Building Up the Kingdom

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it takes to build up the Kingdom of God…  we get busy, stressed by the day-to-day demands of life.  Then we forget or make and excuses. We don’t pray enough!

Everytime we turn to God in prayer with reconnect… even if in some small way. Perhaps just for the briefest moment.

And when we are in prayer we are taking time to build up the kingdom… to continue what Jesus began on the Easter morning some 2,000 years ago. The Kingdom isn’t tomorrow–it’s TODAY!  Workers are needed.

Are you one of them?

The line of those waiting to pay their respects winds along the porch then down the handicapped ramp well onto the sidewalk. A Town Supervisor, brother, but first… a son.

I only knew John through the eyes of his mother, a coworker and colleague. But what I “saw” through her eyes were these: love, pride… and after the diagnosis – concern blended with a mother’s unshakeable optimism. The news of her son’s sudden passing touched all of us so deeply.

And so here tonight in the damp coolness of this late October evening we wait to both honor John’s life and support Diane. Our words are small consolation, to be sure. Nineteenth century American Unitarian clergyman, educator and author of a great many religious poems, Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, answers our need for words in The Mother’s Song:

Sleep, my infant, sweetly smiling,
Rest thee from thy hour of play.
Thy soft breath, my heart beguiling,
Soothes me on life’s toilsome way.
Safely sleep, my arms enfold thee,
Danger, care, thou canst not know,
While a mother’s eyes behold thee,
Safe thy bounding steps may go.

Thou may’st miss my glance to-morrow,
On thy path, my blooming boy!
Soon may come a night of sorrow,
Closing o’er thy day of joy.
But wilt thou be friendless? Never!
While thy Father reigns above.
He will guard thy steps forever,
Friend of innocence and love.

Sitting here at the Townsend Street Market grabbing one of their fabulous “pepper steak, peppers, onion, cheese” subs. Hot, delicious and fresh…

I’m throwing a few more colories into this 59 year old frame–don’t ride as well when I’m doing the longer distances without a couple of days of extra carbs. Ahhh…

Doing shorter, more immediate posts these days. Surrounded here by the deli’s windows with a dozen wi-fi access points… half of them wide open (a trusting, rural neighborhood?). No problem tapping out this missive while I munch, then voilà!, out to the clouds.

Let’s hope the real clouds aren’t in abundance for tomorrow’s ride!

Year 2 for the “Priest & Deacon Convocation” here at the Edgewater in Alexandria Bay, NY. A “sell-out crowd” according to one of our veteran diocesan priests.

Gathering here with the vast majority of our ordained clergy affirms our shared community. Morning and evening prayers… our daily eucharistc celebrations… in prayer our dedication to Jesus, church–the people we serve-is stregthened.

Convocating: gathering with purpose, confidence in our shared ministry and mission.

For a few weeks I’ve been bemoaning the time to sit down at the keyboard and write a post. Oh, Tim! You’re so slow to think “outside the box”!

Thanks, B.A. for the Twitter follow–got me to acting, instead of feeling sorry for time lost because of my own inflexibility… so, a “tweet” since 9:00AM and this brief post.

All on the iPod Touch, on found Wi-Fi. Cool!

Earlier today I thought, “Carpenter… Joseph… Jesus were carpenters.  They made useful items with tools and the skill of their hands.”  What a positive connotation the word “carpenter” has.  Until you juxtapose it with an insect:  ants.  Carpenter Ants!

Over 30 years ago we carefully constructed a grape arbor on the back of our large garage.  In that time, we’ve enjoyed some delicious Concord grapes and used the area under the grape arbor for everything from a small garden, to a dog pen… to storage.  A damp, shady environment–and over time, a perfect home for carpenter ants.

Well, when Loretta and Brian tackled the job of completing the sheetrock, mudding and painting inside our garage, they encountered the carpenter ant nest… and found hundreds of the tenancious critters.  Within a week we called in the Erlich guys to nuke the nest and then began the tedious process of removing our 10″ cedar siding (carefully so it can be reapplied) and stripping out the rotted timbers and channeled wood caused by the infiltration of water in the wall and the activity of the ants.

It’s turned into a BIG project, but as you can see in the hyperlinked photo album, we’re making great headway. Here’s hoping that within the week we’re all sealed up again and the ants… the few that are hiding out… are dead and gone!

Donnie…  A friendly, bear of a man.  Italian to the bone with a heart… a heart that is big enough to totally surround you with love.

When Donnie and I first met–both of us in the 20+ weeks of Pastoral Prep Classes–he must have asked me every question about the Deacon Formation Program in the diocese that he’d ever had! No problem… I was more than willing to share.

He’s now less than a year away from ordination.  I know he’s ready:  I can hear it… no feel it when we talk.  What a permanent deacon he will be!  Even though he was two years behind me in the “1st Year Class”, he was light years ahead of me in thinking about his call to vocation.

Donnie wrote a very moving note to “His Band of Brothers” a year ago. I was just a month away from my ordination and thinking about all that lay ahead.  When I received his note, his words moved me:  both emotionally and physically.  Within a day or two of Donnie sharing his experience, I put together my “Deacon Kit”.  I carry it with me all the time.  It has everything that he mentioned, and more…

Thanks to Donnie for letting me share this.  Post a comment or drop me an e-mail. I’ll share it with Donnie and with his class.

LINK:  Are you ready and are you prepared?

Scavengers… that’s really all they are.  A sesame seed here, toast crumb tumbling to the ground there–but the tweets!  Ah, if it weren’t for the chirping, tweeting descent by wings so animated and lively;  well, if not for that, perhaps I’d put my foot down.  But how could I?

These sparrows of the street, in hopping clusters around the legs of the cafe table outside, know an easy eat.  And so they scavenge…  no, “clean up”, I guess.  Are they really any different than the lumbering street cleaner polishing the granite curbs along Main Street as I drove into town this morning?

————-

Gospel Hill Road received a fresh coating of oil and stone the other day.  Of course, it’s a way to seal the road, but that “like new” look lasts but just a few days.  I missed the event, since I was at work, but the job certainly was done by far fewer than 6,000 men, unlike the boulevard reconstruction above in San Francisco, circa 1933.

And yet, musing over  R. T. Smith’s poem, Scavenging the Wall, poked a bit at some themes rattling around in the hollow cavity on my shoulders.

So I gathered
what I could, scooped them into the bed

and trucked my freight away under birdsong
in my own life’s autumn.

“Life’s autumn”… yes, that’s it. And the sparrows…  still singing, still scavenging.

Oh, how we strive for perfection!  And how we fall short …

Since February, I’ve been snatching an hour here, an hour there…  transforming my “office” into a true study – “A Country Deacon’s Study”.  My vision is one of a space with my books and reference materials close at hand.  The hand written Book of Gospels in a place of honor and of true utility.  A space that also incorporates my tiny Mac Mini hidden away in a twenty-something year-old pine combination typing/file cabinet from Yield House that only surrenders a hint of its technology innards with a modest flat panel display on top.  Firewire external hard drive, Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse all tucked inside by the mini…

But what a time undoing the old office in which “technology” spilled from every corner of the room!  It’s at times like these that I wonder if it’s all worth it–the technology, I mean.  iPod Touch, HDTV, Blu-Ray, streaming audio through the Squeeze Box… for starters!

And so I gingerly pick through the technology heap:  ancient HP all-in-one to the landfill…  DSL modem and Xincom Dual-WAN IP gateway up to the shelf in the closet…  Mac mini on a card table for now while the Yield House cabinet gets a retro to hold the tech stuff.

If it weren’t for the welcome 20 minute break for vespers… the thought of HIS incredible love for us on this eve of the Solemnity of The Most Sacred Heart… if not for this…  Thank you, Lord, for showing us that while perfection may be our goal, that it is only in loving you that we approach true simplicity, humility and peace.

And so the adventure begins…

Our youngest daughter “landed” in Maine last week after a 470+ mile drive from Gospel Hill.  Her new home for the summer? Edgewater Farm, working as a “Willing Worker On Organic Farms”…  a WWOOF’er in the lingo of the nearly 40 year-old organization.

According to owners, Bill and Carol Emerson, the “Edgewater Farm B&B is located on four acres of perennial, herb, fruit tree and vegetable gardens.”  Sounds beautiful… a great place to begin a WWOOF’ing experience.

And the willing workers at the Edgewater Farm aren’t just WOOF’ers.  The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association connects those who want to learn more about organic farming through their “Farm Apprenticeship” program.  According to our daughter, several of the workers are sponsored by MOFGA.  Networks for promoting organic, sustainable agriculture have truly taken hold locally, nationally and world wide.

WWOOF is a world wide network that began in the UK in 1971 and is now an international movement:  “helping people share more sustainable ways of living.”  WWOOF is an exchange:   volunteers help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles.

Our oldest daughter and her husband introduced our family to WWOOF several years ago when they met a young couple from Japan who were “WWOOF’ing around the world”.  A great pair who basically dedicated a year of their lives to seeing the world, while exploring the incredible diversity of organic farming.  And along the way, making lasting relationships and planting ideas for others to cultivate. Later this year, our daughter and son-in-law will be flying to Japan to vacation with them.  And so the adventures continue…