Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 77

Today's Daily 5:

1. Spending some time at church this morning chatting with my former roommate J and her husband
2. "Mighty to Save" and "God of this City"
3. Listening to T preach on the reformation
4. a couple of honest conversations with people who've known me forever at the church today
5. funny youtube videos
6. reading on the bus for a few hours again
7. the moment when the sun finally came out from behind the clouds
8. treating myself to fast food
9. laughing still over some emails
10. watching episodes of Grey's
11. praying friends
12. a "non-traditional" friendship, and the laughter and encouragement it has brought to my life
13. a relatively peaceful halloween
14. grace
15. big realizations about caring for myself

Re-formation

It's time for the post I seem to write every year on October 31st.
The "I celebrate Reformation Day and not Halloween" post.

So, let me start here - last year a friend of mine who is Catholic informed me that she really didn't appreciate Reformation Day any more than Halloween.  I believe her reasoning was something along the lines of "why celebrate the beginning of truly incredible schisms and disunity in the body of Christ?"

Fair enough.

To be honest, I think that's maybe a good point.

But it's not so much the great schism that I think about on this day, but the idea of being reformed.  Re. Formed.

Made again.

Made new.

This year especially, after all of the changes that have come, after finding my life entirely deconstructed and myself duckless, I am enamored with the idea of being re-formed and made new.

I think about this every year on the eve of my healing anniversary anyway.  Because if there was ever a day that was one of reformation, that day was it.

So today I'm thinking about being made new again.  It's not a new theme, really.  The idea of rebirth, of practicing resurrection has been coming up constantly for the last few weeks.  And I'm pausing today to think about it.

That said, the history geek in me thoroughly enjoyed hearing my baby brother preach on the reformation, and being people of the book and being made new this morning.  I don't often go to dad's church on Sunday mornings these days, but I did today, to hear my brother speak.  The part of my heart that loves the universal church, the Catholic church, celebrated that he didn't focus on the schism, but challenged the congregation to ponder whether they were still being reformed by their time in the scriptures.

The part of me that is a history geek, and spent four years getting a degree in church history, focused primarily on the church in the reformation period, though, had to laugh when he stopped by this afternoon and made sure to show me a funny youtube video on the reformation that he had come across while researching for his sermon this week.

And so, as I pause to consider being made new, I'm also laughing at this humorous retelling of history in polka form.



I don't really "celebrate" reformation day any more than halloween.  But I do want to continue to stop and ask Jesus to be making me new.

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 76

An introduction to the daily 5 can be found here.

Today's Daily 5:

1. Hemp limp balm from the Body Shop
2. Watching a behind the scenes cooking show about Disneyland.  This I wouldn't have cared about before I went to California, besides finding it mildly interesting.  But, after touring my friend LP/CA's favorite escape, and hearing all her tidbits of behind the scenes trivia, it was totally fascinating to watch the show today, and made me laugh.
3. spending several hours on various random buses, reading.  I decided that taking a few different bus routes around the city for about three hours this afternoon would be the perfect way to accomplish some reading I needed to do, as well as be out and about a bit, and enjoying the sun.  it was lovely, and may become a regular feature of my Saturday routine.
4. Sunshine.  It wasn't warm today, really, but the sun was out, and there wasn't snow, and after this grey week, the sun was a lovely blessing
5. Allaying a fear
6. An appointment this morning that was good
7. Stopping at the Farmer's Market - good smells, bright colors, happy people, fresh food
8. getting a few necessary errands done
9. Some serious out loud laughter over emails traded with friends today
10. buying new slippers
11. eating a lovely meal for supper that I purchased at the farmer's market
12. Food Network - hey, a girl needs her escapist television, and some of my favorites involve food that looks so beautiful that I want to taste it, even if it's filled with stuff I would never eat in real life.
13. enjoying the book I was reading
14. bus connections that went smoothly
15. having a good day after a really rough night

A Few Links

I loved this brief post from Seth Godin:  Just Because He's Angry

And I loved this post from Christianne at Lilies Have Daydreams today.  I know this space she talks of, and today it encouraged me to reframe it as a place of having a heart that is tender, rather than one in pieces all over the floor.

Bus rides

I have a regular Saturday appointment on the opposite end of the city from where I live. It means that I spend at least two hours of most Saturday's on the bus.

This particular bus is always an experience. My favorite part is when, on the way north, we reach one particular stop in China Town. There is this sudden influx of very elderly Chinese women. The very air changes. What was a quiet ride is now filled with is suddenly filled with chattering in a foreign language, and the bizarre clash of cultural experiences nearly always makes me want to laugh.

There is "white people" bus etiquette. If there is an empty bench seat, take that one, not the one that already has someone sitting in it. Don't shout across the bus - stand or sit near the person you're talking to. Talk in low tones.

All of these "rules" go out the window when the bus hits China Town.

And the sudden mixture of cultural norms simultaneously makes me uncomfortable and happy. Because, on this bus, on the way to and from my appointment, I am reminded of the world I fell in love with, and I'm fascinated by and pray for the people and cultures I encounter.