer at M.D. Anderson. Another very close friend had just been diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. That same week, my cousin was treated for the fourth reoccurrence of thyroid cancer.
Each of them has been enduring that ghastly, medieval horror we so unhelpfully call a "treatment": chemotherapy. Two have adopted children and taken them into their homes. One of them is a single parent. One of them has no insurance, so I have a little skin in the health care debate and I’m terrified for what this...
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November 25th, 2009
Praying the psalms? We recite them, yes. Some of us chant them or sing them (sometimes). But praying the psalms as a spiritual practice? We turn prayerfully to Psalm 23 for comfort in times of fear, despair, or sorrow; and we have other familiar or favorite psalms: "I lift up my eyes to the hills" (121) or "O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation" (95). Many lines and phrases from the Book of Psalms are also familiar: "Be still and know that I am God," or "The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it" or "Your word is a lamp to my feet and...
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November 25th, 2009
One of the most life-changing gifts our family has ever received came as a result of a capital campaign asking at our church over 15 years ago. Yes, you read correctly -- a capital campaign asking was a gift. A friend from our parish called to see if she could visit with us one evening in our home about the upcoming capital campaign. Before she left, she asked us to pledge a hysterical amount as part of the advanced gift part of the campaign. Well, at least hysterical to us. My husband and I burst out laughing, sure that we had misheard the amount. She calmly asked us to pray about it and what it could mean for our family...
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November 25th, 2009
Over the last three-and-a-half months I have become increasingly aware of just how much grief and loss this parish has suffered and how difficult those three and one-half months have been. In that short time we have had five deaths of our friends, family, and parishioners. That is a lot of death and sorrow, a lot of pain and tears. Many of us are left with unresolved feelings and a multitude of questions:
What do I do next?
Where do I go now?
How do I – or even, will I ever – live, love, laugh again?
I am also aware that these deaths are the more visible and public losses and sorrows. I suspect many, maybe most...
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November 24th, 2009
Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head. It scared her so much she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out.
“Help! Help! The sky is falling! I have to go tell the king.”
“Slow down there, Chicken Little. Do your breathing exercises. The sky is not falling.”
“It’s not?”
“No. Not the sky. Just the budget.”
“Just the budget! Just the budget!”
“Yes, just the budget. We’ve cut programs by $100,000.”
“SQUAWK! $100,000! The sky IS falling!”
“Look, I don’t have time to argue. Let’s just say, for the sake of your amazing lack of vision, that the sky IS falling. So what if it is?”
“So what if the sky is falling? So what! But...
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