Bartimaeus

For spirituality night this week, we listened to and reflected on the bible passage in which Jesus gives sight to the blind Bartimaeus.
When Bartimaeus cries out “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus responds, “what is it you want me to do?” He answers, “I want to regain my sight”, and Jesus says, “Go, your faith has made you well.”

Inserting myself into the story, I realized I was identifying myself with the one being called upon for help. Children at work are constantly clamoring for attention and assistance. “Miss Autumn, Miss Autumn!” “What do you want? What do you need?” They are not nearly as articulate as Bartimaeus. And there was always a chance that the apparent need (sight) wasn’t actually what he wanted from Jesus. And the younger they are, the less likely it is that they even know what it is they need to be whole and happy. Even when they do know what they need and request it clearly, I don’t always know how to respond or have the ability grant their request. And sometimes I try but fail.

If only it were as simple and easy as it is in this story…

Kid Conflict

AG and JC have not been getting along for the past week. They just can’t seem to keep their hands (and feet) away from each other and picking on each other. I talked to A’s mom, and she thinks that the conflict might stem from jealousy issues over a common friend. The last couple of days, A has said some pretty mean things to J and hit her at least once. Today, she broke a crayon and said that’s what she wanted to do to J. When I try to talk her to about her rudeness, she says she doesn’t care.

Also today, JC was completely out of control, worse than the previous two days. She could not stay in one place for more than 5 or 10 seconds. She kept running about and flailing and kicking and yelling. And she would talk back to A. It was just too much so we called her parents in order to send her home, and then she cried for 10 minutes straight. She reported that someone told her she was annoying (A?) and it had obviously hurt her feelings, but my only response (which I of course refrained from saying out loud) was to agree: yes, you were really annoying today. Instead I just sighed and hugged her.

And now Cindy is rearranging the rooms again and taking all the younger kids (except E!) and giving me the older ones. It might be easier for me, but…I like the little ones even though they’re challenging. She didn’t ask me if I had any ideas or feelings about it. I want to have a conversation with A and J to help them deal with what’s going on between them, but now they’re both going to be in Cindy’s room…Hope she has fun with them! Ha. Ha.

ERLH Fall Festival

Whew, the Fall Festival is over – and it came off well. what a production!

It was fun and there were no big glitches; just some trouble with the cotton candy machine at first and running out of hot dogs and plates… The worst thing was being my feet for 7 hours straight: poor things were really tired at the end of the day.

The weather was great: a true northeaster fall day: partly cloudy, cold in the morning, beautiful, breezy, afternoon, around 60 degrees. I just wish I could have been more present and not running around so much. The kids had lots of fun with the bounce house, basketball shoot, face painting, pony rides and hay find, exploring the fire truck and ambulance, and eating sugary snacks (also including snow cones and pixie sticks…) – all for free.

Four of my housemates and 5 of the Philly JVs came and helped out, thank goodness, because we couldn’t have done it without them!

I hope you have the time of your life...

“When you have the time of your life doing what you’re doing, this has a way of calling forth the deeps in another person…You are not talking about “good news,” you are good news. You are the embodiment of the freedom of a new humanity.” –Gordon Cosby

Am I having the time of my life doing what I’m doing? No… Does that mean I’m not “good news”? am I “embodying my vision of a new humanity”? hmph. If I am at all, it is only to a limited and flawed extent…
How do I be the kind of person I want to be, how do I live the kind of witness I want my life to be? Why is it such a hard thing to do?
Maybe I can’t love what I’m doing right now, and that’s what I’ll learn about myself this year. but I hope I can love it more.
…the journey of self-discovery is not always smooth and painless…

Fall Retreat

Ah, retreat! What a joy to be out of the city, surrounded by trees and grass! We were so ready for this retreat. It was great to have other people to hang out with, talk to, and connect with; to discuss our challenges with and compare experiences with. And of course I enjoyed boating on the pond, hanging out at the campfire, and taking turns playing guitar and singing songs out of Rise Up Singing for a couple hours. The mass on Saturday night was very soul-filling. We sang some of my favorite music (Gather Us In and The Summons!) and the homily was energetic, intellectually stimulating, progressive, interactive, and had a radically inclusive message about the banquet table being open to everyone. I couldn't NOT take communion after that! It was the first time since joining JVC that I've actually taken communion at a Catholic mass.


The best thing, though, about reatreat was having 1-on-1 conversations with each of my community members. I’m glad that the two people I have the most difficult time talking to about issues are the ones that want me to talk and be direct with them. Having that request, I don’t have to hold myself back in fear of judgement. I’m looking forward to Disney singalong dishwashing nights with Patti. =) And to deeper connection with Tricia and yoga with the girls, and to exploring mass transit and Camden with Megan. We also had a really deep and honest community discussion on Saturday. It’s a relief to finally have had these conversations and feel like we understand each other a little bit better and re-commit ourselves to working on building a strong community.

Neighborhood Park

The park on our block has re-opened! Hooray! There was a big party to celebrate it, and it was great to be out there enjoying the beautiful day, live music, free food, art activities, etc. with so many people and families from the community. Here's an article about it from our regional newspaper, which includes pictures of my housemate Patti and our neighbors' family (Bob was pretty much in charge of the whole thing).

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200810050310/NEWS01/810050357

birthday pie

Thanks, Dad, for an amazing apple pie recipe! I had no idea pie crust could be so easy to make…Hopefully it wasn’t just beginner’s luck! Yay for fresh apple pie with ice cream. And yay for an abundance of apples and for birthdays and for how we all pitched in, schemed, and worked together to make it a special day for Tricia. =)

Rosh Hashana

I led us in a spirituality night last night based on the themes of Rosh Hashana. I found a large blue pillowcase to be our tablecloth and placed a glass bowl of water with a few rocks at the bottom in the center of the table and a candle at each end. It’s the Jewish New Year, so it’s about turning the page and new beginnings. I alternated some Julian of Norwich readings with a few songs (I played guitar!), focusing on the theme of repenting, casting our sins into the “river” and letting it wash them away, letting go of things that have been weighing us down, being made whole again, etc. We wrote these things down on slips of paper, wadded them up, and tossed them in the water. We closed with the traditional Rosh Hashana ritual of eating apples with honey – yum!