Sacred...but it sucks

(I apologize for the crude wording. I'm a product of my generation. I'll consider an edit before I use it from the pulpit.)

Sometimes the hardest, ickiest, most challenging work you do, whether it's home or career or church, is the most meaningful - the stuff that truly transforms you, those around you, and your systems.

That doesn't make it any less hard, icky, or challenging, though.

Well, maybe a little bit, if you realize how sacred it is while you're in the midst of it.

How are you a better person for doing something that, oh gosh, you really did not want to do?

Verklempt at GA

I walked in to the Opening Ceremonies frazzled and worn--it had been a long day, the third one this week. There was lots of new and lots of chaos. And you know -- I just wasn't feeling the spirit. I did a bit of networking and flipped through my program, trying to figure out what workshops look good for tomorrow. Tired. Bleh.

And then the Standing on the Side of Love posse walked in with their HUGE banner and the buttons to hand up up up the stands. And I cried a little. And we saw the banner for the Annapolis church (a flaming...crab) and I giggled a little.

And then Peter Mayer started Holy Now. I even knew it was coming AND have heard him perform it live before. And still, I was GONE. Tears running down my face, whispering along.

And then the folks from the various MN congregations? Oh, folks - if you were not there you need to watch the recording as soon as it comes up. People - that right there? That was my goals for my career and my religious community, up on the big screen.

Then more Peter Mayer, in multiple arrangements. MMmmmpf. Stick a fork in me - I'm done.

Minneapolis Gratitude Exercise #1

1) Friendly and helpful staff at hotels, restaurants, stores
2) Nicollet Mall is a great street to walk down, with lots of fun and beautiful things to see.
3) The SkyWalk is nice when it's suddenly hot and steamy and I'm not wearing as much sunscreen as I should be.
4) Having a fridge in both hotel rooms means I can bring home tasty leftovers and go to Kowalski's (grocery) for fruit and cheese and half and half.
5) Breakfast included at hotel #2 means I get to make myself a waffle in 6.5 hours.

Oops. I should probably get to sleep, so tomorrow I can include a gratitude statement about six hours of uninterrupted and comfortable sleep.

Oh gosh, I never answered the UU Salon question...

and I'm up to my neck in wonderful busy meetings and professional development and then taking on my very first General Assembly? And yeah, my hotel internet runs out in 12 minutes.

Oh, sweet friends, I'll just offer a song to feed the soul, ok?

(And that question is up at http://uusalon.blogspot.com/2010/05/june-big-question.html !)

Personal archeology

I'm clearing out the STUFF of my life. All the detritus that I sort through whenever I want to get to one specific something. I'm hopeful that this will save me time at some point, but for now, it's arduous and sweaty, sometimes anxious, often boring.

I collect cookbooks, but I make up recipes off the top of my head. Something there doesn't compute. So two big boxes out the door, handed off to friends who gleefully cracked them open and got to work.

This week my kids were roped into the struggle. (There was weeping about this NOT being a vacation for them...) Pulled all their books off their bookcase and asked which they wanted to keep...the others becoming a third grade library for a friend who'll return to the classroom in the fall. The kids had outgrown the majority of these books, and we hadn't really noticed. Hadn't taken the time.

Yesterday I finally gave in and emptied the large closet in our spare room. That's when it hit me - I was unpacking old versions of myself. Or scarier, old versions of my expectations of myself. Quilts I had started but not quite finished. Dried flowers--really? Was there ever a real plan, or just some idea that a suburban housewife would know to do SOMETHING with such things? Once I made that realization, it was much much easier to cull. I kept my sewing machine, four pieces of fabric (each with a specific project in mind), enough fiberfill to restuff some flattened pillows, and my mending box. Oh, and the glue gun, for the kids' class projects. One small box of stuff we might use for Sunday school, and all the rest we took to a center for artists. And now we have a mostly empty closet--welcoming for our guests, and a bit more breathing room for all of us.

Lighten my load...

Working toward credentialing as a religious educator, I've made a slightly ambitious goal of completing the basic reading requirements by the end of July. So I'm hunting down the last few books - the ones I haven't found in a church (or public) library, or in the hands of a friend.

One such friend is in seminary, so I wanted to see what overlap our lists might have. Not much, really. BUT -- holy cow, is a lot of the ministerial list available online in PDF form! Including a few of the books I need. So yippee - another five pounds I don't have to take on vacation!

(What can I say? I'm easily amused.)

Ministerial reading list: http://www.uua.org/leaders/leadership/ministerialcredentialing/16224.shtml

And the RE list:

http://www.uua.org/documents/recc/reading_list_annotated.pdf

Anyone know if those pursuing RE credentialing get the same 10% GA bookstore discount that aspirants and candidates get?

Loving the Internet...Let me count the ways...

No, I'm not actually going to count. But lately I keep noticing how internet makes my life happier.

Example: I've spent the past two weeks trudging through the print book of the Commission on Appraisal's Engaging Our Theological Diversity.

The commission did a lot of work. Surveys and talking sessions and lots of really good thought... and the book put me to sleep repeatedly. The content was excellent but...boggy. It could have been organized zap bing cool into a dynamic website - probably with ongoing opportunities for discussion?! Wild!!

(As far as I can tell, I'm the first person to read this book, a letter to the congregation still tucked inside the front cover...)

I'm still digesting any of a number of things I read, but the one that's stuck in my head right now is the idea of instrumental and terminal values - specifically in regards to community. Lots to think about there.

(I am doing a bunch of reading towards the credentialing process for Unitarian Universalist religious educators - if you'd like to know what that list looks like, check out

http://www.uua.org/documents/recc/reading_list_annotated.pdf )