Friday Five: Healing Spaces

RevGal Deb authors today's Friday Five blog prompt. She writes: So, with the events of the violence and tragedy from the Boston Marathon fresh in our memories, I thought it would be good for us to focus on where as RevGalBlogPals, we find healing, peace and strengthening. As a chaplain, there are days where I never seem to catch my breath, and invariably, those are the days that I need it the most! So with all this in mind, share with us these healing things:

1. A piece of music -- Bobby McFerrin's "Psalm 23" (video above).  An amazing and generous church choir sang this at my ordination 20 years ago.  This version celebrates women throughout history.  

2. A place -- Nature.  Just about any nature venue. Digging in the dirt.  Beach. Mountain. River. Farm. Orchard. 

3. A favorite food (they call it "comfort food" for a reason) -- The family tradition -- enchiladas!

4. A recreational pastime (that you watch or participate in) -- Playing games with family and friends.

5. A poem, Scripture passage or other literature that speaks to comfort you -- Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.


BONUS: People, animals, friends, family - share a picture of one or many of these who warm your heart.

What else could it be?  Here's the most recent pic of my precious grandchild:

For the love of Daniel and for all of creation: Let there be peace on earth.

Friday Five: Deep Breath

View of the NOLA skyline while walking at City Park

Holy Week is catching up to me and breathing down my neck.  For this pastor, there are bulletins to get ready, sermons to prep, and details upon details that are still hanging.  Even this week, this congregation is moving ahead with launching a new ministry:  Welcome, Men's Breakfast Fellowship!  This is a challenging week for me to fill the gap between the last church office maven and the next one.  The opportunities to receive God's mercy never cease!

Today, we are prompted to respond to a RevGalBlogPals Friday Five that invites us to breathe:

This week's Friday Five is simply a moment to BREATHE. Stop and tell us five ways that you "catch your breath" and then move on in the work God calls you to do.

Thank you, Deb, for this one.

Here are five ways that I take a deep breath when I need to.  And I need to.

• Take a walk
• Phone a loved one
• Drink herb tea
• Let the tears come
• Stop and actually take some deep breaths

My own personal BONUS du jour:  I came into the office very early today.  Unprompted by anything except that I was here early and he knows how much I love coffee, the church custodian, who is a gem of a person, offered to make me a few cups.  That brand of kindness is what makes the tears flow. Thank you, Michael!

Friday Five: Techno-Happy

Today's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five writing prompt is all about technology. RevGalBlogPal Jan is in Washington state visiting relatives in a senior living facility where she will be without her usual electronic devices.

Jan's questions invite us to explore our use of, and desire for, technological devices:

1.  What types of technologies, like cell phones, computers, TVs, etc., do you routinely use? How frequently?

• Cell phone -- not-the-newest iPhone (with me and in use every day)
• Computer -- MacBook (almost every day, both at the office and at home)
• eReader -- KindleTouch (use for reading books, a few games, and preaching sermons)
• TV -- I don't have one, but watch at times one or two days a week

I am on the computer most often, doing things related to church and ministry -- emails, worship prep, sermon prep, newsletter prep, more emails.

2.  Social media: 

• Facebook (daily) 
• Pinterest (daily)
• Twitter (occasionally) 
• Linked-In (I'm on there but rarely in there)
• Social media games (now, only Words With Friends)

  3.  Do you separate online activities between home and work? Or is it all the same everywhere?

There is a lot of online activity involved in getting things done for church, so that's is what I am most often using technology for at work. There are occasional breaks for Facebook and Pinterest.  Facebook does (really!) help me keep up with people in church who are posting there.  We also use our church Facebook page to communicate church things.  I use the internet to keep up with the latest that is going on in New Orleans and in the world.  Most of that happens at work.

At home, there is more "Words With Friends" but there is also a lot of sermon prep and other church-related writing, as well as some other writing that I want to do.  Yeah, work and home are often a lot alike, except for the ready availability of coffee and quilts.

My favorite thing to do at home is to use Skype to keep in touch with my geographically-scattered loved ones.

4. Do you have a smart phone or iPhone?

Yes, I have an iPhone that I have come to depend on.  Let me count the ways: check the email, check the weather, use Mapquest to get where I'm going, find a restaurant or coffee shop, and to google things that I don't know.

5. What do you wish you had -- or do not have -- in relation to these devices?

What I don't have is an iPad or iPad mini (or is it mini iPad?).  I don't know if I want one or how badly I need one or what I would realize I was missing now if I got one.  There is probably something like that in my techno-future.

Bonus: What is the difference between your attitude towards these means of technology and a generation older or younger than you?

In my experience, attitudes toward technology have not been strictly generationally defined.  Younger people are definitely more comfortable with technology and have been invaluable in helping me to stay current and comfortable in the techno-world.  I know 80+ year olds who use email to stay in touch with their friends, and they play Words With Friends (with me!) on their Kindle Fires or iPads.  I also know younger people who are still skeptical about the use of technology and online access in church life.

Lenten Photo Challenge: Catching Up

Each day's photos for this week's Lenten Photo Challenge actually were taken each day.  They were posted less often, occasionally on Facebook or Twitter.  I'm near-disciplined.  So, here they are:

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Feb. 17: 

SETTLE 

As in . . . Do not settle.

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Feb. 18: 

WORLD

God loves the world. 

Seems to me that's the real point. 

God loves. That much.  

And more.

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Feb. 19: 

WONDER

From the CHICAGO song: 

"Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?"

I wonder . . . 

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Feb. 20: 

EVIL 

As in: The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

[1 Timothy 6:10]

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Feb. 21: 

LOVE

"Love" is everywhere.

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Feb. 22: 

SPIRIT

The setting for a spirit-filled experience on this day.

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Lenten Photos Day 4: Injustice

Every day, I drive by this "Home Depot" on my way to the church office.

Every day, in the parking lot, I see as many as 40 men waiting there. I've been told that they are waiting there for someone to come by and give them some work for the day.  Today was Saturday.  I took this picture when I stopped at next-door Rouse's for a few groceries.  I counted 11 men there at noon.  On a Saturday.

The Home Depot store itself has a huge "Help Wanted" sign posted on its building exterior.

In 2007, Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli received a severance package of $212 million.  Worth it? He "earned" himself a spot on CNBC's list of the  "Worst American CEO's of All Time."

Home Depot's current CEO Frank Blake makes 700 times minimum wage ($10.8 million).

I've also heard that someone in a hoodie has every reason to expect the worst.

Lenten Photos Day 3: See

Some things I see from my office windows

Lenten Photos Day 2: Return

Funny thing:

I took this pic this morning, thinking it might make a good "return" photo.

I remembered that, when I lived in Pennsylvania or Ohio, a vacation week in Louisiana always included a return, with my sis, to one of the Louisiana-based coffee shops called CC's Community Coffee House.

I aimed my phone at the CC's sign, thinking about my return to Louisiana about 5 months ago.  That more permanent move was a return to long-missed familiar things -- crawfish boils, warm weather, Cajun accents, and CC's.  Knowing I would be a "regular" there, I got my very own CC's card.  I keep a few bucks on it, which makes it easy to return there often.

This particular CC's is within walking distance of my New Orleans home.  I returned there this morning for a cup of coffee to take to the office.  I took the pic on my phone as I went in, because I had an inkling that there could be a connection with my CC's habit and today's word: "return." There was the chance, too, that there would not be another better photo op later in the day.

I stepped up to the counter and ordered my usual: A grande, half dark roast, half medium roast, with room for cream. (The 2 dashes of cinnamon don't take any room, so why mention that?)

The young barista seemed rattled, and I wondered what was so hard about my fairly ordinary order.  She said she was afraid that the CC's card reader wasn't working. She told me she wouldn't be able to give me my receipt.

That CC's receipt is my return ticket.  With the receipt, I could return any time that same day to any CC's and present the receipt and the empty cup for a free refill.  It's a nice perk. Still, I said "That's OK. Don't worry about the receipt."

She tried again to get my CC's card to read. No luck.  She didn't want to tell me, so I asked: "It's not charging the coffee to my card either, is it?" She nodded and tried the card again, and again, ever more flustered.  The coffee had been already been poured.  A line was forming behind me.

My move.  I offered to return to my car and get cash for the coffee. Relief poured off her face.

That's how it happened that I got to return to CC's in that same trip.  The photo was just right.