The Monday evening before the start of General Assembly, I went out with my host Paula* in Ft. Lauderdale and a friend of hers, Bill*, in North Miami on Bill's four-seater boat, docked behind his house on a canal. It was very cloudy, and the coulds got darker while we were out. The travel advisory on his radio was telling everyone in our area to stay inside, and it was the case that almost no one else was on the water. We passed by very humble homes and estates valued in the tens of millions of dollars as we made our way out. At one point, the waters got very choppy, and it seemed it could rain any minute, big bucks of rain ... and then there were a few drops, and then ... nothing. our outing was about 45 minutes, but in the end, the biggest problem was (were?) the mosquitoes that bit at us as we were boarding. The sky was fantastic in its ominousness, though. I would share pictures, but I've misplaced the cable to download pictures from my camera to my computer. Once I can do that transfer, I will share some ...
Tuesday morning I out to Hollywood, where I was hosted by Miguel*, a native of Spain via Argentina. He has a beautiful hound named Segundo* who shared the guest room with me. I spent about all that day and evening getting set up for General Assembly, ironing my clothes, doing some cooking so there would be something to eat late nights when I came in. I cooked, in fact, the last of the kidney beans I brought back from the countryside of western Kenya, which had been grown and given to me by the mother of a friend born there. I claim her mother as one of mine now ... I made a vegan chili that turned out well.
Wednesday afternoon, I arrived a GA, which was in the convention center inside the Port Everglades. They make you show your government-issued ID to get in the port area and the center itself, only barely glancing at it -- a security measure that would seem only to detain those not bright enough to get fake IDs or to take the GA shuttle bus from the hotels, for which there was no security check upon disembarking. Anyway, I was glad to have a message from Kim, one of the members of Central Unitarian Church of Bergen County (NJ), for me posted on the message board. I met her at the volunteer office, and a little later, at the in-gathering for the Metro New York District, I saw her again, this time with Mary Fran, the President of the congregation. When I got me badge-necklace with "I (heart) Metro New York" all around it, it was a bit like arriving in Hawaii and receiving a lei. It seemed to say, "Welcome. You belong here with us now." I like that feeling.
Mary Fran, Kim and I dined at a very pleasant Thai restaurant a few blocks from the convention center, getting to know each other a bit and discuss the church. At the line-up for the Banner Parade, part of the opening of GA every year, I met Britt again. She's CUC's Director of Religious Education, and had been so friendly helping me get oriented when I preached there in March. Mary Fran and Kim carried the church's new banner in the parade. It was really something to see all of those banners from hundreds of congregations across the country passing through the midst of the thousands of people gathered. Churches can seem so isolated from each other at times, and this was a visible affirmation of the connection between them -- between us -- from coast to coast and beyond.
It was good to catch up with friends and colleagues, and to meet some new ones over the course of those five days. I enjoyed hearing the inspirational stories of the breakthrough congregation -- those that have experienced dramatic growth in recent years -- and attending the worship service, including the Service of the Living Tradition, which honors those transitioning into and out of professional ministry, and the large Sunday morning service. The biggest highlight this year for me was the Ware Lecture, this year featuring Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, Cal. He's doing tremendous work and has a powerful and prophetic vision of environmental advocacy as it relates to socio-economic justice. He challenged those of us gathered to prepare to lead, because in this transitional time in our country and in the world, when it's clear that we can't sustain the level of consumption and mindlessness that we've indulged in for the past few generations, the planet needs those of us who have been protesting "the system" to actually become part of the transformation of the system. He was funny, engaging, passionate, informed ... think a younger, hipper version of Barack Obama. In fact, the adulation of the audience at the end of his lecture Saturday night was not unlike what one sees at rallies where the Democratic Party nominee speaks.
I stayed up most of Saturday night packing. I left Miguel's condo at 5:00 a.m., the same time he did as he was heading out to work. I went to IHOP for breakfast off Rte 1, near the convention center, and found a quiet 3rd floor lookout point inside the center. I watched as the banners came down, noting that they really did bring an abundance of color, personality and softness to the otherwise sterile interior of the building.
Sunday afternoon, after worship and after an afternoon workshop, I drove from the convention center up to Palm Beach Gardens. My colleague Pallas was willing to put me up for the night, as she and her partner Lloyd are packing up to move to Santa Cruz. I helped stack and rearrange some of the boxes in their moving pod before she, Lloyd and I went for dinner at the Waterway Cafe, and she and I went for a walk on the beach nearby. She and I stayed at the home of a gracious friend of hers a few minutes away from her close-to-empty house, and Lloyd stayed behind. We're all back now. They are packing, and I'm about to get on the road to ... Savannah.
* pseudonyms
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Weeks 13 through 19: Thumbnail sketches!
For those of you who have been waiting on an update on this blog, thanks for your patience! I allowed myself to get quite behind. Part of it is that with all the possible bells and whistles that can be added (i.e., photos, links, videos), I found myself daunted by the idea of sitting down to pull all those components together. Technology is a wonderful thing, but I keep hearing Brother Thoreau saying, "Simplify, simplify." So that's what I'm doing now.
So, paying attention first to language to describe some of the highlights of the past seven weeks, here's what's quick and easy to share:
Week 13 of 26
May 5-11: The Search Is Over (New Jersey in the Fall)
On Saturday the 10th, I had a phone interview with the Interim Search Committee for the Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, New Jersey. At the end of the interview, they said they wanted to present me as their candidate for Interim Minister starting this fall. I gladly accepted, three months to the day I completed my last service at First Parish Arlington. The 10th also now falls almost exactly in the middle of my leave -- I will begin work August 15. Sunday afternoon, I made it down to the black sand beach for the weekly dancing and drumming circle, which is where this photo was taken from. There were about 200 people there, enjoying the waves, the music, the sun, the wind, the energy ... I realize that I'm in the midst of a loose tribe of people, brought together by different circumstances and at least some shared interests in this breath-taking location. Thinking about encroaching development, I wonder how long it will last, but it will always last, I think, even if seekers and dreamers have to find a new place to live simply in such natural beauty.
Week 14 of 26
May 12-18: Aloha, Hawaii - Aloha, San Francisco
I gave a reading at the Cafe at Kalani of material I'd been working on from the start of my two weeks there. I was most encouraged because some of the twenty-somethings among the 20 or so people gathered said that they were inspired themselves to put some of their reflections and experiences on the page. I went snorkeling for the first time Tuesday, and Wednesday, a friend and I went to where the lava field meets the ocean in Kalapana and up to Volcanoes National Park, in part to make beautiful offerings of fresh fruit and leis to Pele' and her sister, the goddess of the ocean. A glorious final day in Hawaii. Thursday was all day traveling, Kona to Honolulu, Honolulu to SFO. Stayed at the Fools Court of the Faithful Fools in the Tenderloin for a night, went and stayed with my late Uncle Bud's girlfriend in Oakland Friday night, then back at the Fools Court Saturday. Sunday morning, Alan, the friend who had made offerings with me in Hawaii, 
was back home in SF, and we went to Glide Memorial Church, a short walk from where I was staying. After the service, we went to Cafe Gratitude in the Mission -- highly recommended for all souls into spiritual affirmation, raw/low-heat delicious food, transformation and possibility. Later in the afternoon, I met one of Alex's friends, Todd, who lives in his own South of Market lighting/music studio. He asked me if I would like him to play something for me. I thought he was going to put something on the speaker system but instead he shared a lovely original composition:
Week 15 of 26
May 19-25: Home to Holly Springs/Return to the Big Easy
Up early in the morning Monday to make my flights, SFO to Denver, Denver to Memphis. My nephew picked me up and drove me to my mom's in Holly Springs. The moon was rising very big in the east (that's it in the middle of the image) as we were about to turn into the driveway. Friday, I took the bus from Batesville down to New Orleans to pick up my car from Alex. She was trying a new beautiful hairstyle and was settling into her new place of off Tchopochoulas on Harmony. Saturday, we go to an outdoor festival known as the Mid-City Bayou Boogie. It was extremely 
warm, and there wasn't much shade. I remembered that when my six-month break started, I was in the freezing cold of Cape Cod, with snow on the ground. In that moment, it seemed like a very long time ago in a place on another world. That evening we went to an ensemble performance at the Ashe' Cultural Arts Center. Sunday night, after dinner, we went for a humid, mystical walk on the Meditation Path under luminous moonlight in Audubon Park.
Week 16 of 26
May 26 - June 1: Remembering and Speed Racing
Monday, Alex made breakfast, and played Quincy Jones' A Soulful Messiah. It was an occasion to reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day and shed tears for war-dead men and women, and those in harm's way now, and martyrs like Medgar Evers and Dr. King, with a prayer for Barack and Michelle Obama. The IMAX theatre showing Hurricane on the Bayou was closed, so instead went to see the latest Indiana Jones movie ... it was entertaining enough, and we were both glad to be in an air-conditioned building. I got up very early Tuesday and drove back to Holly Springs, and went straight to lunch with Ricky, my old grade school pal who now lives in Wareham, Mass.
Saturday, I went out to Millington, Tenn. where the Memphis NASCAR track is. About a dozen laps around the track was my cousin's gift for her husband for his 50th birthday, and he seems to have enjoyed it a lot. He had three bonus laps that he gave to me. I rode with an experienced driver, who went 100-105 mph in the straight-away, and 85-90 in the cuve. Exhilarating. Like skydiving, it wasn't high on of my lifetime to-do list, but when the opportunity presented itself, I rolled with it. Glad I did. Went to my brother Edwin's church in Oxford Sunday.
Week 17 of 26
June 2 - 8: Letting Go, and a Close Call
Much of these days were spent working with my mother on clearing out some of the many possession she accumulated over the past 50 years of living in the home she and my father made together. We discarded several very large garbage bags full of stuff, from the back porch, the kitchen cabinets, a closet, the freezers ... I felt some what nostalgic especially when we got to the travel souvenirs, but we kept pushing through. I went to my childhood ophthalmologist to get a prescription for new eyeglasses and see what could be done about the irritation in my eye Friday in Memphis. Saturday morning, we got word that my niece, Joani, who is expecting her first child in July, and her boyfriend were in a car accident caused by an unlicensed and uninsured fellow motorist in Memphis. My mother, aunt and I went over to the Med to see her in the afternoon. She was shaken up and bruised, but thankfully nothing was broken and the baby is fine, though they kept her in for observation for four days.
Week 18 of 26
June 9-15: Seeing Clearly, Remembering and Renewing
We went back over to the Med in Memphis to see Joani Tuesday. She was sitting up and the neck-brace she was wearing before was off. She expected to be released as soon as the doctor came and gave her the all-clear, and within a few hours, she was out of there. We are all very glad for that. Friday afternoon, I went to a mall in Memphis to get fitted for and order my new glasses. Once back in town, Mother and I drove over to the football field for Relay for Life, an American Cancer Society community event, that is brilliant in its design. It brings people together to raise money and awareness of cancer, while commemorating those loved ones lost to the disease. Mother bought memorial candles (put in paper bags with the names of the deceased) for my dad, her parents, and her brother. I was heartened because I could see the generations passing, and people coming together across black and white lines in my hometown, which has so much racialized tension woven into its history. I think my dad would have been very happy for to see this annual event is thriving.
Week 19 of 26
June 16 - 22: On the Road Again -- Beinvenido Fort Lauderdale
I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat Pray Love. I can see why so many people recommend it and enjoy it. At the top of the week, it was getting to be time for me to pull up from Mississippi and start making my way down to Ft. Lauderdale for General Assembly. I thought I would come back to Mississippi after it was over, but I knew what actually made sense was to keep going up from there to New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Fortunately, my glasses were ready in short order, and I picked them up Wednesday. I washed clothes Thursday and helped Mother get her organize a few last things, and then Friday I was back on the road. I stayed overnight with a friend in Chattanooga, then drove down to Atlanta and gave my new Godmother a ride to a luncheon she was going to (our only chance to visit), and got on down to Orlando by sunset Saturday. I had a great 12 hours there, before getting up and driving down to Ft. Lauderdale. I went to worship with the friend I was staying with, and the speaker that morning was actually someone I met through my younger brother Lee, who used to live in South Florida years ago. Tiny, tiny little world. Last night, my host, a very strong environmentalist, took me with her as she went to monitor loggerhead turtles hatching and making their run for the sea. It was a nest that had already hatched 15 the night before, but Sunday night, there were two more! What a holy sight to witness. They seem to have been
thrown off by the (unlawfully) illuminated crown of a tall building about a mile away ... they instinctively follow the light of the moon to the ocean, and can be misled by man-made lights. So MaryBeth had to pick them up eventually and put them on the right path to the ocean. When they get close enough, the tide caught them and carried them away. Only one in a thousand live to be adults. Bye, bye, little turtles! May you be the ones that live long and prosper!
So, paying attention first to language to describe some of the highlights of the past seven weeks, here's what's quick and easy to share:
Week 13 of 26
May 5-11: The Search Is Over (New Jersey in the Fall)
On Saturday the 10th, I had a phone interview with the Interim Search Committee for the Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, New Jersey. At the end of the interview, they said they wanted to present me as their candidate for Interim Minister starting this fall. I gladly accepted, three months to the day I completed my last service at First Parish Arlington. The 10th also now falls almost exactly in the middle of my leave -- I will begin work August 15. Sunday afternoon, I made it down to the black sand beach for the weekly dancing and drumming circle, which is where this photo was taken from. There were about 200 people there, enjoying the waves, the music, the sun, the wind, the energy ... I realize that I'm in the midst of a loose tribe of people, brought together by different circumstances and at least some shared interests in this breath-taking location. Thinking about encroaching development, I wonder how long it will last, but it will always last, I think, even if seekers and dreamers have to find a new place to live simply in such natural beauty.Week 14 of 26
May 12-18: Aloha, Hawaii - Aloha, San Francisco
I gave a reading at the Cafe at Kalani of material I'd been working on from the start of my two weeks there. I was most encouraged because some of the twenty-somethings among the 20 or so people gathered said that they were inspired themselves to put some of their reflections and experiences on the page. I went snorkeling for the first time Tuesday, and Wednesday, a friend and I went to where the lava field meets the ocean in Kalapana and up to Volcanoes National Park, in part to make beautiful offerings of fresh fruit and leis to Pele' and her sister, the goddess of the ocean. A glorious final day in Hawaii. Thursday was all day traveling, Kona to Honolulu, Honolulu to SFO. Stayed at the Fools Court of the Faithful Fools in the Tenderloin for a night, went and stayed with my late Uncle Bud's girlfriend in Oakland Friday night, then back at the Fools Court Saturday. Sunday morning, Alan, the friend who had made offerings with me in Hawaii, 
was back home in SF, and we went to Glide Memorial Church, a short walk from where I was staying. After the service, we went to Cafe Gratitude in the Mission -- highly recommended for all souls into spiritual affirmation, raw/low-heat delicious food, transformation and possibility. Later in the afternoon, I met one of Alex's friends, Todd, who lives in his own South of Market lighting/music studio. He asked me if I would like him to play something for me. I thought he was going to put something on the speaker system but instead he shared a lovely original composition:Week 15 of 26
May 19-25: Home to Holly Springs/Return to the Big Easy
Up early in the morning Monday to make my flights, SFO to Denver, Denver to Memphis. My nephew picked me up and drove me to my mom's in Holly Springs. The moon was rising very big in the east (that's it in the middle of the image) as we were about to turn into the driveway. Friday, I took the bus from Batesville down to New Orleans to pick up my car from Alex. She was trying a new beautiful hairstyle and was settling into her new place of off Tchopochoulas on Harmony. Saturday, we go to an outdoor festival known as the Mid-City Bayou Boogie. It was extremely 
warm, and there wasn't much shade. I remembered that when my six-month break started, I was in the freezing cold of Cape Cod, with snow on the ground. In that moment, it seemed like a very long time ago in a place on another world. That evening we went to an ensemble performance at the Ashe' Cultural Arts Center. Sunday night, after dinner, we went for a humid, mystical walk on the Meditation Path under luminous moonlight in Audubon Park.Week 16 of 26
May 26 - June 1: Remembering and Speed Racing
Monday, Alex made breakfast, and played Quincy Jones' A Soulful Messiah. It was an occasion to reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day and shed tears for war-dead men and women, and those in harm's way now, and martyrs like Medgar Evers and Dr. King, with a prayer for Barack and Michelle Obama. The IMAX theatre showing Hurricane on the Bayou was closed, so instead went to see the latest Indiana Jones movie ... it was entertaining enough, and we were both glad to be in an air-conditioned building. I got up very early Tuesday and drove back to Holly Springs, and went straight to lunch with Ricky, my old grade school pal who now lives in Wareham, Mass.
Saturday, I went out to Millington, Tenn. where the Memphis NASCAR track is. About a dozen laps around the track was my cousin's gift for her husband for his 50th birthday, and he seems to have enjoyed it a lot. He had three bonus laps that he gave to me. I rode with an experienced driver, who went 100-105 mph in the straight-away, and 85-90 in the cuve. Exhilarating. Like skydiving, it wasn't high on of my lifetime to-do list, but when the opportunity presented itself, I rolled with it. Glad I did. Went to my brother Edwin's church in Oxford Sunday.Week 17 of 26
June 2 - 8: Letting Go, and a Close Call
Much of these days were spent working with my mother on clearing out some of the many possession she accumulated over the past 50 years of living in the home she and my father made together. We discarded several very large garbage bags full of stuff, from the back porch, the kitchen cabinets, a closet, the freezers ... I felt some what nostalgic especially when we got to the travel souvenirs, but we kept pushing through. I went to my childhood ophthalmologist to get a prescription for new eyeglasses and see what could be done about the irritation in my eye Friday in Memphis. Saturday morning, we got word that my niece, Joani, who is expecting her first child in July, and her boyfriend were in a car accident caused by an unlicensed and uninsured fellow motorist in Memphis. My mother, aunt and I went over to the Med to see her in the afternoon. She was shaken up and bruised, but thankfully nothing was broken and the baby is fine, though they kept her in for observation for four days.
Week 18 of 26
June 9-15: Seeing Clearly, Remembering and Renewing
We went back over to the Med in Memphis to see Joani Tuesday. She was sitting up and the neck-brace she was wearing before was off. She expected to be released as soon as the doctor came and gave her the all-clear, and within a few hours, she was out of there. We are all very glad for that. Friday afternoon, I went to a mall in Memphis to get fitted for and order my new glasses. Once back in town, Mother and I drove over to the football field for Relay for Life, an American Cancer Society community event, that is brilliant in its design. It brings people together to raise money and awareness of cancer, while commemorating those loved ones lost to the disease. Mother bought memorial candles (put in paper bags with the names of the deceased) for my dad, her parents, and her brother. I was heartened because I could see the generations passing, and people coming together across black and white lines in my hometown, which has so much racialized tension woven into its history. I think my dad would have been very happy for to see this annual event is thriving.
Week 19 of 26
June 16 - 22: On the Road Again -- Beinvenido Fort Lauderdale
I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat Pray Love. I can see why so many people recommend it and enjoy it. At the top of the week, it was getting to be time for me to pull up from Mississippi and start making my way down to Ft. Lauderdale for General Assembly. I thought I would come back to Mississippi after it was over, but I knew what actually made sense was to keep going up from there to New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Fortunately, my glasses were ready in short order, and I picked them up Wednesday. I washed clothes Thursday and helped Mother get her organize a few last things, and then Friday I was back on the road. I stayed overnight with a friend in Chattanooga, then drove down to Atlanta and gave my new Godmother a ride to a luncheon she was going to (our only chance to visit), and got on down to Orlando by sunset Saturday. I had a great 12 hours there, before getting up and driving down to Ft. Lauderdale. I went to worship with the friend I was staying with, and the speaker that morning was actually someone I met through my younger brother Lee, who used to live in South Florida years ago. Tiny, tiny little world. Last night, my host, a very strong environmentalist, took me with her as she went to monitor loggerhead turtles hatching and making their run for the sea. It was a nest that had already hatched 15 the night before, but Sunday night, there were two more! What a holy sight to witness. They seem to have been
thrown off by the (unlawfully) illuminated crown of a tall building about a mile away ... they instinctively follow the light of the moon to the ocean, and can be misled by man-made lights. So MaryBeth had to pick them up eventually and put them on the right path to the ocean. When they get close enough, the tide caught them and carried them away. Only one in a thousand live to be adults. Bye, bye, little turtles! May you be the ones that live long and prosper!
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