Category Archives: Life in Big Sky Country

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 11, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY June 11, 2012

Outside my window… hot hot hot. 95F today according to Weather.Com.

I am thinking… that I need to cut off my hair again. It’s been almost 3 months.

I am thankful… for the mini nap I got today while Daniel was taking his nap.

In the kitchen… oatmeal.

I am wearing… old black Arabic shirt and black running shorts.

I am creating… things for Brett’s Blogathon 2012.

I am going… to probably be spending a fair amount of time inside this week because of the heat.

I am wondering… if I should do a theme for Quick Takes this week.

I am reading… Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart.

I am hoping… to get Daniel potty-trained this summer.

I am looking forward to… this weekend. That’s all I can say right now.

Around the house… I have house help at the moment which is seriously blessing me.

A favorite quote for today… “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.'” — C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… Daniel waking up happy from his nap.

A few plans for the rest of the week: errands and hopefully some water play with Daniel.

A peek into my day… Snow drifts in Montana — I needed a reminder of cold stuff because it’s so bloody hot here.

Snow drifts in Montana

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Lenten Worship Music (VII)

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During the two months that we were commuting to Great Falls in order to be with Daniel almost three years ago(!), I managed to patch into a KLOVE signal bouncing off one of the buttes and “God of This City” by the Northern Ireland band Bluetree was one of the songs that was popular during that time. It gets its name from the mission trip the band took to Pattaya, Thailand and the deplorable conditions they found there. They launched a charity called Stand Out International in 2009 to rescue kids out of the sex industry, probably based on what they saw there.

When I was driving home from PT with Daniel yesterday, this song was playing on KLOVE and I decided to feature it. Here are the lyrics:

You’re God of this city, You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation, You are
You’re the light in this darkness, You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless, You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

You’re the Lord of creation, the creator of all things
You’re the King above all kings, You are
You’re the strength in the weakness, You are love to the broken
You’re the joy in the sadness, You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You in this city

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
Yes, there is no one like You God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You in this city

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here
Still to be done here, still to be done here
Still to be done here
(HT: SongLyrics.Com)

I love it because it’s hopeful and if it was inspired by the squalor of that city in Thailand, there’s a definite need for hope. I can also so see it being used for various “city clean-up” ministry things in the States with no knowledge of why it was written. The irony of that is that the band is based in Belfast and there is a definite need for hope in that city, especially in the ghetto areas where the paramilitary action can be prevalent.

Here’s the song:

Lenten Hymn Sunday (II)

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I chose “The God of Abraham Praise” because it’s a good Lenten processional hymn that glorifies God and ties into the readings about Abraham that we have right now in Year B. It is in a minor key and it doesn’t contain the A-word (or H-word depending on spelling). I remember singing it at Church of the Incarnation the last time I was there for a full Eucharist in March 2009. I wish I hadn’t had pregnancy grumpiness because it was Rite I and lovely.

The God of Abraham praise,
who reigns enthroned above;
Ancient of everlasting days,
and God of love;
Jehovah, great I AM,
by earth and heaven confessed:
I bow and bless the sacred Name
for ever blessed.

The God of Abraham praise,
at whose supreme command
from earth we rise, and seek the joys
at his right hand;
we all on earth forsake,
its wisdom, fame and power;
and him our only portion make,
our Shield and Tower.

The goodly land we see,
with peace and plenty blessed:
a land of sacred liberty
and endless rest;
there milk and honey flow,
and oil and wine abound,
and trees of life for ever grow,
with mercy crowned.

There dwells the Lord, our King,
the Lord, our Righteousness,
triumphant o’er the world and sin,
the Prince of Peace;
on Zion’s sacred height
his kingdom he maintains,
and, glorious with his saints in light,
for ever reigns.

The God who reigns on high,
the great archangels sing,
and “Holy, holy, holy,” cry,
“Almighty King!”
Who was and is the same,
and evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Father, great I AM,
we worship thee.”

The whole triumphant host
give thanks to God on high;
“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”
they ever cry;
hail, Abraham’s God and mine;
I join the heavenly lays;
all might and majesty are thine,
and endless praise!
— The Hymnal 1982 #401

(HT: Oremus for the lyrics)

Here is a YouTube video of it from an LCMS congregation (St. Lorenz in Frankenmuth, MI). The sound quality isn’t the best but it’s congregational singing which is how hymns should be.

Kneeling at the Altar

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Now that I’ve finished Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, I’m reading Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren Winner. In it, she posits a series of reflections on life when you’re in that spot where God is absent and prayer is just impossible. At the time she wrote the book, her mother had died three weeks before she married her (now former) husband and after five years of marriage, she reaches the point at which she can’t continue it because she’s miserable and is making her husband miserable.

It’s an *interesting* read as all of her books; but it’s being really emotionally painful for me to read because I can see myself in her. I read the same fiction she does (which is almost all based in North Carolina) and I’m in a perpetual “middle” in terms of faith. It’s not to say that my faith is gone but instead to say that I’m at a point right now where I frequently see and feel silence from God when I pray.

The hardest reflection to read thus far has been “healing prayer” in which she describes going up after receiving communion for healing prayer. She talks about how she would love to be able to do it one day but at that moment, she can only kneel at the rail and cry with the priest’s warm hands holding hers. I was reading it yesterday while I was eating lunch and I had to choke back tears while eating my teryaki chicken and take some deep breaths to calm myself. Why the tears? It was because I have the same memory.

In 2007, we had a mentally unbalanced parishioner stalking me and I finally wrote her a letter telling her to leave me alone or I would take out a restraining order against her. She whined to anyone who would listen about how I threatened to sue her and OMG-THE-HEART-PROBLEMS-THIS-WAS-CAUSING-HER!!!!! (Did I mention that she was also a pathological liar?) Of course, people believed her instead of me. The sheep hit the fan during Holy Week 2008 (because if anything is going to go wrong in a clergy family, it will be during Holy Week) and after being chewed out confronted by a few parishioners, I decided that it would be better if I took a Sunday off from being a pastor’s wife and being a Lutheran. I needed to go down to Great Falls for some errands so I went to go and bond with my aunt and uncle who lived down there and attended the Episcopal church in town the next morning.

For those new to my blog, I came to faith in the Episcopal church and it’s where I go (or at least wish I could go) when I’m really having problems with my faith or in my life. The liturgy was wonderful that Sunday and after the Eucharist, people were invited to come up for healing prayer. I went up for it and was moved to tears as I knelt at the communion rail and Father Tim clasped his hands around mine to pray for me. I don’t know why but it moves me to tears when people lay hands and pray for me. It might be that I’m allowing myself to be vulnerable, it might be the Spirit within me interceding because I have to words, or it could just be that I understand the power of what is going on.

I went back to Incarnation several times after on Sunday mornings and then to the noon Eucharists on Wednesdays after Daniel was born because it was the only way I would be able to attend church due to his care schedule in the NICU. Father Tim came to see me in the hospital in Great Falls and I feel horrible because I have no memory of it. (I was on some seriously heavy medications at the time to arrest the preeclampsia so it’s not surprising.) Reading what Lauren had to say brought back the memory of the incredible need I had for someone to pray for me during those times when I just could not pray for myself.

It’s been almost two years since we moved from Montana to California and almost three years since I’ve attended Incarnation. I am in such a different place today than I was back then and looking back, I can see the horrific depression I pushed through during that time. My life is so different today: a parish that loves my family, people who support Jon, and my parents nearby. Still, I am comforted by the thought that there are Episcopal parishes out there with people who will hold my hands as I kneel at the altar needing prayers for healing.

A Conversation Regarding Gun Control

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One of our deacons (who is seriously awesome and whose wife is one of the people I’m close to at Metanoia) was over fixing curtain rods yesterday and the following exchange happened.

D: Deacon
J: Jen!

D: Hopefully, you don’t mind that I’m collecting dust in a shell box (used for shotgun shells). Then again, you’ve lived in Montana so this is probably normal.
J: Yeah… I’m pretty aware that people own and shoot guns.
D: You’re from northern California though, right?
J: Yeah… total granola hippie but I’m not against guns and all that within reason. You don’t need a semi-automatic weapon to shoot Bambi.
D: *proceeds to explain to me the difference between semi-automatic and fully-automatic*

I amended my opinion to now opposing military grade weaponry for hunting purposes. You can take out Bambi (who is an 8-point buck) with one shot. You don’t need to zipper him.

My Heart Is Sick

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Great Falls Tribune: 8-year-old boy dies in motorcycle crash; father hospitalized

I can tell you that the 8 year old’s name is Dawson Fraser and his dad’s name is Cory. Their family owns a series of co-ops on the Hi-Line including the one in Galata where we used to live. Cory is a great guy and my heart is sick that the accident happened and that Dawson died.

Please pray for the Fraser family. I wish I had something more profound to say but the whole thing just really makes my heart sick. Kids shouldn’t die and parents shouldn’t have to bury them.