A New Poem

I think I need a break, and some time to think.

So, I will post this poem that I found in:

180 more: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day






Anagrammer

If you believe in the magic of language,
then Elvis really Lives
And Princess Diana foretold I end as car spin.

If you believe the letters themselves
contain a power within them,
then you understand
what makes outside tedious,
how desperation becomes a rope ends it.

The circular logic that allows senator to become treason,
and treason to become atoners.

That eleven plus two is twelve plus one,
and an admirer is also married.

That if you could just re-arrange things the right way
you'd find your true life,
the right path, the answer to your questions:
you'd understand how the Titanic
turns into that ice tin,
and debit card becomes bad credit.

How listen is the same as silent,
and not one letter separates stained from sainted.

--Peter Pereira

Praying for Peace

I should have posted this earlier in the day, but, better late than never.





Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. My parents and I visited the Peace Park there while I lived in Japan as a missionary. These are a couple of the pictures I took. I'm sorry that I didn't get the statue on the top of the "Sadako" memorial. I was taken by the thousands of brightly colored paper cranes hanging at the site.



I don't have any more words: just pictures tonight.

Peace.

In Other News...

There is much I want to post, but I haven't had the heart.

Scout has had an ear infection (right ear) but seems to be getting better now. She seemed to want to destroy things for a couple of days after we got back from vacation, but is returning to normal now (well, normal for her). She ate one of my favorite little books this week, an old prayer book with pictures. It's kind of a first for her.

We went out to eat and saw the movie Ratatouille on Friday night. My thoughts: it's a cartoon, and it's rated G, but it's not really a kids' movie. It has a wonderful message, very uplifting. The animations are fantastic. Paris looks gorgeous. I'm not sure whether kids would "get it" or not. If anyone who has kids (you know, younger than 19) and has seen it, let me know.)

Our congregation's music minister is leaving us, and going to a church in Arizona. It was his last Sunday today. Very sad. But we heard lots of good music, including the gospel anthem: Total Praise (if I knew how to link to sound, I'd do it), Toccata from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm, and Sousa's Liberty Bell March. Also, our children's choir director wrote new words to Billy Joel's song, 'Piano Man'. I don't have the words in front of me, but I remember a couple of lines..."Play us a song, you're the organist... the back of your head's your best side..."

Also, I had a baptism this morning. I officiated at this couple's wedding about 5 years ago. They moved to Colorado. Then early this summer I got a call and they said they were going to be in town: would I baptize their son? They have a three year old daugher, baptized in their church in Colorado, but half of their family still lives up here and they wanted them to be a part of it. I said I would be honored.

I'm not sure if this was the "right" answer. I know children are supposed to be baptized in the congregations where they are going to grow up. But I do know that this family takes the baptismal promises they make seriously. The great-grandparents are or have been members of my church.

There were some connections made after the service. A former pastor renewed acquaintance with a couple he introduced to each other 40 some years ago. I enjoyed seeing this couple and many of their family members after five years. The "bride" said, "Isn't it nice to know that we are taking your advice and doing what you said?" (i.e., going to church, having their children baptized). Yes, it is.

And the Twins won. I should feel happy. But I'm melancholy.

I haven't posted a picture of Scout for awhile, so, to cheer myself up: I think I'll put up my favorite one. If you are having a bad hour, day, week or month, I hope it cheers you up, too.

Bridges

Thursday I had meetings and a hospital visit on the other side of town. So I got on the highways, including the one where the bridge failed, but didn't get too close to ground zero.


It seemed like traffic was a little light. I had heard that many people were just staying away. As I drove, I became aware of how many bridges I drove over and under almost every day.


As I drove underneath one, I caught myself looking up, and thinking, are there any cracks? How does it look? Does it look all right?


It's a wonder how we go through our lives every day, never even thinking about the things that hold us up, that keep us going -- most of the time. We live our lives trusting -- that roads will not crumble beneath us, that buildings will not fall on us, that people will stop and go and yield the right of way when they are supposed to. We don't pay attention, until something happens.


As I drove, I listened to the radio. It was all about the bridge disaster, about acts of heroism, about dazed victims, about cars still submerged and shared uncertainty. It was about whether we were adequately warned that this might happen. It was about who to blame, or who not to blame.


I switched the station for a moment to the local progressive talk radio station. I haven't been listening lately, but I thought I'd tune in, thinking the host might weigh in.

It turns out he had on a conservative guru, and they were arguing about taxes. The conservative was saying that if we had more privately owned bridges, we'd do better. The talk show host was saying that perhaps it was wrong to make a profit from roads. He kept saying, "All of you guys think..."


I switched back. I'm tired of ideologues -- right and left. I'm tired of people building walls instead of bridges, and refusing to find ways to solve problems. I'm tired of posturing. I'm looking for someone with humility, someone willing to look up, see the cracks, share the uncertainty.


I was looking through the church bulletin yesterday, and happened to notice that our closing hymn is "How Firm a Foundation." Ironic. It was chosen back at the end of May. I wonder who will think about the foundations that have crumbled recently. I wonder who will think about all the things and people and ideas we trust, usually without thinking.

We're also having a baptism on Sunday. Another child will pass through the waters of baptism, will receive the promise of Jesus' life with, in and for her. There's the firm foundation -- in the promise of God, in the waters of baptism. But God doesn't promise her, or us, an easy life. God doesn't protect us from danger. Instead, God's promise gives us courage to risk our lives and face our death. God's promise gives us courage to put down our gods, to change our minds, to work for our neighbor's good. God's promise can help us to build bridges instead of walls.


How firm a foundation, O saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word.
What more can he say that to you he has said
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.

Throughout all their lifetime my people shall prove
My sov'reign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hairs shall their temple adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne.

Gracious God, by our words and our actions in these days when foundations crumble, may your people be living proof of your undying love. AMEN

Friday Five: Post-Pilgrimage Edition

Reverend Mother, from my friends over at Revgals, writes and asks us to think about 5 things:

Hello friends, I am just back from a lovely time of pilgrimage in the isle of Iona, "cradle of Scottish Christianity." It has provided much food for thought, to say the least, and so, to keep the pilgrim mojo going:

1. Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? (however you choose to define the term) Share a bit about it. If not, what's your reaction to the idea of pilgrimage?
I don't think I've ever been on a pilgrimage, in the traditional sense of the word, as in a journey to a particularly holy place. I don't think there is one "particularly holy" place, in the sense of Mecca for Muslims. I think all ground can be holy ground. But perhaps all of our journeys can be holy, if we have a sense of purpose and destination, and an openness to meeting God.

2. Share a place you've always wanted to visit on pilgrimage.
Again, I don't have a place I've wanted to go to only for religius reasons. But places like "Muir Woods" for example, have been religious experiences for me. I would love to go to Sweden, because it is where some of my family roots are. Also I would love to have the opportunity to travel to Tanzania, or somewhere in Africa, where they can teach us so much about faith.

3. What would you make sure to pack in your suitcase or backpack to make the pilgrimage more meaningful? Or does "stuff" just distract from the experience?
Mostly, I think "stuff" would be distracting. I love books, but I don't want to be distracted by them so that I don't experience the place I am in. A Bible and a guidebook, perhaps.

4. If you could make a pilgrimage with someone (living, dead or fictional) as your guide, who would it be? (I'm about this close to saying "Besides Jesus." Yes, we all know he was indispensable to those chaps heading to Emmaus, but it's too easy an answer)
Of course, I would want to go with my husband (he might insist upon a pilgrimage that had something to do with music) -- It depends on where I was going. If I traveled to Sweden, for example, I would love to take my Swedish grandmother with me. She was a woman of great faith, and there are many things I don't know about her, that I would love to learn on the journey.

5. Eventually the pilgrim must return home, but can you suggest any strategies for keeping that deep "mountaintop" perspective in the midst of everyday life? (don't mind me, I'll be over here taking notes)
Write about it and share it with others. And share the glory that is ordinary life, too.

The Day After

This morning we had oatmeal with blueberries, raspberries and pecan halves for breakfast. The television is on the whole time: we alternative between local news and CNN.

It's weird to know that my city is on CNN. This never happens in Minnesota. We are never in the national news, even though we have a couple of big cities here (Minneapolis/St. Paul). Of course, I exaggerate, but only a little. Back when the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) was deciding where to put their national headquarters, they passed over the Twin Cities, even though a lot of Lutherans live here. They decided on Chicago instead. They said they were looking for a "world class" city. Chicago gets into the national news pretty often. People on the coasts barely know that Minneapols/St. Paul exists. Even though we have the Mississippi River here. Right now, everyone knows that.

Of course, in a way, they are right. We are pretty parochial, in a "small town values in a big city" kind of way. At least, that's the image we've liked to project. Sometimes it's even true. We embraced diversity and equal rights way back in 1948 with Hubert Humphrey leading the charge. Of course, at that time it was pretty safe; there was not a lot of diversity to embrace. And we weren't as "nice" as some of our rhetoric: ask the large Jewish population about the history here, or the large Native American population.

It seemed at first, in some of the interviews, the national news people were going to play on that parochialism. My husband said at one point a reporter was standing in front of the George Washington Bridge, and talking about how there's a $6.00 toll on this bridge, to make sure that repairs continue to be updated, and nothing like this ever happens there. The inference was: here in a world class city, we know how to handle these things.

But Minnesota has always been a good government, "we're in this together" sort of place. The "we" used to look a lot different than it does now, but "we" were all in this together, making sure kids got educated, roads got repairs, libraries were kept up and all of the wonderful parks and lakes were beautiful and available for all to use. We were known for our boring, but mostly clean, politics.

A collapsing bridge can be a sign: a sign of what can happen when we don't pay attention to "us". But there's another sign as well, one that I think has also gotten on the national news: the school bus full of children. If you're from this area, you will understand what I say when I tell you that the bus of children was from the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. I ran a summer program at a church there one year. It's one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in Minneapolis.

People who thought they were hurt got out of their cars, and ran to the bus to rescue all of the children. It didn't matter where the children were from, or who they belonged to. They belonged to us. On the news, they interviewed a truck driver whose truck broke in half and fell into the river. His first thought was that maybe his back was broken. His second thought was "the bus!" He helped rescue the children. The person interviewing him couldn't believe it.

Back in the early 70's Minnesota was briefly famous. That summer Time's cover article was called "The Good Life in Minnesota". The cover featured our governor, holding up a catch of fish. The good life Time was impressed by was our determination to invest in human infrastructres. I was out vacationing with my family in California and managed to get a copy.

The bridge collapsing can be a sign. But the school bus can be a sign too. We can work together, through both individual efforts and through our government, to rescue all the children in our extended community: urban, rural, suburban. They are all "us."

Maybe we'll never be a "world class" city. But we can be a "first class" city.

Bridge collapses over Mississippi River

Please keep the people of my community in your prayers this evening and over the next days as the 35W Bridge collapsed over the Mississippi River at about 6:00 p.m. tonight. So far we are still getting news and know that Husband's boys and my brother and his family are all right. But we are still watching, waiting and praying and hoping that you will do the same.

Please see this story for more information:

P.S. this is not far from where I live.