Don’t flay the sheep.

End of the (B.C.) Era

I grew up with Johnny Hart: not just in the comic strips, but plastered on the signs for parks, transportation, and almost anything county-related in Broome County, NY. (Where else do you find cavemen used as a mascot for the county transit system?)

And, at Christmas and Easter, his B.C. comic strip was always a little (and usually a lot) religious.

I know that his religious strips occasionally caused some controversy, but I also admired that he was brave enough to say something about what he believed in.

And, he taught Sunday school for years in the Nineveh, NY, Presbyterian Church, using his gift to draw illustrations of what he was teaching in the classroom. Multiple intelligences learning before it was cool!

He was a great example of someone who was not ashamed of the Gospel, and not ashamed of his gift.

Johnny died on Sunday, at his drawing table.

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Vestee and Hedgehog

The vestee is done! One of my favorite knits ever…and Zora seems to like it, too! (By the way, this seems like an incredibly useful thing for a baby: the short sleeves mean it fits for a long time as arms grow, hoods for babies mean you always have hats, and I think the bamboo yarn is a good multi-season thing. Giant neck goes on easy.)

But, what is that purple fuzzy thing in her lap? Well, mama took a little knitting detour and made a hedgehog.

When does mama find the time?!?

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Holy Week, Batman! (RevGalBlogPals Friday Five)

My hairdresser asked me this week if Easter or Christmas is harder for ministers. I’d say Easter–more services, and when it’s over, everyone goes back to normal and expects you to be back in the office ASAP. (Than, she said, “Hey, what is Palm Sunday actually about?” I was in minister-heaven: laying back with my head wrapped in a warm towel, cucumbers on my eyes, explaining Palm Sunday to a willing listener. Aaahhh….

But, on to the Friday Five:

1. Will this Sunday be Palms only, Passion only, or hyphenated?

Hyphenated. After the children’s moment, the kids will be doing some complex marching moves around the back of the communion table, down one set of aisles, back around another set to the front, and then out the back to Sunday School. I’m in charge cause I’m the children’s pastor. I have visions of kids crashing into each other, but Pastor Carl assures me it works.

Then, we go into the sermon which is on John 19.

2. Maundy Thursday Footwashing: Discuss.

It’s one thing in a culture where it’s hot and dry-ish, sandals are the footwear of choice, so the major issue is dust. But in a given year we might still be dealing with heavy socks and shoes that don’t BREATH. And then, there’s the whole hosiery issue. Also, for the ticklish among us, it’s hard not to laugh.

How about saving it for a summer outdoor service? Or, as an addendum to the youth group carwash?

3. Share a particularly meaningful Good Friday worship experience.
I hate to cite myself as musician, but I will. Growing up, it was my job to play something like “Were You There” or “What Wondrous Love Is This” on the flute from the back of the dark church at the end of tenebrae services. In my Dad’s last church, there was a balcony, and I’d get up there a bit breathless and play it solo. And slow.

By the way, I’d HIGHLY recommend this. You can use a decent high-school or junior-high player, and it is lovely, and it is a great way to include some young people in worship leading!

4. Easter Sunrise Services–choose one:
a) “Resurrection tradition par excellence!”
b) “Eh. As long as it’s sunrise with coffee, I can live with it.”
c) “[Yawn] Can’t Jesus stay in the tomb just five more minutes, Mom?!?”

I’ll take (a). And I just realized: we don’t have one here. What will I do?

5. Complete this sentence: It just isn’t Easter without…

Ham. I don’t know where that comes from, but I need ham in some form later in the day. Maybe it’s some sort of twisted fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy: (Jesus is risen, we don’t have to keep Kosher, he is risen indeed!)
Bonus: Easter Vigil

I love it, and we are doing it for the first time here, although not too late. 6:00 dinner; 7:00ish bonfire in the parking lot; candle-floating in the baptismal font (nice imagery: being the light of Christ, reaffirming our baptism); communion standing belly-up to the table. Come join us if you’re in the Chicago suburbs!

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The other thing with the sheep

It’s time to revisit knitting. Sorry, theologians…

Here’s a list of what I’ve completed (or almost completed) in the last few months:

Christmas hats for cousins Jon (done by Christmas) and one for Jake (needs a seam yet…good thing winter comes every year!)

This dear hat for Zora (who figured out the week I finished it how to pull off a hat). My design, border taken from Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments. The picture doesn’t do it justice: it’s a wonderful green alpaca blend with some slightly tweedy color variation. The border is a pattern of overlapping leaves, and I put blue and lavender ribbons through a series of eyelets above the leaf-border.

Hand warmers for Erik, using bits and pieces of Noro that I had from other handwarmers. This is the first of the manly handwarmers, inspired by the womanly ones I’ve made my sisters. The pattern came from Knitting with Balls, a great read for women who knit for men.

A list of what I’m seriously working on:

My own handwarmers, finally. Pattern is Fetching from Knitty.com.

That stupid log cabin baby blanket that never seems to get done. I might just set it aside until I need a seriously mindless project.

A hooded, short sleeved pullover for Zora. The yarn is bamboo: who ever heard of that? And it’s the softest, nicest, drapiest stuff ever. I love the stripes I’ve put in. So far, doesn’t it look like something she should wear with little baby-All-Stars? It’s another Knitty pattern: Vestee.

And things that are coming down the pike:

Mittens for the woman at church who bid on them at the youth group silent auction in January. She wants something like these, but with some black in the color scheme. (Sad story about these mittens: I think they might be the best I’ve ever knit for myself. They’re the Lapp mittens from this book. But I lost ONE within the year I knit them. It’s harder to lose one than two because then you’ve got the one that’s left glaring at you. I probably need to try to recreate the mate for myself, but then I’ve got to find the yarn.)

Handwarmers for Justine, my sister Anna’s friend, who loves Anna’s so much that I offered to make her a pair if she buys me the yarn.

I just read two of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books, so I’m starting to think about the possibility of knitting one of her amazing, virtually seamless sweaters. Maybe for Zora first. Or, maybe the very cool Baby Surprise Jacket as a way to use up some odds and ends of blue yarn. I haven’t figured out yet if it’ll be too small for Zora, or how to modify the pattern to make it big enough for her.
But, I’ve also been waiting for a wonderful idea about how to use some gray and white rabbit yarn that Anna bought me. there;s not much of it, so I’ve been thinking about using it create a patterned border around the edge of an off white cardigan. But, the Elizabeth Zimmermann reading has me wondering about using it in a fair isle yoke design.

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Picking Through the Basement

You know what’s awesome about being pregnant? When you’re done being pregnant, for a whole year, you get to be surprised by your old clothes. I packed away my summer/spring clothes a year ago last fall, and I haven’t seen them since.

But now, we’ve got temps in the 70s. I know it won’t last, but I went to peek in the big box in the basement, and there’s some nice stuff down there.

Hello, favorite t-shirts. Buenas dias, Guatemalan wrap skirts! Ooh, the lime-green eyelet dress!
Yay! New clothes!

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Culinary Uber-Mama

If you’ll please allow me the self-congratulatory moment to bask in my mama-ness…

Today, I made Zora some gourmet baby food:

• Chicken, apples, and squash, with a little ginger and allspice
• Chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, green beans, with a dash of thyme
• (Both chicken concoctions were accompanied by home-made chicken broth)
• Spinach, potatoes, sweet potatoes

But before you get all jealous, you should also know that:

• My kitchen looks like a war zone
• Zora’s room is a mess, and it sure isn’t her fault
• I don’t think I have any clean underwear left
• I have 20 things to do tomorrow to get ready for Sunday
• I’m eating dinner at 8:30 in front of the TV

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Catchy blog title

True confession time:

Part of the reason my blog title has always been boring (just my name) is not just my conviction that it would be too hard to remain anonymous, so I might as well use my name.

It’s also that I could not think of catchy titles.

I covet the catchy titles of some folks:

Meika, who comes up with something clever, cute, and biblical.

Mary, known for her preaching, and already developing a good preaching following, and extremely clever.
Meg, whose title tells just a little bit (but what an intriguing bit!) about who she is.

And who can’t love Teri’s blog title,  which says it all about the pressure to have a clever title?
And then a few days ago, I thought about a previous post on a quote I came across:

boni pastoris est tondere pecus non deglubere
It is a good pastor who shears, not flays, the sheep.
Now, I know I don’t keep you up to date enough on my knitting. But it’s such a great quote–knitting, pastoring, etc. and I find the idea so helpful. I think the difference between shearing and flaying is one of the things I want (and need!) to learn well as a young minister.

So, what do you think?

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Homer Simpson and Leviticus 19

A few weeks ago, I was trying to catch up on my year-of-the-Bible readings. (About 130 of us at church have pledged to read through the Bible together this year.) So, I was reading Leviticus 19 before I went to sleep and, for some reason, thought of Homer Simpson.Actually, I know the reason. It was verse 19: “Do not mate different kinds of animals.” I thought, “Hmm…how could one violate that?” And then I remembered when Homer hatched the idea of mating the two family dog and family cat to create: “a miracle hybrid, with the loyalty of a cat and the cleanliness of a dog.”

And that got me thinking: how many of the 35 (by my count) regulations in Leviticus 19 has Homer violated?

15 minutes and peals of laughter later, Erik and I realized that Homer has come pretty close to violating the whole list. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to argue that Homer is a terrible guy. Actually, I think he’s one of the most honest characters on TV. He’s a great sinner, but he’s often sincere in his repentance, in his love for the people around him, and, though confused about how to go about it, he frequently seeks God.

But he definitely violates many rules along the way.
So, for those of you who care to continue with me, here are a few more I thought of. (Feel free to add if you can think of any…)

1. Verses 5-6 suggest that leftovers have a shelf life. Homer never met a moldy morsel he didn’t like.
2. Although the Simpsons don’t have a vineyard, Homer’s a plate-licking kind of guy. I can’t see him leaving the gleanings for the poor (verses 9-10), except maybe out of laziness.
3. Verses 11,12,13 include: lying, stealing, deception, profaning the name of God (“Help me , Jebus!”), defrauding your neighbor (poor Flanders). Check, check, check, check, and check.
4. Verse 16: Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life? Remember when Homer ducked in the stands at a race-car event, resulting in Mrs. Flander’s death-by-T-shirt-missile?
5. Verse 19 includes the wearing of mixed-material fabrics. Homer seems like a poly-cotton-blend kind of guy to me.
6. Verses 23-25: I don’t think Homer would have th self-restraint to wait that many years to eat from a special fruit tree.
7. “Have reverence for my sanctuary.” (Verse 30) Remember when Homer wins the church in a court settlement? Just a little defiling going on there.
8. Verse 32: respect for the aged? Just last week, Homer took is dad out of the old-folks-home as an early step in cutting back the family budget.
9. Verse 33-34, how to treat “aliens” living among you. Although he tries to do right, Homer’s treatment of Apu is somewhat lacking.

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RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: Matters of Taste

de gustibus non distbutandem est

I learned that Latin phrase before I took Latin (thanks, Dad).

But this Friday Five is tricky: I must hang out with a pretty homogeneous group. Five things I love that people around me don’t? How about a few that focus on me and Erik?

1. Nuts in brownies/banana bread/other baked goods: Love ‘em (not that I’ll refuse a brownie without nuts). My husband, not so much.
2. Running: I enjoy it enough to do it some. Can’t get my husband to join me.
3. Tequila: Margaritas are a truly great innovation. My husband dislikes tequila enough that he’ll avoid kissing me when I’ve been drinking one.
4. Camping/hiking: OK, I’m cheating a little bit here. I love these activities, and I’ve managed to surround myself with others who do. But I am always so amazed by the number of people I meet who seem perfectly normal and same until they reveal that they can’t STAND camping. What is wrong with them? I do still allow some of these folks to become friends.
5. Football: OK, cheating a little bit here, too, and switching the question around a bit. My husband loves to watch football. I say a prayer of thanks to God on Super Bowl Sunday because the season is over. I enjoyed going to high school games at my tiny little high school in upstate New York, but the amount of time it takes to watch a game on TV seems shameful to me, especially when you could just check the score after the whole thing is over.

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Alternate Spellings

My Sunday School kids illustrated postcards with “My favorite thing about Sunday School.” (The postcards are going out to all our members in as a reminder of our up-coming call-a-thon to recruit next year’s volunteers.)

Among my favorites: the alternate spellings for Bible. (And God bless the kids who put the Bible as their favorite thing.)

Bidle

Bidel

Bibbel

and the best one: Bibool

And then there’s one that I can’t figure out: A large, mean-looking fushia stick figure with some kind of pork-pie hat on is holding out an enourmous frying pan. Standing in the frying pan is…a turkey? And it looks like pink-meany is threatening two very frightened little brown stick figure with the frying turkey.

(Should I scan and post this, or would that be wrong since I don’t know what kid drew it and can’t ask for permission?)

I’ve never heard that particular Bible story before. Maybe it’s from the “Bibool.”

If anyone has any thoughts about this one, please let me know!

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