Weekend wrap up

After Friday night's big event, I spent Saturday morning working at Grace Church and helped clear limbs and debris from the playground area. We weren't able to finish but we made a sizable dent in the brush piles. I spent the rest of Saturday doing the same thing to my own yard. I finally cleared the last brush pile and moved it to the large pile in front of my house waiting for pickup. I also took down the broken section of my daughter's swing set. A large limb had cracked two of the support posts and bent the metal plate that attached the monkey bars to the slide section. I felt a little sad as I removed the broken part of the swing set. This was a gift from my parents to my daughter when she turned 3. It has been with her through two houses and lots of hours of play.

Sunday afternoon was spent hanging a tire swing off of a large limb on the same tree that dropped branches and took out the swing set. (That'll teach that tree!) I also spent a couple of hours trying to find the break in the invisible fence buried in our yard. Our dog hadn't figured out that it wasn't working, however she was slowly moving closer and closer to the boundary area of the fence this past week. My back yard is on a step slope. This weekend I feel like I've walked 10 miles all up hill with each wheelbarrow load of brush to take to street and and the dozen trips walking back and forth testing for breaks in the invisible fence.

In my EFM class for tomorrow the chapter is on Feminist Theology. As the only male in the class this is a conversation that I thought as I began to read the chapter would be difficult for me. However the ways in which I think and speak about God aren't in the traditional patriarchal style. When I think of God I find myself much more at home with Eastern thought than with much of the Western Christian thinking. To me, God is what we live and breathe and have our being in as we move through life. Almost like the space that encompasses everything and we move though that space. In my class last week I found myself in the minority as I believe that nature of God changes. Not just our understanding of God, which does change and evolve, but God changes. If something isn't growing and changing then to me it is dying. As an artist it is hard for me to not think of what faith calls creation as something static. I know that the science tells us the universe is always expanding or contracting. It is still in the process of being created. I'm sure there are lots of scholars who would disagree with me, but that's okay with me. My ideas grow and change as I explore and experience the world around me.

In the four years I've been a part of the Education for Ministry classes my understanding and ideas and beliefs have continued to change and evolve. There are still times when I think, "Why do I believe the things I do? In the grand scheme of life does any of this really matter?"

I thought of my attending worship services with my family each Sunday. Asking to be forgiven for the things I did that I shouldn't have done and the to be forgiven for the things that I should have done but didn't. Also to forgive those who did things to me or should have done things for me. I thought about attending the Rotary meetings each Wednesday as we recite the Rotary four way test- "Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?"

One of the statements in the reading for this week states: " Some maintain that what we pray is what we do. Our work is our prayer and our prayer reflects our theology." My prayer is really a moment of shutting off the voice in my head and listening with my heart. Opening my heart to the world around me and its needs. As I think about my work I strive to live up to that idea, that the work I do during the week reflects my theology, my ethics and my integrity.
That's my 2 cents for a late Sunday evening.