Visioning.....

I had a fantastic weekend visioning retreat!

We had to start out just a little off track by listening to the debate on a scratcy mountain radio station and arriving a few at a time in a slow stream in the darkness. I only lasted about a half an hour of sitting and listening before I had to get up and DO something. I readied our space for the worship and workshop. Soon my friends were preparing dinner, too. We were moving in silence so we could still hear through the static of the old cabin radio.

But what a great group! Appetizer dinner! Shared cleaning (LOVE that!). Singing through the hymnal as we waited for the folks who had later responsiblities back home. And then a great opening worship where we left our worries in a stone and stashed them all in a basket away from us. Then we did a good check in, then off to bed. One of us has continually expressed trepidation that we're not "having a Kum Bah Ya" moment. So, we did upbeat and fun three-part songs. I love a group that can hear "breeeaaaathe-in" and they're right there with you for "breeeaaaathe-out" peeling off into the other parts without a bit of help.

Morning was more worship, more three part songs. The theme of the three workshops on Saturday were "Where Do We Come From" (tell your story of what RE was like when you got to this church) "What Are We?" (How do things feel, look move--right now?) and "Where Are We Going?" (BIG dreams!) so we sang that, and after our first workshop we hiked to a little waterfall. It wasn't far but our stalwart nearly two-year-old hiked almost the whole thing herself! So it was a full and restful break, just what we needed.


I feel blessed to work with this group of women. They are whip smart, deep feeling, with hearts the size of oceans and commitment stronger that a million spider threads braided by threes.

And the Saturday night worship planned by two of the council members? Oh yeah, turn to hymn number 401. Guess what it is. There was much laughing as we sang out "Someone's laughing lord......"

Grateful to Be

What a fantastic thing, being a Unitarian Universalist here in the Pacific Northwest! It's a church weekend; I'm off to a Religious Education Council retreat on Lake Wenatchee.
And my two younger boys and about one hundred of their age mates are going to Vashon Island for a Middle School Con.
The weather is supposed to be Pacific Northwest at it's best; a little chill at night, warm and sunny during the day with the tips of the leaves just beginning to show color.

Ahhhh!

My weekend is planned to envision just what we do next with our children and youth. In the three years I've been the Religious Educator for this church we've grown and stretched and morphed. In 2005 we had 23 kids. The count last spring was nearly 70. When the leaves fall, I'm thinking we'll be at 80. We still don't have a building and it looks like we never will, or at least not for years and years.

So, what do we do? This weekend I'm bringing four workshops using Appreciative Inquiry to deeply explore how we move ahead. But I really, really want to move to a ministry to and with families. I want to be there to transform our minstry and support parents and guardians, to make famliy really come first, to serve the greater life-changing bonds that are so important to our children and youth. I'll try to sit on my wishes and let the REC wish their own wishes.

Leaving the church with no RE Leadership on week three of the church year? Yeah, not my favorite thing, but the minister I serve with knows as much as I do about our programs, she's amazing. A past RE Chair is roving watching for needs or wandering kids, the teachers are experienced and know how to run great Sundays. The guest minister was our student minister long ago and will tell a great story, so there! They don't even need me. Which is just as it should be.

My weekend isn't just work, I've also planned two little interactive worship services with spaces for folks from the REC to plan two more. There are hike and hot tub slots. What I learned from Helen Bishop at RE Leadership school is that some of the best work happens over dinner and on the walks and while the dishes are being done. So if we toss some workshops, oh well.

My boys? Well their weekend includes a challenge course, a talent no talent show, dying hair (but if you've watched the rick-rolling video I posted earlier, you know that my youngest already HAS bright red hair) and so much great UU young teen bonding that they always come home buzzing with joy and radiating love and peace.

So, when we're all back together on Sunday evening, and the wrecked up car has a new hood, I have a hunch I'll be just so deeply grateful for my faith, and my church, and my community and my family. But then I guess I already am.

When the thing you fear most happens.....

OK, see. I was right. My 16-year-old son got in a car accident yesterday. I'm locking him in his room never to see the light of day again. I mean, OK, everyone is alright, the car is banged up, the other girl went to the Dr but seems OK. But seriously, he's done ever leaving the house again.

Who thought this mindful parenting thing was a good idea?

He is a good kid though. And probably deserves a moment of two of imperfection in his life. I'll think about it later. Maybe. I guess he did figure out how to take the bus to the Community College today. So he may be allowed out. For meals. Eventually.

That's the problem with all of us UU parents. Damn compassion and reason. Grr.

Letterman rants!

This is so good!

You believe in WHAT?

One of my dearest friends just heard this:

"Oh my gosh, I think my teacher might believe in the big bang!".

Nope, it wasn't her son. It was the new neighbor's 10-year-old daughter. They're trying to be friends, the moms are, but this could really be a deal breaker.


"Oh no! Honey, your teacher believes in the big bang? What are we going to do?"

Of course it was my friend's son who had brought up the Large Holdron Collider to his class and that is what started all the commotion. And it brought on the minivan theology conversation.

So what to do? Do you out yourself as a religious liberal to someone who will find that an unforgivable sin?

Do you tell a friend, an acquaintance really, that you too believe in the big bang, even if you do call it "the great radiance"? Do you say;

"Hey, yeah, me? Um....I'm one of those liberals".

For me it's usually the "Prayerfully Pro-Choice" bumper sticker on my guitar case. Or the multi-faith symbols on my car that give me away. The chalice I wear just makes them squint a little, you know, with their head tilted to the side and lips pursed.

I am deeply immersed in the homeschooling community. There are a lot of very conservative folks here. And it's kind of funny to track the emergence of our friendships. Sometimes I can almost hear their conversations behind my back "how can she be so nice and be you know, one of those heathens?"

Well, from my side, too, I find myself surprised when a person who "believes" much differently than I is so intelligent, and accepting, and kind. Ouch, you mean, I have preconceived and often incorrect assumptions, too?

So, yes. Tell the minivan woman that you don't see things her way. Tell her with humor and pride in your theology. Tell her and be open to finding good ways to learn more about her faith and let her learn more about yours.

And you know, maybe this is how we'll move forward here in our deeply divided nation. Talking, laughing, sharing our stories in our minivans over the heads of our kids.

Three days

So in the last three days I bought "cheater" glasses so I can see when I read, went to a washed-up-band-who-I-love concert (r0ck on Counting Crooooooooows!) my 16-year-old went off to the community college and somehow, the world has just shifted.

I remember his first day of preschool, and his first day of Kindergarten and his first day of High School. They all had this dark chocolate bitterness.

Book Two; the next phase. "My life from here."

It's all good, but sometimes that just feels so bad. So hard, really that's what it is. So very difficult.

Worth it all, worth every second, every bit of it. The calling of the mother. But oh, so much.

A **Funny** Break

Watch til the end....