This entry will live up to the Rambling theme.
We had nine from Park church going out to Mission, South Dakota ,where we volunteered with the Tree of Life ministry on the Rosebud reservation. It was a great week. I was very impressed with the Tree of Life Ministry and it was a joy to see how they are growing. There was one other group there, from two UM congregations around Rockford Illinois and we mingled the groups a little on work sites. Some of our group helped with school kits, others worked with clothing items in the thrift store or helped with the food shelf work. We also moved the construction materials out of the current space into a new building that had been recently purchased so that involved building new lumber cribs and shelving ; tearing out old shelving and several trips with trailers; others painted in a house, or built and painted picnic tables over on the Rosebud fair grounds, some of us replaced doors and windows at another home. Tree of Life had cultural experiences available to us in the evenings so we heard Albert White Hat tell us some of his life experiences plus the Lakota creation story and the significance of the Wind Cave to them. Ed Harrison had his sweat Lodge for us as well as a healing ceremony (yuwipi) to which we were invited. On our day off we visited the site of the Wounded Knee massacre as well as the Badlands and Wall Drug. We visited Pipestone National Monument on the way home and got back at dusk on Aug 23rd.
Soon after getting back home we discovered that the pop up drain had rusted out under the bathroom sink and had created quite a large water stain in the hallway beneath it. So I did plumbing on Sunday afternoon and ended up replacing the drains, the shut off valve stems, the faucet and the faucet supply lines, in other words everything but the cabinet and sink itself. On Monday I painted. I took it as a reminder that some service projects need to be done at home too!
On Wednesday I was doing a home visit with communion and I thought of how communion can be a trail marker in life. On Aug. 3 we had communion in the congregation of Park church as part of Sunday services. Before we left Rosebud we had communion out on a picnic table. We used one of the plastic water cups as our chalice, passed pieces of sliced sandwich bread, and thought of the community we had been introduced to in the wideness of God’s table. And then on Wednesday to share communion with a couple who are largely shut in but were so eager to share the sacrament.. While I had come with my little "Communion kit": they had already prepared a chalice of wine and neatly squared pieces of bread for the four of us who would be there. I don’t know that it fit all the liturgical sacrament rubrics, but it was right. All three of those communion experiences were quite different in style and setting and yet the same:Thanksgiving, Community, Spirit. Presence of God. Healing. Hope, Gift of Christ, Peace, Communion.
In Lakota tradition the "peace pipe" (that included us) ) is an expression of community and peace that is movable and shared. So is our sacrament, movable and shared, and an instrument of peace that marks our lives.
Today I got a head start on my Labor Day tradition of seal- coating the parsonage driveway and planted some grass (again) and repaired a garden hose.
On a walk a couple of days I ago I noticed a healthy growth of hazel nut bushes, loaded with nuts, still a bit green. They are on an undeveloped lot on the edge of town so I hope someone will appreciate them, if not the wildlife, and maybe I will get to try a few.
I took Sara to Univ of Minn, Duluth on Thursday, and got her moved into her dorm. The day seemed to go well. So far she is entering into it with some adventure and openness.
Nick starts 11th grade this year! Beth is working on her PhD!
Education is happening and I think of all the people getting back to classrooms this week.
I like some wisdom that I understand comes from a rabbinic tradition."Don’t ask someone, 'What are you studying, but rather ask them, what are you learning?'"
Rambled enough?