Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Dichotomy of Welcome

If you want to accomplish a task while thinking, repainting the knick-knack cabinet is not a bad thing to do. As I covered the old paint with new, I began to think about last Sunday.

On that day, instead of my usual Sunday afternoon pursuits, I accepted the invitation of the local bishop to participate in St. Anthony Cathedral's grand celebration of their 100th Anniversary and several other significant events in the life of the local Catholic church. Along with religious leaders of other denominations and faiths, I truly enjoyed the experience, especially since it is all too rare that our faith communities gather in worship, and felt welcomed to be a participant in this event.

And yet, I didn't feel welcomed.

One of the songs during the worship had to do with everyone being "welcome in this place". As I sang along, I felt the irony of not being completely welcomed into this community as a woman called by God to serve as a leader of a congregation, in effect a priest, and as a Protestant not completely welcomed into the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

There is a dichotomy of welcome.

It's a dichotomy that one is not particularly aware of until you discover that, in some respect or another, you are indeed an "outsider", not truly welcomed into complete community, not completely part of the "family". There is welcome and there is "Welcome!"

As I thought about this, I thought about our own worship services and meetings. On Thursday at our Session meeting, I unthinkingly ended our meeting as I usually do after someone makes a motion to adjourn, "All in favor, please stand and join hands in prayer." Oops! We have a person on our Session who has recently begun to have difficulty standing. Did I inadvertently exclude her by making it seem she was not in favor if adjourning? Well, yes and no. We're a small group, and everyone understood what was happening, but I certainly could have been more inclusive in my invitation.

When we celebrate Communion, we do have several people who are not members, and a couple who are Catholic, who worship with us. Our invitation to the Table is fairly open, "All who trust in the Lord are invited to the Table which He has prepared." Yet our Catholic friends honor their faith tradition and do not partake of the feast.

A guest speaker at seminary spoke of his wife's Buddhist parents attending his worship service where Communion was served. He knew that his mother-in-law probably didn't have the foggiest idea of what was happening, yet she came forward for the meal. Should he single her out and not serve her? Or should he trust that God could handle the situation and include her in this faith-meal of the community? He chose to trust God.

In the work of the governing bodies of the church, I serve on a committee whose purpose is to lift up those areas where we have been exclusive in choosing the leaders of our church. Historically, various racial/ethnic groups have been left out of leadership roles, and that is the most obvious area people think of when looking at inequity.

At various times and in a variety of ways, we have not been particularly welcoming to women, clergy or lay; youth and young adults; and those with disabilities or differently abled. Sometimes we aren't even aware that we have turned away those whose call is to serve within the smaller congregation, or who don't happen to already live conveniently within the main urban area where meetings tend to be held, or whose work and family schedules don't fit comfortably into meeting structures we've forged into place. It's all too easy to simply put things together "the way it's always been done", without realizing that perhaps we are excluding those who can't easily arrive on the leadership dais because there is no ramp and they are in a wheelchair or who don't have the necessary materials because they were provided on hardcopy but not available in a format their adaptive technology could handle. In what ways do we exclude those who don't have a handle on Robert's Rules of Order, but manage quite gracefully in a more collaborative manner?

In what ways do we say, "Welcome, but, no, you aren't truly WELCOME!?"

Gee, those are mighty deep thoughts for one rather small knick-knack shelf! But then again, maybe it isn't the size of the shelf or the thoughts that matter. Perhaps what is more important is to become aware of the dichotomy of welcome which exists in our daily and corporate lives, and learn what it means to be truly Welcoming of others. I'd think the world would be a much nicer place if we could all figure that out and then live it.

Friday, October 26, 2007

When the Dust Settles

If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. I think I moved in almost TWO houses worth of stuff when I came back home. Another hurricane seems to have made an appearance in the past week.

My head knows that most of this stuff will end up back in my file cabinets, in my drawers, on my shelves, and back on my walls, just where it was when I "evacuated" it at varying and sundry times over the past two years. At the moment, it's sprawled all over the floors in my living room, bedroom, office, den, and hallway.

I've managed to put bits and pieces of it away. Then I get overwhelmed by the absolute MASS of it and flee the area.

Not before I've stirred up enough dust to set off a sneeze attack. ACHOO!! ACHOO!! (and so on for about 10 minutes)

Then there's the stuff that hasn't been used for two years, and has forgotten what it's supposed to do to operate. There's a bit of a chill in the air ... and the house. Seems the pilot light needs to be lit on the heater, and I'm too much of a dolt to figure out how to get into the unit to light it.

Hope reigns eternal, though.

If my handyfriend doesn't make it here this weekend, there are two or three other people who can help me out. At least it's not too cold yet.

It would also be helpful if we could manage to get the curtain rods hung, so I can put up my thermal curtains. Double paned windows cut down on the heat transfer, but they don't eliminate it. There was a bit of a chill down the back of my neck this morning. Brrrrr!

And there are other minor frustrations, as well. Guess life wouldn't be normal without them. *chuckle*

So, when the dust settles, I'm going to get things organized and then .....


IT'S OPEN HOUSE TIME!! LET'S PARTY!!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Fun and Frustration

First, the fun!

This afternoon, St. Anthony's Cathedral celebrated their 100th Anniversary and several other significant events in the life of the local Catholic diocese. The bishop invited local clergy of all faiths to attend and be part of the processional, wearing the traditional garb of their faith. It was really cool!

In addition to five Christian denominations being represented (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Presbyterian), the Jewish, Bhuddist, and Hindu faiths were present. As the Honorably Retired Presbyterian minister serving the Lutheran church as interim stated, "Leave it to the Catholics to do a celebration up right!"

I'd never realized that there were so many lay organizations within the Catholic church. The honor guard was made up of members of the Knights of Columbus and another group called the Knights of Peter Clavel (I think that's his name. I left the bulletin in the car and am too lazy to get it.) The order on the processional put the interfaith leaders right behind a group called the Knights and Ladies of the Sepulchre. Each of these groups were absolutely decked out in some incredible "uniform" finery. Tricorn-ish hats with bright feathers in them, colorful sashes, various kinds of crosses, and the honor guard came equipped with swords. And that was just the laity! Pageantry to the max!

This particular celebration included the designation of the Cathedral as a minor basillica, so there were some additional pieces that are particularly identified with basillicas - a special type of umbrella and a special bell (a tintinabulum - I think that's what it's called). Of course, there were various Catholic clergy present and involved: 3 archbishops (one who's just been designated as a cardinal) and 7 bishops, plus about 10-15 priests and deacons. Altar boys and girls, attendants from the various ethnic groups represented in the area, and music abounded.

All in all, it was an honor to be invited and I had a grand time. It was my first high mass, and, while there were things that would obviously be different, it was intriguing to see how much of what we Presbyterians do that are the same. We aren't quite as far apart as it sometimes seems. Well, except for the hierarchy and no women, and few married, priests and all that bowing and kneeling and a bit of a different understanding of just what happens when you celebrate Communion and "trespassers and those who trespass against us" instead of "debts and debtors" and, what is it about all those sacraments? *sigh* Ok - maybe a bit more than it looked on the surface, but still ...

So now for the frustration:

I just got my Roadrunner set up yesterday. All is good. It does work ... as long as I'm tethered to the cable connection. My gameplan was to set up the system for wireless. I have the router. I have the installation CD. I have very carefully followed the instructions, Oh!, 10 or so times. Is the router hooked up to the system and letting me get to the internet? NO!! Of course not!!

It seems I need a username and password. The cd doesn't tell you that the router needs to be registered before you install it. I now have a username and password. Do they work? Of course not!! I tend to be an idiot when it comes to computer hardware stuff, but this appears to be such a simple thing. Plug in, let the computer make sure it's working right, unplug this, swap out that, replug in this, hook that to the powersource, and Voila! wireless internet! Right? You'd think. So, of course, my computer guru, who understands that I'm absolute hell on working computers, isn't available to talk me through it and probably won't be in town before next weekend. *very deep sigh*

At least I had a good time this afternoon!

Monday, October 15, 2007

I'm HOME!

Much still to do, but I'm home!!

Please excuse the wild dancing throughout the place, but I just can't help myself. It's been over two years and I almost can't believe I made it.

There's a certain level of disarray that still exists. Mostly of the "can't do that until something else is done first" variety. I'm currently sitting on the floor, using the phone chord in the disheveled office to connect to the internet. Roadrunner and cable don't arrive until Saturday.

But this part I've been through before any time I've moved. There are curtains to put up and pictures to rehang and knick-knacks to put on their appointed shelves.

Why is it that when you move new furniture into a room for the first (or second or third) time, it never quite fits the way you expect it to? Easily solved, but a bit frustrating.

I will have to admit that this is the first time I've liked my bathroom since I moved into the house. The pink-paint-from-hell is gone (well, at least where paint is regularly visible) and I have a new mirror and light fixture. Of course, the shower stall has been replaced and looks really cool. Progress!

Now that we're here, though, I've discovered that someone apparently decided that my complete set of extended Lord of the Rings dvd's would make a nice addition to their collection. It's not definitive, yet, but they sure seem suspiciously missing. It's not like there was someone hovering around every minute to keep things from walking off, but I'm rather miffed. Harumph! At least they didn't take the dvd player, too.

In any case, I'm home! I hope I remember how to sleep in my waterbed. It's been such a long time!

Excuse me, but I think I'm going to get back to my happy dance!

Later!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Mental Exhaustion

Or is it physical? Or spiritual? Maybe a bit of each, perhaps.

Part of it is that I keep crashing into brick walls. Not literal ones, but the ones set up by expectations and hopes that never quite pan out, at least not yet.

Since I last posted, there have been at least three dates set for the finish-up work to be accomplished at my house. On two of those, the friend who's doing the work couldn't make it. Then yesterday, when he did come, our time was spent on all manner of things that needed to be done, but we still didn't accomplish the main task. There is progress, but it feels so infinitisimal in comparison to my desire to sleep in my own bed again that I really just want to cry. But can't. So even that feels stuck.

I look at the things that need to be finished and feel overwhelmed. Then I just tend to wander from one partial task to another.

This weekend I began to work on removing the brighter-than-Pepto-bismol pink paint from my bathroom. What started out as a semi-reasonable, but relatively simple, task quickly turned into the paint removal from hell. Did you know that there was once used something my friend called "iron paint"? Well, that's what they used in my bathroom. I used every kind of sandpaper imaginable and didn't even make a dent in the texture of the paint. My son had used a whole container of paint stripper on the stuff and had managed to get bits and pieces of it off, but not what you'd usually expect.

One frantic phone call to friend later ended up with me headed to the handy-dandy hardware store for paint deglosser. That stuff is just plain nasty! And even that didn't make a dent in it until I used steel wool on the paint to just barely score it so the deglosser could do its thing. I managed to complete the doorframe and the bathroom cabinet. Now all I have to do is degloss the cabinets under the sink, prime and then anoint that pup with two coats of paint. That's what it took to finally banish the offending color.

Perhaps my exhaustion has something to do with yesterday. I finally got the kitchen completely cleaned up. There is no more roofing soot and grime and bits and pieces of wood lurking on my appliances and counters. You wouldn't know it by looking at it, though. Within a few hours of completion, there's all kinds of crap and clutter and stuff permeating the room.

Then again, it could be the garage door that decided to come unhinged from the ceiling as the garage door opener was opening the door, and proceeded to smash one of the windows in the door ... after all the stores were closed for the night, of course. I am glad my friend was there, otherwise, I would have been completely befuddled by what to do with a garage door stuck in 3/4 open position. Sleep in the garage? I don't think so.

My friend was able to complete a temporary? fix on the garage door through a midnight run to Wally World for bolts and a garbage bag and tape concoction over the gaping hole.

My mission between now and Thursday? (A day later than I was hoping to actually sleep in my bed, btw.) Get the garage support checked out by someone who understands how the garage door works and see if I can find a "compound miter saw" - the tool which kept us from getting as far as we'd hoped. And give my feet a rest, because they've declared war on my body and ache whether they're on the ground or not.

I think I'm going to repeat a lament from two years ago - "Show me the way to go home. I'm tired and I wanna go to bed." My aching body, soul, and mind are soooooo tired.