New Job

I haven't had time to post lately because I've started a new job. Those who read posts from 6 months ago or so know that I was job hunting for most of the spring and summer. I thought I would NEVER find a full time job. But, finally I got hired at the Episcopal Church Center. I am now the administrative assistant for the Office of Native American Ministries. I've just finished my first week of 9 to 5. I'm not terribly excited about working full-time, but I really like supporting the ministry with First Nations People. I think I'll learn a lot from this experiance.

For more info on my new office. Click here

A joyous journey through difficult times

Please welcome a new traveling companion. My friend, Carol, is on a difficult journey right now. She is facing the challenge of cancer and despite the fear and difficulty that that entails, she continues to radiate joy and love to all those who come to "comfort" her. It is a reminder to me that when we are reduced to our core we show who we truly are.

Please keep Carol in your thoughts and prayers. Visit her blog if you'd like to know her better and tell her I sent you.

We welcome our new Presiding Bishop

This weekend I attended the Investiture of the Twenty-sixth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The ceremony was amazing. It started with drumming and smudging by First Nations drummers and dancers. It continued with the passing of the pastoral staff from one Presiding Bishop to another and finished with a Eucharistic table served to thousands. Katherine Jefferts Schori was calm and graceful throughout the pomp and pagantry. At certain points there were eruptions of applause and cheering that seemed out of place, yet completely appropriate.

Our new Presiding Bishop preached a challenging sermon about the importance of home and peace.

That homecoming of shalom is both destination and
journey. We cannot embark on the journey without some vision of where we are going, even though we may not reach it this side of the grave. We are really charged with seeing everyplace and all places as home, and living in a way that makes that true for every other creature on the planet. None of us can be fully at home, at rest, enjoying shalom, unless all the world is as well. Shalom is the fruit of living that dream. We live in a day where there is a concrete possibility of making that dream reality for the most destitute, forgotten, and ignored of our fellow travelers – for the castaways, for those in
peril or just barely afloat on life's restless sea.

Read more here.

I was challenged by her message of journey and peace.

Recently we've been rethinking our plans for the future. There are ideas that have been growing in us that just can't be denied anymore. I don't know exactly where these ideas are taking us, but I know that it's important to explore them. I want to explore how I can be part of bringing peace and homecoming to my community - even if that means staying in the city instead of finding my own peace in a quieter place.

A Collect for Knitters

All Saint's Day November 1

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

As a knitter, this is one of my favorite collects. We are woven together and that means we are interdependent. You can't cut out a piece of knitting because it will unravel. The unity of the piece depends on every part of the thread being linked together. When a knitter makes a mistake, she must unravel all the knitting up to that point and fix the mistake. I know from experiance that's a painful event, but it's for the best. After the unraveling, the finished product is even more beautiful. This also happens in our communion, sometimes things that seem to cause us to unravel are actually opportunities to be reunited in an even stronger and more beautiful way.