soupablog

A relaxing weekend with some similarities.

Last night was the spring Franciscan Retreat for my church community. It was a good, healing time for me, and it helped me to slow down and ease out of some depression, I believe. I'll link to photos that Gordon took once they're live. I didn't do the photo-taking this time, though I usually take a batch. There were others to play that role. — it's a great time — differences are set aside, younger and older generations mingle, food and drink are shared, there's a lot of playing and music and art and storytelling.

Then at lunch, I ran into some old friends, the Roberts, and was able to catch up. That was nice.

Then I met Amy and the kids over at our neighborhood association's annual block party. It reminds me what a great neighborhood we live in. The police and firemen were there, loving on the kids (although the firemen got called away twice on real emergencies!) — volleyball, frisbee, balloons, face painting … it's a great time — differences are set aside, younger and older generations mingle, food and drink are shared, there's a lot of playing and music and art and storytelling.

(Post)Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 16 [slide show]

It's not quite complete, the labyrinth.
But that didn't keep Kate's Sunday school class from checking it out.
This made my day.

I posted a Flickr slide show here.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 12

this kind of captures last sunday.
the music makes the first part seem less stultifying.

like i said earlier, the first draft was too small.
not unlike the stonehenge in this is spinal tap :)

hats off to the kids at church
and to abigail (10) our camera person

songs by little ol' me.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 10: Setting aside a space

      

click the video thumbnail above to watch a vlog version

Finally.

Rain, illness, travel and other hurdles had kept me from coming back to the labyrinth site until today. I borrowed my dad's gasoline-powered weed-eater and went to the back of the property this afternoon.

It was very peaceful. I was the only one there. It was really nice to be alone.

So for about the first hour this afternoon I used the weed-eater to chop off a bunch of dead shin- and knee-high grass. By about 4:00 it looked like this. The clump in the foreground is about an inch tall.

Next, I used this $4 rake to clear the dead grass away. This took about twice as long as I had planned; I got twice the number of blisters I had planned… But then, just as the sun had dropped below sight, I had finished — well, at least enough to rest. Just in time for a metaphoric shabbat.

If you squint, you can kind of see the circle of the labyrinth starting to take shape.
the Prayer Walk, off in the background of this photo will lead straight into the Labyrinth.

The center of the labyrinth will be where the surveryor's flag and dog tie-out are located, there in the middle of the composition.

It's only after periods of exhausting physical labor that the God-phrase "It is finished" comes to mind. I think of Christ's work on the cross, and I think about the YHWH's work in the creation accounts. I think about resting after work, and I think about saying, "It is good" and letting it apply both to the end result and to the process of having worked hard.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 07

John McJilton and I walked out to the labyrinth site tonight. Gordon and Lexie and John's kids came out a little later. We got the dog-tie in the ground around sunset. Took three of us taking turns turning the metal corkscrew into the limestone-infested ground. We measured the circumference with the line, which was rewarding for me.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 06

here is the end of the prayer path; the edge of the property.

this is the site for the labyrinth. near the altar and fire ring.

christmas letter, excerpt

amy asked me to pen the quasi-annual soupiset family christmas letter tonight. i tried to reign in the kid-bragging. tried to keep it brief (the 3.675" x 7.25" pagesize helped). i shared one or two sentences about each family member, trying to provide a snapshot. here's the preamble:

change.  2007 was a year full of transitions for our family of six. after our yearlong experiment in forming a new church community came to an abrupt end at the end of 2006, we sought rest, community, healing and peace — and found what we were looking for in a small, thoughtful community whose gathering place is a little limestone church with a tin roof — and a fireplace instead of an altar — nestled back in the woods between bracken and garden ridge, texas. we already knew the pastor there at covenant baptist (a misnomer of a church, since it isn’t very reformed, and isn’t all that baptist either), and the people there lovingly embraced all six of us and let us heal up a bit, worship, experience the liturgical year in community, and re-engage at our own speed.

after reading the letter if anyone asks me why we attend covenant, i might just point them to this short essay written by my pastor/friend. i think it captures the ethos of the place pretty well.