I have a garden!

My dream of having a garden in our backyard has come true! Over the last few weeks, I've been working on building beds, getting supplies together, and buying seeds. Now I have an L-shaped garden a foot and a half wide, each leg about 5-6 feet long. So far I've planted snow and snap peas, lettuce and spinach, and parsley. There's more to come... It's so exciting! But waiting for things to grow takes a lot of patience -- now that it's in the ground, I just want it to grow! Now! =)

tired

I went to bed last night feeling weary, tired, worn out, and not wanting to go back to work. That didn’t really change until the kids shows up for HW Club, which is ironic because that’s the part I was dreading…

I haven’t decided if I like the new hole in the wall yet, but it wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it might be. I actually left work feeling more awake and at peace than I had when I got there.

Tony Campolo

tonight Dan and I went to hear Tony Campolo speak at St. Joe’s Pro Cathedral. It was the annual Romero Center Peace & Justice Lecture. He talked (or preached, as it were) about the Christian call to build the Kingdom of God on earth and what that looks like. It’s a familiar message I’ve heard many times before, but he delivered it very well, with humor and animation.

It was funny to realize that I was the only one in my house who had heard of him before – he’s not Catholic… I was pretty impressed that the Romero Center got him as a speaker because he's pretty famous (in ceratin circles...), but then I learned that he was born and raised in Philadelphia and still lives and teaches there, so it probably wasn't too hard.

a series of unfortunate events, maybe

two unfortunate things happened at work this week while the kids were out on spring break.

1) we got a new internet provider and with it came new network firewalls, including facebook and chat. So, no more facebook during my lunch break or msn messenger…gchat still seems to work from my email page, though.

2) half the wall was taken out between the two classrooms. it’s a 4-foot wide doorway with no door. I’m worried it will leave me feeling more nervous and less free to do what I want…more evaluation from cindy, less courage for me…we’ll see what happens when the kids come back…

Triduum

Thursday evening I went to a Maundy Thursday service at Tioga UMC in North Philly. It was a cooperative service with St. George’s UMC and other UMC’s in the “Central Cluster”, which are all African-American congregations. Of the approximately 50 people there, I was one of only two white people in the congregation. The only others were the two St. George’s pastors and the pianist. It was a 7:00 service. It got under way at about 7:30. I didn’t stay until the end, because we were having a Seder meal at home, planned for about 8:30…well, I left the church at about 8:40, seeing that the service wasn’t going to end at least until 9. I couldn’t leave before that, because I had to stay for the foot washing – that’s the whole reason I went to the service! That’s my favorite thing about Maundy Thursday services. So I snuck out during the offering.

The Seder was nice. Megan did a good job of preparing the meal and leading us through an abbreviated version of it. We even included the Matzo hide-and-seek! =) And after we were done and we were still sitting there talking, I looked at the clock and discovered it was 11:30PM. Good thing we all had Friday off…

Friday morning I participated in the viacrusis with Sacred Heart parish in South Camden. It was cool. Each station was a place in the neighborhood where someone had been killed within the past 10 years or so. Fr. Doyle would explain who had died and how and then there’d be a scripture and response and prayer before we moved on. I helped Sean Dougherty (Patti’s boss) carry the cross between stations 9 and 10. I’d never had that experience before (never even been on a viacrusis before), so I was glad he asked. I shouldered it and he took the rear. It was heavy, and I got a sore shoulder, but it was bearable. Hard, but I didn’t mind – it was a good feeling.

In the evening I went to a tenebrae service at Grace Lutheran. It was exactly what I wanted and needed: calm, reflective, quiet, serious.

Saturday, appropriately, was dreary and rainy.

Sunday was cold and windy, but clear and sunny! I went to Chestnut Hill UMC for church. It was amazing to see the sanctuary practically full, and it felt awesome! There were at least twice as many people there as usual (like 60 instead of 30). It felt very homey, especially since they ended service with the choir singing the Hallelujah chorus, like Macalester-Plymouth* does. The format of worship was pretty standard and didn’t include anything radical, but the content was just as awesome as usual.

And in the afternoon, I started making a garden in my back yard…how appropriate for Easter!

*The church I attended Easter services at with my aunt and uncle in St. Paul, MN during college.

Good Friday reflections...

I have to say, I kind of like the character of Pilate in the Passion story, especially in John. He’s a state official who’s entrapped by the law and doesn’t have the courage to step out of his box. He does what he’s “supposed to do” and doesn’t feel like he has a choice – if he does otherwise, his career, his life, as he knows it, will be over. John shows better than the other gospels how pained and tormented he is at the thought of putting Jesus to death – this man who is quiet and humble and innocent and intriguing, who reveals the truth. “what is truth?” he asks… He likes Jesus and doesn’t want to have anything to do with his death. He tries to hand him back to the Jewish authorities, but they’re too concerned about Sabbath law to let themselves become unclean by killing him.

Pilate only gives in when they connect Jesus’ claim to be King to treason against Caesar, when they make it political. The poor guy, so trapped! in the system…like so many of us today… And I love how at the end he gets back at the Jewish authorities by writing “King of the Jews” in three languages on the sign and refuses to change it when they complain – so there!

So it’s Good Friday and Jesus has died. Been crucified for speaking a world-altering truth. Even if that’s where the story ended, it would be earth-shattering and transforming. That story could hold its own, with all the wisdom and teaching it contains. That’s how people who aren’t Christians read it, like Gandhi. So why do we need Easter? What does it add to the story that wouldn’t be there without it? I suppose Christianity might not exist if it did end there…hmm, have to think on that one…We don’t need Easter to tell us how to live – Jesus’ life and teachings do that. But we need it to give us hope and courage; to reassure us that we’re not alone, that it’s not a lost cause…