Stone of Witness: Friday Five: Happy Places

Friday, November 9, 2012

Friday Five: Happy Places

RevKarla has posted a happy Friday Five:

Dearest RevGalBlogGals and Pals....

Yes, it's true, it's already the second Friday in November. Lot's has happened--horrible storms, the election, plus, whatever is happening in your own lives....

It's time to take a breather, and so, our Friday Five is to find your happy places, so that in spite of snow (here), in spite of it getting dark by 4 pm (here), in spite of (fill in the blank) you (I) remember the joyful sweetness of our lives!

Give us five "I haz a happy"s...... for your Friday Five. AND, bonus points for photos!!!!!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

1. I am so happy to be in a diocese and a parish where we really try to work out what it means to be Christian without having to kowtow to some overstuffed egos or fearful men just to do what is good.

2. I love our new house. We are still not completely settled. The garage is still full of boxes, but we are making progress to be be completely in hopefully by Christmas.

3. I have two happy beasts. Tyke and Bitty are happy with us. We are happy with them. They are NOT happy with one another. We have to moderate schism in our home but it is better than in the Church!

VS.

4. We have a new doctor, an osteopath. She is in a private practice in a small town outside of the city. She is a PK and values the simple things. Her waiting room is not a fancy place with furniture that I could never afford. And after my first appointment, my back feels better than it has in 5 years!

5. Retirement. I am finally beginning to slow down with my life. I have finally learned to enjoy waking up with only the computer or boxes to demand my time. Trying to develop friends that are not part of the Church, reconnecting with my family are the order of the day, not sermons, and hospital calls. I do enough in the parish to keep me happy and active but I am not in charge of anything. J. is beginning to make friends too. All are happy things.

2 comments:

altar ego said...: To which I say, Excellent! Sounds very happy, indeed. Praying for the cats.; November 9, 2012 at 2:18 PM
revkjarla said...: I very much like that retirement picture! thank you for your Happys!; November 9, 2012 at 4:57 PM

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Quotes

"Faith is different from theology because theology is reasoned, systematic, and orderly, whereas faith is disorderly, intermittent, and full of surprises.... Faith is homesickness. Faith is a lump in the throat. Faith is less a position on than a movement toward, less a sure thing than a hunch. Faith is waiting." Frederick Buechner “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said, I discovered the ministry of irritation.” Joan Chittister

Quotes

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.(Molly Ivins 1944-2007)

Dorothy Sayers (Creed or Chaos?)

Let us,

In Heaven's name,

drag out the Divine Drama

from under the dreadful accumulation

of slipshod thinking

and trashy sentiment heaped upon it,

and set it on an open stage

to startle the world

into some sort of vigorous reaction.

If the pious are the first to be shocked,

so much the worse for the pious

--others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them.

If all men are offended because of Christ,

let them be offended;

but where is the sense

of their being offended at something

that is not Christ

and is nothing like Him?

We do Him

singularly little honor by watering down

'til it could not offend a fly.

Surely it is not the

business of the Church

to adapt Christ to man,

but to adapt man to Christ.

Just Something to Think About...

"The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY). and...none of the six came from Jesus

"Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." - Karen Armstrong

"A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that?"

-Archbishop Oscar Romero

"If the truth be told, my attitude towards all gatherings of bishops is to avoid them. I have never seen a good outcome to any synod, or asynod which produced deliverance from evils rather than the additionto them … rivalries and manoeuvres always prevail over reason … and intrying to decide between others it is easier to get accused ofwickedness itself than to deal with their wickedness. Consequently Ihave withdrawn to myself. I consider retirement to be the only meansof saving my soul." Gregory of Naziansus (bishop, 4th century)

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY).