Extreme Speed Lawn Scrabble

Extreme: You have to run to get the tiles.

Speed: Speed Scrabble rules, with some accessories.

Lawn: 8.5x8.5 Tiles played outside on the lawn.

What You Need:

• Large Scrabble Tiles.  Several Pinterest sites have plans for wooden planks.  I used cardstock with paperclips.  Thanks be to God for a low wind evening.   I am guessing if you wanted to invest a bit of money (but not spend time with a saw bench) you could make the squares out of that foam paper stuff.
• Lawn
• Maybe Bibles, Prayerbooks...
• Maybe smart phones.

How many tiles do you need and how are the points assigned? You can find lists of how many of each letter you need here.

How Do You Play?

• Divide into no more than four teams of people.  
• Tiles are spread out face down in one area at a far end of a lawn.  If this is far enough away it could be a mad dash with some hilarity.
• Standard scrabble formation rules apply.  However, I added a rule that they could use the names of biblical books even if they were proper names.  So, Ruth yes, Mary, no. 
• Words could be found using smart phones and justified using smartphones and standard dictionary sites. 
• Speed Scrabble involves no playing board and making a formation of words with the letters you have.  When your team has used all of their letters then someone says GO! and then all teams have to go get another letter(s).  Each time a team has placed all their letters in a formation this repeats until all the tiles have been claimed.  With two teams I had them claim two letters each time a team yelled Go!  
• If all teams are stuck with extra letters during the course of the game they can agree to 'dead' and everyone goes to get another tile.  
• Once all tiles have been claimed the first team to complete a formation of words 'wins' and gets 10 extra points.  All teams then add up their scrabble points and discover the final winner.

Other complicating additions to try: 

• You could place the titles face up so there is more competition for certain letters.
• You could insist that there must be one religious word (God, Church, Mission).
• You could make rules for trading of letters instead of new letters when in the 'dead zone'.   

Merry ole...week one done

Catching up...

After several lovely days in Cambridge it was time to go north.  The author of the Wicked books most certainly borrowed from the sights and names of the Lake Country.  Ulswater and the Cumbric witch and so on. 
If you like dogs, I recommend Keswick (do not say the w).  If you are allergic, I might suggest an alternate plan.  If you like walking and hiking, even in a downpour, then please take your trip.  The funny thing is how few folks smile while making these adventures.  Hundreds of pounds of rain gear and hiking poles and lovely scenes and no grins.  Hmm.  Plus matching jackets for couples seems to be a statement with the older crowd of tourists. 
There is a gap in the hills with the most rain in England, over 11 feet a year.  And it poured for that five minute spot.  Otherwise the weather was a mix of rain, light, and clouds.  There is no shortage of outdoor gear shops in Keswick, almost as many as wine tasting rooms in Walla Walla.  I found two terrific cafes with real cask ale.  One called the Square Orange was tight and  bright with assortment of bites and sandwiches. 
The second cafe is called Magnolia, with menus made to look like an lp.  Even was pulled out of an old lp jacket.  It was one of this places that is playing so much of your music, your hip music that you are convinced no one else listens to, well, you wonder if they scanned your phone.  I was not alone with this observation, the Dutch man near me had a similar experience.
The hostel in Keswick is quite nice and clean and helpful.  It is in old mill by the river, so you get to hear it babbling by at night.  Except for the loud drunk Englishman declaring how he would be climbing like a god the next day, it was ideal.
I am still struck by the volume of coffee shops.  Every which way you look.  I was expecting fancy tea shops, Starbucks style.  Best i can tell such things are more popular in Portland, Oregon.
I have eaten rarebit and pies and now leuntil crisps and now animal shaped fruit jels that are quite good.  One tastes a bit like cherry cola.  Not the flavor I was expecting for a cow face shape.

Merry ole..day two plus one

Holy moly.  This isn't high tourist season?  It is quite busy and teeming with folks around every corner.  When did I become less than keen on crowds??
On Saturday we ventured down to the Eye.  The large ferris wheelt hat was construced for the Olympics, yet has becomea part of the skyline.  Anyways, some of you may know that I enjoy heights and ferris wheels.  England is compelling-ly gracious regarding those in wheelchairs, so we were wisked to the front of the 'Que'.  The wheel only stops  when operating for the ramp into the little egg cells.  It might not have been as big of a hit before digital photography.It is made for that adventure. 
You might notice the amazing sunny and clear photos.  This is a consistent pattern for me lately.  I am thinking about letting myself out for blessings towards sunny weather..so far this year I have found sunny and temperate in San Francisco, Seattle and now London.  I actually managed to achieve a spot of sunburn on Saturday. 
We had planned to go to St. Paul's however it was closed for a service commemorating the anniversary of the CoE ordination of women to the priesthood.  Hmm.  Another time.
We headed up to the Camden Market, which as quite the crowd of vendors and folks out for the sunny day. We might of gotten a bit lost for a moment on the way back, but made it back to the station.  Which was good because at the very same moment an owl flew by with my letter for admittance to Hogwarts.  A few years late, but I shall not complain.  Truth be told the half-cart is not near platform 9 at all, it might be adjacent to the toilets instead.  It is free for you to take your own photo, they have an assortment of house scarves (most choose Gryfndor) and a fella whose job it is to hold and wave the scarf.  Actually quite worth the wait in line (frequently much longer than my wait).
Sunday morning began with a lovely church service in a thousand year old congregation (St. Bene't's, which is short for Benedict), which makes the 150 of Walla Walla seem like a drop in the bucket.  It greatly resembles the Cathedral nave in Albuquerque.  The service was both full and friendly. 
Then I spent parts of the day wandering through the shopping district. In some ways the grocer was the most intriguing part, I could have studied the packages and choices for much longer than I did.
The evening was completed by Evensong at Pembroke College and then dinner.  At long tables in a great hall, with a head table.  And dress robes on students and staff.  And talking portraits (just kidding).  A lovely dinner with nice students and a fine setting.
Somewhere in the imagination of my heart I was expecting more of an 'otherness'.  It is of course unlike anything in my experience, yet it is still not as intensely different as I expected.  A daily journey of discovery.  Discovery of places and ways, but also of an alternate use of language to share information.  I see the words,  I can read them, but it may take a ssecond to realize what the instruction intends.  I also find myself using many localisms, it must be in the water.  Crisps and loo and blokes.  Or perhaps it is all that Masterpiece and novel reading that has such phrases falling out of my lips.

Merry Ole..Day One

It is a little bit funny:

To be able to read the signs, but find yourself unsure of what they intend.
To see a familliar landscape yet never have I been here before.  The suburban similarities are almost sad.
To meet up with an old friend and find life very much the same.
To feel my brain using muscles it has not in a while (thanks Preston for inviting me to read big words).
To speak the language and understand the language but still wish for subtitles.  BBC tv has subtitles...why don't yall?
To not be willing to pay for the outrageous international data rates and therefore be a bit more lost than usual.
To get kissed by a chatty english bloke in a pub on my first day.  On the cheek. 
To get to know, ever briefly, a nice family whose son was singing with the boy's choir for the last day because he dared to mature (and his voice cracked).

I love that the power òutlets have on and off switches.  So smart. 
I love all the transit options.  And I do love the nine million nutsy bicyclists, even the ones that try to run me over.
I love all the walking paths. 
I don't like the fine lawns with protocols that only elite so-n-so's may walk on.  Really?  Makes me want to roll around in it.  Must be some crazy 'merican.

Ps..I know I owe myself and others a post on whole hearted formation...but the first one is love.  Big love.  Why must i start with such a big one?? I told  myself I would work on it while traveling.  However for a day of travel I planned 3 days worth of books, papers and audiobooks.  Then I also slept on the plane.  :0

Whole Hearted Formation...we have Covenants and Mission Statements, do we need a Wholehearted Rule of Life?

I have been truly blessed this past Lent to have stumbled onto Brene Brown and her fabulous work on shame, vulnerability, courage and authenticity.  I cannot even recall which 'pin-a-day' led me to her TED Talk, and then led me to the audiobook and now to dozens of new pins on various Pinterest pages. (By the way, I want to offer that Audiobooks/lectures are wretched for highlighting and copying and pasting.  And the CC transcript is an endearingly frustrating moment by moment chart of sentence fragments.)  

As I read Dr. Brown's books I certainly find compelling meaning for my own journey.  I also find myself thinking about church and camp. Her work has me thinking about the systems of church that stifle vulnerability in search of liturgical precision and act out from places of shame.  I am thinking about the church we are  and the one we are searching to become.  Brene Brown's fabulous work and writings also have me considering the unwritten rules of life that we offer in our local settings, such as congregations and camps. We may need to make them more written and less implicit.  Words matter.  Saying who we are and who we desire to be can help us to become those people.  There may be formation folks and church leaders who want nothing to do with whole hearted practices.  I hope we can love them into daring greatly to be Christ's people in the world.

The leap from the Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto to congregational and camp life isn't very far or very deep, however my guess is it could fill a dissertation with insights.  While not pretending to seek such volume, my Easter and Pentecost goal will be to spend time writing about each one of these phrases and how they manifest in our life together as formation leaders.   Hmm.  Adventure vacation approaching fast...maybe this will be my before camp starts goal.  

To begin, I am going to simply 'remix' the 'Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto' into a 'Wholehearted Formation Ministries Rule of Life'. Most of the remix is moving from the singular to the ecclesiastical local corporate.  The author Brene Brown admits to being Episcopalian (and I guessed it without her confession (what is it that makes us so easily 'identifiable'?)) so I am going to hope that she will see this remix as a holy prayer of thanksgiving.  Rumor is she will be joining the FORMA event in Houston next winter, so I can ask for forgiveness then.  The remix/additions are in italics.

The Wholehearted Formation Rule of Life (Draft 1)

Above all else, we want you to know that you are loved and lovable.

You will learn this from our words and actions–the lessons on love are in how we treat you and how we each treat ourselves.  

We want you to engage with the world from a place of worthiness. You will learn that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy every time you see each of us practice self-compassion and embrace our own imperfections.

We will practice courage in our ministry by showing up, letting ourselves be seen, and honoring vulnerability. We will share our stories of struggle and strength. There will always be room in our gatherings for both.

We will teach you compassion by practicing compassion with ourselves first; then with each other. We will set and respect boundaries; we will honor hard work, hope, and perseverance. Rest and play will be ministry values, as well as ministry practices.

You will learn accountability and respect by watching us make mistakes and make amends, and by watching how we ask for what each of us need and talk about how each of us  feel.

We want you to know joy, so together we will practice gratitude.

We want you to feel joy, so together we will learn how to be vulnerable.

When uncertainty and scarcity visit, we will be able to draw from the spirit that is a part of our everyday life.

Together we will cry and face fear and grief. We will want to take away your pain, but instead we will sit with you and be open to your experience of feeling it.

We will laugh and sing and dance and create. 

We will always have permission to be ourselves with each other. 

No matter what, you will always belong here.

The greatest gift that I can give to you is to live and love with my whole heart and to dare greatly.

We will not teach or love or show you anything perfectly, but we will let you see each of us, and we will always hold sacred the gift of seeing you. 

Truly, deeply, seeing you.

Falling Down: Good Friday and the Lenten Pin A Day Wagon

I must confess that while I managed to keep the discipline of at least a pin a day for each word on the list, it was not quite every day.  Furthermore, lately, even more of a falling down on the devotion.  As Lent continued on my mind turned to the work of Easter, to the work of camp and the preparation for the upcoming vacation.

Furthermore, I gave myself a break from Lent as part of my common baseball mini-break.  I let myself fall off of the holy wagon and it has been oh so hard to get back on it.  Part of my reason for letting myself fall (which is more like leaping off the wagon) is that I am trying  to embrace imperfections (ala Brene Brown)  and what not.   An imperfect Lenten devotion seemed like a good idea.  Plus I was working on a Holy Week sermon, so the few days off were not devoid of Lenten meaning, but the pins fell to the side and so did the 'no espresso'.  I was in Seattle after all!

However, it has been that much harder to bet back on the devotional wagon.  Even though the break was short, I have to keep reminding myself that I have a Lenten devotional 'wagon' to be on.   The craving for the soothing beauty of a cortado came upon me as I whirled my way from task to task of Triduum prep.  Just like the first week of Lent, I almost forgot that my abstaining was part of my Lenten commitment.  The pins continue, but the constant reflections have diminished with my energy level.  Which sank as I tried to meet the demands of life and work while my health issue diminished both my calories and their benefits.

It seems like this should all bring me into a deeper Holy Week, yet,  I don't even know. Maybe that whole idea is more self shaming perfectionism.   It feels like it is not deep as other times, but maybe this is like when you suddenly discover you are in deeper water than you expected.  As a few of you may know, wrestling with a sense of shallowness has been my story this Lent.  Feeling drained and duller, which seems like thin still water.  Yet still sometimes the harder we look for profundity, the thinner the experience.  And vise versa.

This new space raises for me the ways in which I am still living there and here.  I love the creative liturgical opportunity I have here, yet I find myself surprised st every turn. Oh right, I say.  After so many years in a more regimented and elaborate setting I have forgotten there are a multitude of ways to offer the motions of Holy Week.  My dull brain falls into auto pilot and then trips on the silliness little surprises.

Today's pin of the day is wait.  Perhaps it is in itself its own little surprise trip.  All this tired angst about not feeling as deep or as smart as I used to and I get the reminder to wait.  The reminder to be still.  We cannot rush these things.  They many never be as we expect.  Be still, and wait upon the Lord.

Let Go: Palm Sunday and Our Mob Mentality

I didn’t understand it at all.  We had been such good friends.  Why did she stop talking to me?  Why did she insist that ‘I knew why’, when I absolutely did not.  Why was I so easily let go, so suddenly cast aside?  Perhaps you have been there too.  Perhaps you have been the one who suddenly let go of a friend. Perhaps it was recent, maybe it was a long time ago.  We do these things to each other because we are imperfect beings, desperate for love, anxious for acceptance.  We with busy unexamined lives, we are so easily swayed by the crowd.

There this idea, called mimetic theory.  To incredibly oversimplify, it is a theory with two parts.  First, is the part about the mob-mentality.  About our innate desire to copy the behavior of those around us.  The second part of the theory is about how human societies respond to the chaos caused by this mimicry and mob-mind.  How when things seem to be spinning out of control we try to restore a sense of order through a scapegoat.  Not just anything will do.  Only something or someone we care for, someone who is both insider and outsider.  Beloved, yet different.  This one, this adored friend will be cast out.  And for a moment calm and order will return.  

Scapegoating is a process that continues because it 'works'.  We, those of us in the mob, when someone or something is cut down, we absolutely feel better.  Yet, only for a time.  Yet I believe that something changed with this Passion story.  Jesus. Beloved. Innocent. Scapegoat.  In a chaotic festival season, he was sacrificed by the power of the mob.  And like always, for a moment, the quiet returned.  And then, surprising us forever, he returned.  His death changes our view of all victims, all scapegoats. 

The complexity of why Jesus died for our salvation, it isn’t something that I necessarily comprehend in an articulate way.  Yet it is something I trust.  In a world of chaotic choices and passionate mistakes the love of God made flesh will not blend in with the crowd.  We do not have to look for complex theories to understand this day, this week.  We only have to pause and recall the way in which we find some people ‘to good to be true’, and the relief we feel if a ‘Pollyanna’ fails.  

For us to be at peace, Jesus’ life is given up.  Not in the vengefulness of a despotic God or any other unsatisfactory notion.  The passion, it is a mystery, and it has been done for our sake and for our salvation. God endured the worst of the world we inhabit, put to death in the middle of our most chaotic blindness.  Yet from the middle of our hellishness, he forgives us.  He invites us out of the mob, out of the chaos.  He invites us into a new reality remade by his love.

Palm Sunday, RCL, Year A

April 12, 2014

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: Walla Walla, Washington

PS: I must admit that I leaned heavily on the wisdom of Archbishop Rowan Williams in his book Tokens of Trust.  Furthermore to learn more about mimetic theory and Christian theology I suggest the works of James Allison and Gil Bailie.  

audio file !