Monday

We took a step forward as a congregation yesterday. We hosted a shower for a soon-to-be first time granny. I suggested the party then asked if anyone wanted to help with food and decorations. A crowd helped and a very successful party resulted. I came home loaded down with leftover party treats. It's important to give the preacher a car full of stuff she doesn't want to eat and her family shouldn't eat. Somehow, in a mysterious way, all the party food will be gone by tonight. What a surprise...

My wee church is moving forward step by step into the community. Our ties with presbytery grow. Our new presbytery ex. asked if he could come preach for the congregation. We are thrilled. The previous ex. didn't know we existed despite our proximity to his home. Elders are attending presbytery events and discussing the issues there.

I enjoy church redevelopment very much. I love the work I'm called to do. I've seen my preaching change because I'm settled into a congregation instead of changing weekly as a "roving evangelist". I'll begin my fifth year soon.

Our hurricane repairs continue. We have new decking for the front porch, new columns to support the roof and new windows (Lord have mercy! This is expensive!). The repairs look good for the historic building which makes me very happy. I cannot stand cheap windows in a building, especially one with historic interest.

It's Monday morning and time for me to check the lectionary texts again for Sunday's worship.

See you later, Alligator

St. Casserole

Sunday Morning Cat Blogging

Whistle the Kitten, sleeps with his paw tucked under.
Fish the Kitten (blue collar) gives a good head lick to Whistle.
Fish wonders if People Will Ever Stop Taking Pictures and yapping about how cute he is.

Orange Bug on Plant Mystery

See that orange bug?
What is it?
Mr. Orange with White Spots on His Back and Black Legs is enjoying a sunny day.
I don't recall seeing him/her before.

St. C

About our birthday presents.... neither this nor that, ok?

Like we'd wear wool jackets. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

22 days 'til our birthday!

Hoping for Really Good Stuff,

Whistle and Fish the Kittens

Really, I am going to do better...

Dear Friends:
It is just 6 a.m. ish here. I should be touching up the rough edges of my Communion meditation for this morning's worship service. I should be in prayer for my people as Sunday, the Lord's Day dawns. I should be thinking deep theological thoughts.

Nope, not me. I've been blog browsing and spent time over at Peacebangs http://beautytipsforministers.blogspot.com reading her essays on pastoral dowdiness. As one who prides herself on "fixin up", I stand convicted that I have descended into slumpiness.

Peacebag is correct that wearing only flat-soled birkies (even if the leather is smooth and dyed silver), baggy clothing (even if it is pressed) and caring more about being cool (as in not a sweaty lump) is NOT the way to appear to one's congregants and general public.

I confess that I have run to the grocery store this summer looking like road debris. I wear linen big shirts which could be used as roof shade for a beach cottage. My hands, right this minute, are stained with jeweler's polish from cleaning sterling last night while LD and I watched "Legally Blonde" for the umpteenth time. My nails need a filing. My polish is chipped.

I looked down at my hands and thought, "I'm serving the sacrament in a few hours! These hands look as if they've been out hand-weeding in the front yard, polishing sterling and standing at the kitchen stove over a hot burner blindfolded." Yeech.

So, I will do the following:
1) manicure before worship.
2) return the big linen shirts to the thrift shop from whence they came.
3) search for an outfit which fits and looks like I want to look pretty.
4) continue to laugh at Peacebangs' expressions. See "jungle pouch" for flubby stomach hang.

Really. I am going to do better.

As always,

St. Casserole

Birthday Reminder.......

Here is a picture of Whistle the Kitten on the bath mat outside the shower. Often he drops off for a long snooze right here. He's dreaming of his birthday party. ONLY 21 MORE DAYS. He says "Don't get ME a present! Give a BIG gift to Fish!".

I'm telling ya, he said that.

Love,
Fish the Kitten

PS. We are registered at Kittens and Beyond, Cat Stuff Inc., Mice, Birds and Bugs, Catnip Corners and Tiffany's. Just thought you should know...

Rats and Double Rats!

It looks as if T.S. Chris is dead. The NOAA site suggests that the lower East Coast may see rain from the downgraded-to-a-blowhard storm but for us, here on the Gulf of Mexico, nothing.

We aren't ready for another storm. People aren't back into their homes yet. The grant money promised to arrive last week hasn't. Insurance companies are playing out their satanic rituals with people's lives and one hears horror stories of incompetence and cruelty often.

I visited in a FEMA trailer on Sunday and noticed that when the mid-sized dog walked from the tiny "living area/kitchen" into the "miniature bedroom" the trailer shook. How can families live with shaking trailers, noise, no privacy, little protection from enemies or weather and a bathtub the size of a footbath? How?

We have one shelter in Harrison County. One place for the homeless to go. Nothing else.

Dillard's, our best department store, closed with storm damage. We lost our McRae's (ok, but not all that great) when it became a Belk (most ordinary of stuff, makes me depressed to even go into a Belk). If one is going for retail, can't the retail at least be well-made with some style?

So, Dillard's is closed still. Do you think that Big Dillard's writes to all of us charge customers telling us when they will re-open and offering us coupons for internet shopping or for going to a Dillard's in Mobile, Hattiesburg or Jackson? Nope. Nothing. I'm not sure I will ever feel the same about Dillard's.

A few more stores re-opened in the neighborhood shopping area. Each time I see a repaired store I feel pleased.

The advocates for the poor down here are exhausted. I wish a fresh group of advocates would come down here and give the non-profits and community groups a break.

The pendulum of depression and post traumatic stress syndrome is rolling over the communities again. I hear stories everyday of new divorces, deaths from storm stress and suicides. Lord, have mercy! I ate at the lunch counter at the pharmacy today. I greeted the woman sitting to my left and spent my lunch hearing her sad story of post-storm life. I felt like crying. She's brave but things are not going well. Another stranger, this time in the Post Office line, told me about losing her home then 4 weeks later her husband dropped deadfrom a heart attack.

Granted I have one of those faces that invites people to tell me everything but the sad stories down here are endless. God bless us.

The evildoers (hey! I'm a preacher and I talk like this!) are assailing us by working behind the scenes with our voting districts. What do you do when a district is empty because there is no housing and most of the residents are poor?

The thieving contractors preying on the desperate should rot in hell. If anyone asks you how I feel about this, tell them.

School started today. No one knows who will show up. Who begins school on a Thursday? Only us because it will take until Monday or Tuesday to see who will be in class. What a waste of time for the LD! She wore a hoodie sweatshirt to school today. Temps are in the '90's. What's with this lack of body fat? A hoodie with long sleeves? Oh my!

Want to see a physician down here? Sure hope you don't need to see a specialist. And, the doctors want to be paid some kind of bonus or compensation for staying down here because their usual amenities are gone. Oh, puleeze. Isn't medicine about healing or is it about Hummers?

I'm reading a new book about returning "delight" to the crafting of sermons. Sounds like just the book for my crabby self.

Spared from T.S. Chris and grateful,

St. Casserole

A Morning Nap....Together

"The Peaceable Kingdom exists! Picture Proves it!"

Dateline: Diminished Pine Grove. For Immediate Release.

Whistle the Kitten and P.P. Puppy take nap within five feet of each other.
**********************************************************************

P.S. Yes, the messy area is in my house but I'm sure this is unusual. Or something like that.


Dazed by a Glimpse O' Glory,

St. Casserole

Just Stuff

*The Preacher Coffee Drinking Group met here at our home this morning. Hunting Dog Pastor went fishing with his daughters so we moved the meeting here. R. brought lunch for us because she is a thoughtful clergygal. We have two new members of our group. One will stay with us until we get on her last nerve; the other won't come much longer because we are no-holds-barred preachers and he is pious. Three of us were absent. Two without explanation. We've started holding hands and praying at the end of the coffee drinking. I like this because I can't get enough of being prayed for and praying for others.

*Public school begins on Thursday. LD has her high school schedule, school supplies and new backpack.

*You know how cats have little or no facial affect? I realized today that LD reminds me of the cats. I'll be glad when she loses the "too cool for this life" face and looks like herself.

*Rain came for several days so the frogs are celebrating by singing love songs. Last night, we thought the frogs were indoors with us but we know the Mighty Kittens wouldn't allow even one frog to survive. The singing got so loud it reminded me of a dog barking in the night. Really. The crickets are in love, too.

*This Cuba business is very interesting. My knowledge of Raoul Castro might fill a thimble so I'll be studying up him. The radio pundits wonder if Fidel is dead. I wonder how the U.S. will respond to what may be a big change in our relationship with Cuba.

*I heard about T.S. Chris today. Damn.

*Have any of you read the book with Rev. Jordanna Nash? Can't recall the title. It's been on my bedside table two months at least. So far, so good.

*No matter what Peacebang of "Beauty Tips of Ministers" says, I'm not going to wear neutral polish on my toes. I'm back to a vibrant color and much happier. I tried to follow her suggestion about quiet color when wearing sandals and bare feet in the pulpit area but I failed.

Yours,

St. Casserole

Early Sunday Morning Reminders

Preach the Word in and out of season.

Bend down (from the pulpit) and love them.

Rules without relationship create rebellion.

Love them.

Love them.

Love them.

Kitten Birthday Countdown!

Today, tomorrow and Monday!!! Then, count to August 28th!
It's OUR BIRTHDAY!!!!

Whistle and I will get new big cat Cat Food. No more kitten chow for us! We will be ONE! Big cats! Really, really Big Cats!

Whistle said it's rude to remind you of our birthday. He said it sounds like a "gift grab" to him. So what?

Our party will be great! You can come to it!

No stupid party hats, ok?

Sincerely yours,

Fish the Kitten

Playing the RGBP FRIDAY FIVE HOT HOT HOT

Reverendmother asks the Friday Five Questions.

I know this subject!!!

Many areas of the United States are having a heat wave. Global warming, anyone? Look on the bright side of melting glaciers and enviro-destruction by taking a crack at the Friday Five:

1. What's the high temperature today where you are?
High 90's

2. Favorite way(s) to beat the heat.
Stay inside in the air conditioning drinking cool drinks. Take a cool shower. Station myself under the ceiling fans.

3. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." Evaluate this statement.
Dry heat just messes up your skin. Humidity makes you feel sticky. I guess I prefer the humidity but only because I'm familiar with it.

4. Discuss one or more of the following: sauna, hot tub, sweat lodge, warm-stone massage.
I have NO interest in these except on the coldest day of winter.

5. Hottest you've ever been in your life
At the Neshoba County Fair where we listened to stump speeches and visited. I thought I was going to faint and die. Dusty, hot, buggy, and full of happy Mississippians visiting.

Non-temperature related bonus: In your opinion... who's hot?
All the volunteers to come to the Hurricane Zone to help.

As always, let us know if you play--and those of you who are linking directly to your posts? You're hot. And cool.

RGBP Meet-Up!

While you all were eating dinner, watching re-runs of "Andy Griffith" and loading the dishwasher, I was eating dinner with Purechristianthink near Pearlington. We left the dreadful mess of an isolated, unincorporated village to drive to Nearby Town. We found a place to eat and sat down to visit.

PCT is kind to come to the Zone, find the most pitiful place (East Biloxi would be next or BSL) and help do whatever needs to be done to restore housing and hope. And, she brought friends.

When I say "isolated", I mean it. On my first drive there yesterday, I couldn't believe how "back in the woods" the village sits. I recall hearing that Pearlington received help after Katrina only after emergency workers realized the place existed. PCT reminded me that churches were the first to arrive to help. One of our denominational sites is there with pods for housing workers, showers and a kitchen.

Having dinner with a RGBP thrilled me. We talked and talked, ate and ate. I'm proud to know her and hear about her ministry far, far away.

She suggested that the denominational site needs a cat to patrol for mice. She saw dogs running in the village but no cats. If it is safe for cats there, I'll find out about placing one.

Here's the ad for the Cat Times:

Wanted: Stalwart, mature cat to handle mousework at a disaster site in the woods. Ideal candidate would speak Dog and have diplomatic skills to work in isolated area with a high population of dogs. Hunting skills a must. Must enjoy attention from people such as ear scratching, lap-sitting and ability to purr when handed cat treats. Dry and hot napping areas abound. Wifi not available at this time. Send application to....

Yours,

St. Casserole

St. C? Where You At?*

I am busy with many things. I am fine and happy. I'll be back to bloggage when I think of something to say.

Your,
St. Casserole

*Add this phrase to pet peeve list.

Happy Anniversary to Us! RevGalBlogPals!!!!!!

1) What is your first memory of the RevGalBlogPals?
Mr. C thought up the first version of our name. Songbird perfected it.

2) Have you met any of the other ring members in real life?
I've loved meeting Songbird, Cheesehead, Reverendmother, Stacey, Rev. Mommy, Chaplain Lydia, Not-Shy, Rev. Abi, and who did I leave out? I am meeting Purechristianthink next week! What a gift you all are! Every one of you!

3) Of those you haven't met, name a few you would love to know in person. I want to meet Quotidian Grace because our lives sound rather similar and I want to meet ALL OF YOU! Every one of you!

4) What has Ring Membership added to your life? I belong to a group of interesting people who understand ministry and more! Every one of you!

5) Describe a hope for the future of the WebRing. I'd like for us to have a conference/retreat together. I'd like us to speak at conferences across the ocean, too. Could we have a group bracelet? Could we sponsor a conference for seminarians? Could we go on a cruise? Can we make Cajun Shrimp our RevGalBlogPals official toenail polish? (see original post for this info over at www.revgalblogpals.blogspot.com)

Thank you for making my world larger, getting me through the trauma of the Storm, laughing at my jokes and being so very dear with your support.

Love you,
St. Casserole

Our Birthday Portraits Gone Wrong

Here we are with our best friends, LD and her best friend. We are not happy. We are almost one year old and our mom put hats on us and said, "Hold the kittens!" Not words we want to hear when tiny straw hats are involved. Maybe not ever.

We look really great even if we are wearing lil straw hats. Fish has a bandana with cats printed on it. He took it off as soon as we were free.

Have you bought our birthday presents yet? The party is on August 28. Location and attire TBA.

Yours,
Whistle the Kitten

Rewriting the History of August 29th : A Prayer

Thank you for letting me understand
homelessness, living without power,
without television , without cool air in the heat.

Thank you for letting me understand
hunger, the pleasure of dry clean clothes and
the relief of place to sleep.

Thank you for letting me understand
the deep and overwhelming sadness
when forces, beyond our personal control,
take the loved, the familiar, the usual.

Thank you for my needfulness and
Thank you for my newfound empathy
for those were homeless before the storm
and homeless now, for those hungry
anywhere, for those in need everywhere.

Thank you for the opportunity you provided
to help my neighbor, to be my brother’s keeper,
to serve food, to patch roofs, to clear yards,
and to start mending that which was broken.

Thank you for the chance to change ourselves,
from a reprieve from the normal commercial day,
for teaching us to make do, to get by, to improvise,
for drowning our conceit, complacency, callousness
for silencing the noise , for stopping the clock,
and for the chance to act our best when the worst occurred.

Thank you for the people who reached in
pulled out the living, cradled the dead,
comforted the broken and torn apart,
wept for the splintered and uprooted.

Thank you for the people who didn’t wait
who came right away, who opened their homes,
who emptied their shelves, their closets,
who cleaned, fed , healed, held us,
who told us our spirit was amazing,
and who keep on coming.

Thank you for people who measure
their faith by their actions, and measure
their action by its consistency with their faith.

Thank you for all the people we have met,
who are new friends, new loved ones,
new brothers and sisters, new neighbors.

Thank you Katrina. Not for wind,
not for water, but for the appreciation
of the things no storm can shatter,
no water can wash away,
no wind can move.

---Written by R. and Mr. C

Hot enough for you?
	No. I'm studying Life in Hell for a research grant.
	I don't know. How hot does it have to be?
	It's Summer! What Do You Expect?
	Hot? This is NOTHING compared to when I was a kid!
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Some Things I Believe....

I believe these things to be true:

a) When a new pastor comes to a church where the former pastor has been gone for a good while will find that she/he will handle a high number of funerals in the beginning months. It seems that people save their deaths until the pastor arrives. This is similar to how people wait until after a major holiday (Christmas, Easter) to die. Many a pastor gets to know her/his congregation through leading funerals. In churches with younger congregants, the pastor seems to be through with her/his "honeymoon" and accepted as the pastor when the first normal (not an accident) death happens.

Not to put pressure on you but the congregation is watching to see if you can be trusted with their deaths.

b) What people want from a religious leader is authenticity. Be you.

c)The practice of ministry is an art. Keep this in mind as you do church administration.

I'm proud of you all. I thank God that you heard God's call and responded.

St. Casserole

A year ago today, I went to the SMHS and picked out two kittens, Assumpta and Dibley. Rusty, my dear companion in cat fur, died on July 5 and I felt bereft. Cats fill a place in my heart that no other creature can nurture. As a small child I loved cats and this affection hasn't changed.

The cat counselor at the humane society suggested that Dibley, a tiny orange domestic shorthair would be happier with his sister staying with him. A two-for-one cat special on neutering was in effect and fees would be waived if I took both kittens. I was delighted! A beautiful little black and white girl kitten could be mine, too. Assumpta and Dibley came home with me after I asked Mr. C. to go meet the kittens.

A hurricane threathened the Coast right after the little kittens came to our home.

The kittens grew into bigger kittens. They played with each other and took naps with me.

Then, a nasty storm developed in the Gulf, blew through Florida before it strengthened into Katrina. We packed up the kittens into their carriers (along with older cat, Andy) and evacuated to safety.

After the storm, Mr. C. and LS returned to the Coast with Andy. LD and I took the kittens to LLS and LSiL's home. Assumpta and Dibley met Cousin Bea and Uncle Lewis. The kittens loved being with the older cats and after a few days of hissing and territorial battles, they were welcomed into a new home. After I left, the kittens stayed to comfort LD who was then enrolled in school there.

LD returned to us after her first semester but Assumpta and Dibley stayed. Uncle Lewis joined the Church Invisible for cats, Bea became enamoured of Assumpta and Dibley learned to go outside to explore.

This week I wrote a medical release for Assumpta and Dibley so they may continue to have care under LLS's name instead of mine up there. I felt I was signing a relinquisment of parental rights although I know I was not. I stared at the paper over a twenty four hour period unable to put my signature to the paper. The kittens are happy where they are. Their home is with LLS and LSiL, not here and it would be traumatic to move them into our home again. They are loved and enjoyed in their new home.

The damn storm affected so many things on so many levels. I'm talking about cats here and getting worked up. Imagine how it is for families who are displaced, spouses separated by the storm so jobs can be gotten and for all the grandparents who moved away forever after the storm. We are dealing with traumas on all levels. We are dealing with loss, grief, frustration and fear of the future.

You recall that I have two new kittens, Whistle and Fish who make their home with us. I love them. Having said that, no cat replaces another one you've lost as no person replaces one you've lost. Love expands but grief remembers.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Last night I heard the froggies sing,
Their songs of love and prowess.
They sang so loud that I could hear
them inside my how is.

The crickets rubbed their tiny legs
to join the froggie chorus
In praise of God who made us all
I heard them singing for us.

Inside my house the teens made noise
of slamming doors and music
No wonder I woke with not enough sleep
A headache and a facial tic.

St. Casserole

RGBP A Short Friday Five Meme

A Short meme for what was for many a shortened week:tell us about five noteworthy Short things in your life.(Be liberally imaginative.)

Short People : I am the "short people" in my family. The LH's tall gene reigns around here.

Short Hops: My children hope my dancing around the house is cut short. I make them laugh.

Short Stories: Mouse Basketball, Vole Vaulting, Runway Modeling School for Sparrows

Short Lists: Items I'm willing to pay full price for in stores

Short Stops: "Mom!, let me run into Walgreens! I'll just be a minute!!!"

Short Truth: Short people have more fun.

A Good Day with Good News

Good news! Our plumber came by today to fix a leak! We need him to dig up the water lines in both the front and back yard and check for leaks and replace pipe broken with the hurricane trees fell. He did one small repair but having him here made me happy.

You may wonder why ALL of our storm repairs are not finished this long after Katrina. We waited our "turn" so that others who were in trailers or displaced could get their repairs done. Even now, it is very difficult to find someone to do repairs. I've called our plumber to ask for his help every week except the two I spent out of town (Homie Fest and G.A.). He came today out of compassion rather than being available.

Our roof will get an estimate tomorrow and I assume this carpenter will do the work. One never knows if an estimate even gets your name on the List.

The door man made an appointment with me for 11 am. today but didn't show. Maybe next week. If I had a call from someone wanting 10 French doors replaced, I'd hustle over for the business but since I don't want all my interior doors and windows replaced, my order is small.

The plumber went up $15 dollars on his per hour charge. This happens all over the storm zone.
Materials go up; workers (if you can get them) charge more. The insurance industry plays with the idea of compensating homeowners more but I don't have the name of any homeowner for whom this has happened.

Surprised that the world is a crap zone down here? I suppose you are. I am 80 something miles east of New Orleans. I live just east of where the Big Girl hit.

It's time for Anderson Cooper to come down here again. The local newspaper says your President is considering his "11th" visit but those visits take our police off the local watch, cost the cities and towns money and, well, nothing happens. As we say down here, "it's a waste 'o time".

My new favorite expression here in the Zone is "I've run out of give a damn".

The hospital is putting on programs around the area to help parents with parenting in a disaster zone. The speaker is a big deal from Harvard who we are delighted to have visit us. He knows something about trauma and will bring some of his students. I love how people have come to help us! He'll do several lectures around the area and will speak to trauma issues for all of us. I hope to hear him tomorrow morning.

Yours,
St. Casserole

A Provoking Post

Disclaimer: What follows relates to parenting and interfering with someone else's child. You may be offended by this as we are all experts on parenting whether we have children or not.

Last night, at the Preacher's 4th of July/Birthday Party, one of our pastors blasted her two and 1/2 year old for begging for food. When I say "blasted", I mean that she used a tone of voice for a tiny child which made all of us uncomfortable. The volume hit the range often reserved for felony offenses by police officers chasing suspects through a parking lot. I'm not kidding.

The lil child began to cry so one of us picked her up and held her on his lap. The mother continued to blast and give reasons for why she was blasting the child. After listening to this for several minutes, the preacher turned the child away from the mother and faced her in my direction. We were sitting around a dining room table. As the mother ranted, the preacher quietly took pieces of the birthday cake and placed the cake in the child's hand. The mom didn't notice. Disclaimer #2: The child has no known allergies or chronic diseases. Sitting across from the mom and the cake-feeding-preacher, three other preachers watched the cake feeding and began to laugh. The mom didn't notice. The entire slice of cake was fed to the child who was delighted and when finished with the cake was ready to get down and go play with toys on the floor.

I laugh as I remember this from last night.

None of us wanted to set off the yelling preacher by suggesting that a loud tone of voice is best reserved for an emergency situation such as keeping a child from going into the street or away from a dangerous object.

We all gathered our stuff and headed out after the child ate the cake. LH and I couldn't take anymore of the fussing.

Having told this story, I realize that parents can get so upset they don't act in a reasonable manner. I suppose last night fell into this situation and Lord Knows I don't know what happened at the preacher's home several hours earlier which might have been broiling inside her.

It's still funny to me.

St. Casserole

I have a new desktop computer for my study. Here I am, wearing my Sunday Suit and my short old guy wig, standing in front of the new 'puter. Note the steering wheel so I can pretend I'm driving a truck if I become bored with just watching the lil guages.

Don't picture me in this get-up too often because I try not to dress up when I walk from our kitchen to the study or from our bedroom to the study. It's easier to wear jeans and silly t-shirts than to put on a tie and wear a short white old guy wig.

Happy to have a new computer,

St. C

This is plumbago. This plant survived Hurricane Katrina by hunkering down in our courtyard. Despite Cat 4-5 winds and 35 days of drought, Miss Plumbago grew into a very large bush and has rejoiced since late March with beautiful blue blooms.

Happy Fourth of July to all of you. We're going to Rachel's for burgers and such with the Preacher Group. Should be loud and fun since everyone's children will be there and these preachers are ALL extroverts.

St.Casserole Herself

Good morning! I am preaching on the Mark lectionary passage later this morning. I'm compelled to talk about God's goodness in healing suffering. Compelled as in driven forward to remind those who've heard and teach those who don't know this passage of God's loving care of those who suffer. I expect a small congregation because of holiday travel but I anticipate visitors coming with family members. I will turn on the floor fan in the pulpit area to full blast to cope with the heat. I may wear bare-toed sandals but I wear vestments year-round. May God bless you with clear diction, clear ideas and a jolt of passion as you preach this morning, dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ. Love, St. Casserole

Guest Blogger: Whistle

Whistle the Kitten here. I am going to be one year old in human years on August 28,2006. Please start buying me presents.

I am writing this essay to get out of trouble. I do not like it that P.P. Puppy gets Cat Cookies because she is a dog. Cat Cookies are for us. Not the dog. My mom says I am "Ungracious, stingy and should count my blessings." I am writing this essay to get out of trouble.

My Blessings by Whistle

I eat good cat food everyday and my Mom knows how to fix our cat food with warm water sometimes and I really like her cooking.

We get fresh wheat grass grown for us so we can have a salad bar. This grass is not coated with chemicals or anything gross. I like it. Indoor cats need a green snack everyday according to my Mom.

We get cat cookies everyday. They are called "greenies" on the package and I will do anything to get one. I stand on my back paws and do tricks to get Cat Cookies. The magic words to call me from anywhere are: "kitty, kitty, kitty, CAT COOKIES!!!!"

My people love me. I sit with them if they are sad or tired or crabby. They know just how to rub my ears and scratch under my chin.

We have a fancy litter box and know how to use it. Our Aunt LLS could say of us that we are "good producers".

I am on school vacation now because our Catechetics Class is on summer break.

My mom bought sixty furry mice on eBay and I like them. If I am very good, I get a new mouse. She has about 55 of them left because I am not being "gracious" enough.

We have a big box of furry mice in our house. This merits another mention in the blessing essay.

We have a summer reading program. First book is "Cat in the Hat"; second is "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Mom says to ask you what we should read next.

Whew! I'm sleepy and need another morning nap. I hope I get out of trouble.
Remember, only a few days of shopping left until my birthday.

Love,

Whistle the Kitten

Dear Uncle Pollard, Thanks for your kind note about the G.A. I did have a good time seeing friends from around the country and enjoyed being roomies with Cheesehead. I'm sorry you and Aunt Cordie didn't get to meet her. If I'd known you all were going to be at the big communion service, we could have met up afterwards. I loved seeing all "mighty cloud of witnesses" coming into the worship area in their ethnic dress. I was wearing my ethnic dress of black slacks, jacket and big hair! I'm having trouble doing proper indention on this laptop of Mr. C's. Cheesehead has a birthday laptop which I got to play with a bit and now I'm thinking I need one, too. Mr. C. is suspicious of my longing for all the toys of my RGBPs (like my Christmas request for a Bearnaise Mountain Dog with Portable Air/Conditioner Back Pack). I'm not sure how to work this durn laptop. Hope you can read this. You asked how I felt about the Big Vote. I think I can discuss it now. Took a few days to think about it before I could respond. My congregation didn't have any interest in it because they don't think it will make any difference to them and as a tiny minority in Tiny Town, they don't worry what other people think. I've been surprised (do I have NO sense of history???) with the vehement response of others around the country. Let's invent a new denomination! Let's decide that we have the ability to know God's heart completely and decide what God wants! Let's go whoop it up with only like-minded folks because that is easier and more comfortable! Let's add to the general sense of malaise and fear in the U.S. by going off and leaving our "cousins" behind! Let's play "I'm MORE HOLY than YOU are!" Sarcasm aside, do people have NO sense of church history? As you and Aunt Cordie have noticed, Mr. C. and I associate with a wide variety of people. Often the only common denoninator between our friends is knowing us. We aren't X politically but we have close pals who are X's. We don't think of ourselves as "Y" theologically but associate with people who are and love them. We don't make friends so that we can consider ourselves diverse, we just love the people God has given into our hands. For all those who think they are too righteous to associate with us, how will they ever love us into understanding our position or even us. Go figure. Do you recall that summer several years ago when every church began joining the movement named after D. Bonhoeffer's movement in Germany? That summer, churches took the name of that movement and joined together to make sure that everyone knew how righteous they were. It bothered me that they used Bonhoeffer's movement name without regard to the sacrfices made in Germany. I think the summer boredom got to the preachers so they fired up the 'puters, 'phones and faxes to make sure they had a party. What's going on now, after the G.A. is different but similar in it's high school intensity to make it clear who is in the "in crowd" and who is not. Mr. C. is taking the laptop off to work so I have to stop. Love to Aunt Cordie. Come see us, ok? Love, St. Casserole

Today is a Special Day for Me

Today I celebrate the Twenty-eighth anniversary of my ordination to the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments. Thanks be to God for these years! I'll be singing "Be Thou My Vision" today as I recall my ordination service.

Crabby Comments #679

+ Children who ask to go spend-the-night after 8:30 pm. with friends we don't know. There is a rule against this. What's the problem with remembering it?

+ Winning a prize at the local home show that includes one hour of free design advice. EVERYONE won this prize.

+Having two sermons ready for tomorrow but knowing the expectation is that I will discuss the GA.

+Wondering if, during the Trinity paper discussion, "Dad, Lad and Glad" was considered as alternate language.

+Enjoying the Wilson brothers, but wondering if Luke and Owen, will be in EVERY DURN MOVIE forever.

+Cleaning up the kitchen more than twice a day.

+Having McRae's turn into Belk's so we have TWO Belk stores here both full of the most ordinary clothing imaginable. Wish Peacebang would bring her fashion posse and fix this.

+Tired of being hot two days into official Summer.

Crabbily,

St. Crab, I mean Casserole

Home Again

I'm glad to be home. LH, LD and the kitties welcomed me as I burst into our house with bags of G.A. papers and luggage. LD commented that "having a mom around is good" so I may have a few days free of the 14 year old EVIL EYE (or so I hope!).

I ran out of clothes at the G.A. because I assumed that B'ham had shopping opps near the convention center. No such luck. Cheese looked fresh and pretty everyday. I did not. I raced to wash clothes last night and in my excitement washed LD's wallet. His paper money is fresh and clean, so are his ruined saved receipts. Oh, well...

It's time to write my sermon. I've been a lazy gal this week so I'm hunkered in my study with my Bible, a newspaper and coffee. (I made the newspaper part up. I read the paper earlier but I was pretending to be Barth.)

Glad to be home,

St. Casserole

Who would have thought it?

Having a very long week at the G.A. Days drag then fly then stop. I'm ready to go home. Cheese is a fun roommate who knows everyone in the Church so I've enjoyed meeting her seminary pals, colleagues back upNorth and so on. We go back to the Grand Hotel to count police cars and see how the parking lot girls are doing. I'm not sleeping well here. It's hot then hotter.

Because I'm intuitive and care-worn by the Storm, I pick up on feelings floating around the Assembly. I feel so very sorry for those who believe that their church is now lost and I feel sorry for those who do not worry about those who feel that their church is lost. No one wins here. Our national life is mission, not rules. You heard me say it here.

What we say and do shows what we think about God. Our fractiousness is not a good witness to anyone.

It's not easy to tear this laptop out of Cheese's paws. I have it this morning because I sent her downstairs to get milk for our dreadfully strong coffee. I locked the door. If I keep the CNN news turned up high, I can finish this post without hearing her cries to be allowed back into the room.

The two of us had dinner last night at an updown diner (like the Buckhead Diner in Atlanta, Songbird) with NotShy. He is a dear and if the world made sense, he would live in my neighborhood. I loved sitting at the table with Cheese and NotShy, looking from one face to the other, and thinking about how much larger my world is because of the RGBPs.

I'll be going home tomorrow. Blessings to each of you,

St.Casserole

Dear Mr. C:
I hope you are having a good morning. Did the kitties wake you this morning? I'm hoping that Fish the Kitten was outside the courtyard door meowing for kitty bits at dawn. I hope he's ok.
I have the feeling that others are reading this, so I'll be discrete and not mention references to W.H.Auden poems which we use as code. However, I do want to remind you of a quotation from Pascal, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it for religious conviction." Seems appropriate at a meeting where the general flavor is protecting God and Jesus and the Church from the evil of others. People are worried about the "others" here and I stand confused.
The Lovely Hotel parking lot screamed last night with motorcycle contests, the stairway outside of our room was the scene of a loud argument between intoxicated persons and then there was the gentle stream of loud emergency vehicles on the nearby interstate. When I say "nearby" interstate, I mean it. Someone threw out a beer can from a passing truck and hit our door with it. Cheesehead slept through these noises because she has a pure heart. I heard all of it.
She's making me iron my clothing for the GA. She looks presentable so I'm supposed to look the same. We're off to get a glimpse of the Kingdom soon, so I have to go.

Love to you and all in the disaster zone,

St. C.

Dear Mr. C,

I apologize for addressing you in this formal manner but there may be others reading this letter. We live in a world where our government listens to phone conversations and now the police may enter our homes and whatever they find may be used as evidence whether or not the
it is specified in a warrant. Or so I read in my complimentary copy of USA TODAY in our very elegant hotel.
Here in Birmingham, the living is very Southern although the large highway billboards with "I POOTED" make me uncomfortable. Rather crude for public view to my mind.
Anyway, thanks for the jewelry you bought me today at the Unclaimed Luggage in Scottsboro. I drove up into the mountains this morning to make a pastoral visit and just happened to stop there. I had no idea that sterling bangle was a James Avery until I louped it back home.
I hope that Fish the Kitten is home by the time you read this. I worry about my lil fur balls being outside and facing danger. Please take his keys away when he comes home.
I'm doing my best to have a happy attitude about the GA. I'm delighted with my roommate here at the Grand Hotel, Cheesehead. She's fun and we are swigging Diet Cokes and talking shop.
I have more to say but I can't remember. I'm tired after a long day. I miss you and I'm not coming home this weekend. The GA doesn't end until next Thursday. I thought I told you this. I hope the chil'run behave, the cats don't blog and your dog remains continent.

Love,

St. Casserole

Here I Am

I'm off to the G.A. in Birmingham this morning. I'll be rooming with Cheesehead who said she'll be bringing an extra suitcase of cute shoes. Oh! The competition! I'm sure she'll win but I'll do my best.

Since I wrote last, I've had computer link troubles, a stomach virus and I-can't-remember-what. I've missed you.

More when I return,

St. Casserole

RGBP Friday Five Rain

Whereas Songbird's world is full of rainy days, down here we are in a drought. We are inches behind in our rain amounts for 2006 and unless your root system is good or you are a grow-any-where weed, you are slumped over half-dead with dry.

1. Favorite way to spend a rainy day
In bed reading a good book.

2. Favorite song about rain
Itsy Bitsy Spider in Carly Simon's voice

3. Favorite movie featuring rain
That Sandra Bullock movie where she crashes a wedding. What is it called?

4. Favorite piece of raingear, past or present
Talbot's long yellow rain slicker with matching hat. Goofy but I re-live my fantasy job as a crossing guard at the elementary school when I wear it.

Happy Friday to each of you and thanks, Songbird.

St. Casserole

Semi-pelagian Narrower Catechism

Go see this post. Thanks to Maggie Dawn. http://maniladrive.blogspot.com/2005/02/semi-pelagian-narrower-catechism.html

The View From Here

Wish I had pictures for this posting. The Coast is showing signs of recovery after the Storm. My view is from the small city in the middle of the coastal area which leaves out many destroyed areas to the West.

Businesses north of the tracks have re-opened in many areas. We wait for service at the pharmacy, restaurants and other service businesses because of the staff shortages. I worry that the few nursing homes don't have enough staff to take care of patients. The large church retirement home will close again and re-build farther north. Other retirement facilities are damaged. Big national stores are open, the smaller stores are having a difficult time.

Several more homes in my neighborhood are gone, torn down because they couldn't be re-built. Other homes are occupied again. Most have work going on in them and we see fewer blue roofs in this immediate area. My repairs are not done as yet because I cannot get a carpenter, a plumber, or an electrician to set foot on this property of if they do come by, I cannot get them to return. Since we are able to live in our house, I have no complaint. The pitiful folks are those with torn out homes and no builders.

People are tired of the trailers given out after the storm. The trailers are tiny, loud, not safe in thunderstorms and make family life a misery. The jolly "we'll do fine!!!" attitude is drifting into feeling nothing about anything.

I received a pal's church newsletter this week. The newsletter is a list of who left the area, new addresses for those who stayed and then a long list of those who no one can find. Think about how it is to do ministry under these circumstances.

I see that Big Seminaries are planning conferences on "Dealing with Disasters" and I wonder WHO DID THEY TALK WITH DOWN HERE? None of my colleagues seem to know who or what or how the Big Sems are offering these events without speaking with us.

At the Presbyterian Women's Birthday Offering dinner last night at LH's church, listening to the President review the past year made me tear up. Even though she made every effort to spin the events into positives, I heard the suffering of lost homes, displaced lives, shattered spirits and death in her voice.
The fact that we gals sat there dressed up and eating salads made the poignancy of the moment overwhelming.

Having said the above, we remain convinced that God is working on our behalf and in our lives in powerful ways to bring about the transformation God has for each of us.

Candidly,
St. Casserole

My Text for the Red Tent Preaching Conference

My text for the RED TENT PREACHING CONFERENCE will be Psalm 102:3b:

For my days drift away like smoke,
and my bones are hot as burning coals.

I'm preparing the definitive sermon on the theology of hot flashes.

What are you preaching about at the Conference?

Yikes,
St. Casserole

News Bulletin Fish Runs Outside, Owner Upset

Fish, a 9 month old ginger kitten was reported missing by his owner this morning. "He shot out the door before I could grab him!" boo-hoo'd M. Casserole.

The kitten, well-known for his curiosity and energy, was last seen running to the left of the Casserole home. Attempts to catch him without falling over the brick debris in the dark failed. M. Casserole called out the traditional, "Cat Cookies! Cat Cookies" but at 4:10 am. she kept her volume down to avoid upsetting her neighbors.

Fish's brother, Whistle, is disturbed by his brother's absence. "He's gonna get in big trouble, I think," said the almost matching ginger cat. "I've gotten six Cat Cookies already because our Mom is upset."

Local cat finder, LD circled the block of homes in Fish's neighborhood speaking to neighbors about Fish's disappearance.

This story will be updated later this evening.

Happy June 1st !

Summer is a great time to catch up on stuff you couldn't get done during the regular year. Or, at least I think it is. Our home hops year round with activity.

The children are out of school so I have more time with them. I like this although LS is busy with his work and his friends. LD went to a church meeting with me yesterday in Hancock County. We met in the sanctuary where she found a distant pew to nap upon.

I like to stay up all night to read through a book. Summer is great for this. I like to eat snow cones/SnoCones at least once during the season.

What would I do if I had all the time in the world?

Write a book with photographs about backyard weeds. Here in my established yard, we have a variety of weeds whose names I do not know. I can identify dollar grass, Monk's head hibiscus and devil weed but I don't know the correct names.

Start an antique jewelry club to learn more about the old stuff.

Have people to dinner once a week.

Spend long hours in a studio making my found object boxes.

Travel on a banana boat to South America.

What would you do? You can add activities of great meaning like healing the sick around the world and memorizing the OT but put some fun stuff for yourself in your list, too.

Waving a Banana Leaf at Y'all,

St. Casserole

Thanks to Cheesehead for these questions. I'm late to the party in answering but here I am:

What do you wear on a typical (non-Sunday) day of work?
Casual clothing but not messy.

Open toed shoes: gifts from God or an abomination? (Pedicures assumed, of course. We are not animals, after all.)
I wear sandals from April till Chill (October?). It's too hot for hosiery here and I'm not going to wear hosiery and be miserable. Pedicures are a must. No one comments on my sandals and bare feet sticking out from my alb. At least not to me.

The right to bare arms: do we have it?
I don't bare my arms often. Depends on the outfit. Covering up my RGBP tattoo is difficult but I know that not everyone is into heavy tattoo-ing.

It's 90 degrees with 90% humidity in the Snow Belt in late May. Quick--robe or no robe?
If the a/c is broken, no robe. Otherwise, I preach in a Geneva gown or alb.

Would you ever wear jeans or casual pants to church on a non-Sunday?
Our Session meetings are during the week and I don't dress up for them. Pressed linen outfit, etc. is dressed-up enough.

Has your congregation ever expressed wardrobe
This part of the questions didn't make the "copy" but I'm to answer if my congregation comments on my appearance. If I've gotten a new haircut, new outfit or wear lots of color in my street clothing, someone will compliment me. I wear black most of the time so color is noticed.

I asked at the F of Homies if my gal pals wore trousers while preaching. I was a bit taken aback that most seemed to wear dresses or skirts. I wear dressy trousers and tops but not suits or church dresses. I'm sick of those kinds of clothing: hot, uncomfortable and etc. I asked one of the church matriarchs if I was dressed appropriately for worship and she looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course you look fine!". Good enough for me.

Glad to be here,

St. Casserole

Dear Uncle Parsnip,
Thanks for your call tonight. I'm sorry that you had to get off the phone before I got to tell you how I am doing. Like you, I don't know why the people of Bunion Parish like to do fireworks and shoot shotguns on Memorial Day. You'd think they save all that noise for Fourth of July. I hope the dogs calmed down when you brought them inside.
I decided to write you rather than return your call because LD is on the phone and I had these new notecards with cats wearing clerical collars. You could show it to LuGene because she may think its funny.
Last week, I was grumbling about needing an extra day in the week to get all my stuff done. Today was like an extra day to get the car washed, do some gardening and so on. I had lunch with Patty, took a nap in the afternoon and then had dinner with LH and LD. A great day!
I celebrate Memorial Day all year long so I don't want to sit outside in the heat with bugs and eat a burger to remind myself of war. I wish Memorial Day would emphasize the misery and terror or war all day long. I told LuGene about my friend who served two tours in Iraq and suffers horrors now. Breaks my heart. When I see young people in the military I despair. I understand the reasons too well for us to use our young men and women as fodder for economic issues that don't do anything for the soldiers but damage them.
I mourn all the losses of men and women through the years who served at the request of our country. I hate it, too.
Come see us. We'd love to have you stay with us for a night or two on your way to Puddin's.

Fondly,
St. Casserole

Monday Courtyard Gardening Report

Between the wings of our home we have a brick courtyard which is home to pots of flowers. The courtyard was designed around a low deck which has since gone the way of all outdoor wood on the Gulf Coast. It's just too humid here for wood, even treated wood, to last more than 15 years or so. One end of the courtyard has a rectangular open area for in-ground plantings.

This morning, as I watered the pots, I noticed that a pot has sprouted a unknown plant. I wish I remembered plant names because yesterday I received two more of these unknowns. My dear church member gave me nine daylillies and two unknowns. The pot unknown survived Katrina hidden deep in the potting soil. I know this is true because the lil plant is wearing a "Katrina Blows" t-shirt. Both of the Shasta daisies wear the t-shirts as do many others. These survivors are here in my yard as well as all across the Coast. Some hid deep in the dirt and for reasons known only to micro climates and God, survived the winds, surging waters and downed trees to bloom now. I feel a sermon illustration coming on but can't quite put it too words.

The plumbago and hydrangeas are exultant with blooms. The phlox, heathers, hybiscus and ferns thrill me. I'd name all the pretty plants if I could recall the names.

I'll be digging today and tucking daylilies into the ground. The LH plans to hit golf balls, LD will be rehearsing the Bible School play and LS will sleep late then wander off to cook at the movie theater. The head cook made him pull up his long red curls into a top knot which looks so goofy I can hardly stand it. LS doesn't mind it. Wouldn't a haircut be easier?

The kittens have a movie review of MI:III for the blog but when I asked if they were ready to write it, they began beating the stuffing out of each other over how many blowup scenes the movie has. When things calm down, if they ever do, you'll hear from them.

If you need me, I'll be the gal in the "Life is Good" t-shirt out front with the shovel.

Devotedly,

St. Casserole

Lord, how majestic is your handiwork!

My early morning look at the sky as I stand outside in the morning light and looking upward (where the pine grove used to be) is a pleasure to me. I begin my morning prayers then roll my mind around my plans for the day.

I become distracted more often than not by what I have to do for the day.

You'd think I'd have a disciplined mind after all these years of praying but distractions come along.

Praying into the distractions makes sense because who knows if the Spirit is bringing people and plans into my mind for Her reason. However, is this an excuse for a wandering mind?

Today I am distracted by thoughts of relationships which could be better or healed or whatever. I finished my upward stare and went back inside without seeing the early morning sky. Light clouds against the gray sky of early morning, the sound of birds and the early croaking of lovey frogs didn't enter my consciousness until I closed the door. I forgot to pray!

Letting you know how it is,

St. Casserole

Tonight

Do not call me. Do not need me. Do not come to my home between 6:45pm. and the end of American Idol, Central Standard Daylight Time.

I am watching the final AI to cheer my Taylor Hicks. Do not get between me and the television during that time.

I've ordered supper from our family chef, M. Pizzuh Hutt, so that I will be free to holler and hoot at the Boy From Birmingham.

Thank you,

St.Casserole

Yoo hoo! I'm over here under the pile of To-Do Lists and Must-Be-Completed-this-Minute Agendas. Can you see my RGBP crown emerging from the detritus?

Just when I thought it was safe to get out my supplies for making boxes, I got hit with urgent phone calls, demands and so on.

Rats, I say, RATS. (1)

Love,
St.Casserole

(1) The use of the word "rats" implies no violence, disrespect or bluetone towards rodents or their agents.

The Festival of Homies was fabulous. The picture above is from the Peachtree Rd. UMC Sanctuary which is a big, big place.

Great sermons, good worship, lovely music, new friends, meeting RevGals face-to-face, lots of food and time with Songbird; a refreshing time for me away from Hurricane Disaster Area.

I returned to a disheveled house, grateful children and a worn-out spouse. The kittens look like youth cats these days and they were glad to see me. In honor of my return, P.P. Puppy pooped three times yesterday...

Yours,
St. Casserole

Preaching camp is great! I'm glad I drove to Atlanta for a week of sermons, lectures and music. I've loved all the speakers and tomorrow (!!!) I hear James Forbes. So excited! So happy! So full of ideas, images and hope!

Meeting RGBPs amazes me. I hugged Cheesehead several times when I met her. Couldn't help myself! RevMommy is here and I've hugged her, too. We four (Songbird is sitting behind me knitting as I write this) will have breakfast tomorrow morning.

Wish you all could be here. Wish LH could share the good meals, hear these brilliant speakers and enjoy the cool Atlanta weather with me. He's home taking care of the children and pets, etc.

Take care of yourself,

St. C

Mother's Day Pastoral Prayers, Prayers of the People and etc.

For many years, I detested Mother's Day in worship because I felt excluded. My husband and I were in infertility treatment for six years without success. Every year, I would boil to a rage thinking of the insensitivity of those who mentioned Mother's Day in worship.

As one who leads worship, I pray thanking God for mothers, those who would like to be mothers but cannot, for those who've lost children through death or circumstances, for women who are like mothers to us and for a better world for girls to grow up to be mothers if they so choose.

It's tacky to exclude people in worship. You heard it here first.

A Mother Who Does Not Wear Sensible Shoes,

St. Casserole

St. Teresa of Avila as a foundation for her ministry:

'Christ has no body now on earth but yours/
No hands but yours/No feet but yours/
Yours are the eyes through which God's compassion will look upon the world/
Yours are the feet with which God will go about doing good/
Yours are the hands with which God will bless others now.'

Pondering this,

St. C

Good News About Hurricane Relief from PCUSANEWS listserv

You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS listserv of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
=================================================
06260May 10, 2006
PDA unveils $14 million response plan for ‘05 hurricanes
Volunteer villages are key to recovery
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE — Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has announced a seven-year $14.4 million budget for funding ongoing relief efforts in the aftermath of last year’s devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes.
The "long-term strategic allocation" will guide the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s response to the disasters in Mississippi and Louisiana through at least 2013, according to Susan Ryan, PDA’s coordinator.
"The area of need is larger than Great Britain," she said.
Funding for the long-term relief plan, which received General Assembly Council approval last month, comes from the remainder of a record-setting $23 million in contributions raised by PDA in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
Only $4.5 million of that money has been allocated so far, a timetable Ryan said was purposely "frontloaded" to keep PDA’s long-term response strong as financial contributions fade along with the public’s memory of the disaster.
"We don’t have a U.S. model for a response of this size and complexity," she said. "But based on our analysis of the need and our experiences over the last decade, the volume of work ahead will require at least seven more years of repair, rebuilding and interpersonal services."Central to the spending plan is the continued operation of six PDA-sponsored volunteer villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, the first of which opened last September in Gautier (pronounced go-shay), MS. Each site houses work teams from churches across the country helping with the recovery.
"We encourage churches to … send recovery teams to the hurricane zone," Ryan said of the storm-battered region where many homes, businesses and hotels were either damaged or destroyed. "The key piece to this one in the Gulf is that there has to be places for people to stay and work. And that’s costly."
Ryan said a single volunteer village cost about $8,500 a month to operate, but emphasized how the value of volunteer labor can quickly add up. She said in March alone the six villages hosted 1,890 volunteers who contributed 11,698 days of labor valued at $1.48 million.
Ryan said operation of the villages also leverages funds in terms of improved purchasing controls, quantity discounts, and could soon become a model for future PDA responses.
"We’ve created safe, organized, predictable environments where volunteers can come with reasonable expectations that their time, talent and material will be put to good use," she said.
The hurricane response budget includes relief and rebuilding money for five presbyteries located in the heart of the storm-damaged areas, including $4 million to support the recovery of Presbyterian congregations in impacted areas and to support their staffs.
"That’s not jut bricks and mortar," said the Rev. John Robinson, PDA’s associate for disaster response in the United States. "That’s about facilitating presbyteries looking at how to reconstitute congregations."
Funds to help rebuild communities as well as churches are included in the budget along with a reserve to cover future needs that could emerge as recovery efforts continue to unfold, PDA said.
"We have to keep some funds in reserve because this is an eight, maybe even a 10-year response and we need to monitor this as it goes along," Robinson said.
The seven-year budget, which eventually could be extended, represents the first time PDA has estimated needs for a domestic disaster beyond two to three years, Ryan said.
Any interest accrued by the contributions will be plowed back into the ongoing recovery effort. Funds received for 2005 hurricanes will not be used for other disasters, Ryan and Robinson insisted.
"It all folds back into the response for which it was designated," Robinson said.
For more information about registering a work team call PDA’s national call center at 866-732-6121.
Contributions for hurricane relief may be sent through normal mission-giving channels by designating gifts for the following account: U.S. hurricane response, DR000169. Gifts by credit card can be made by calling PresbyTel at (800)872-3283, or online at http://www.pcusa.org/pda/donate/accounts.htm. Checks payable to the PC(USA) can be mailed to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Central Receiving, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY, 40202.

Don't forget to switch that lil switch thingie on the ceiling fan so it rotates in the other direction and cools you off.

Thinking of you,

St. Casserole

Even An Ill Wind Blows Some Good

This Shasta Daisy sprang up in a flower pot in our courtyard. The seeds, deep within the pot, survived Hurricane Katrina's ill winds. So beautiful and so good for my soul to see.

Love,
St. Casserole

How To Be Happy

Eat
Play
Nap with your brother.

Think about it,
Whistle and Fish

Letters, We Get Letters

"I note with dismay that your blog discusses your pedicures. There are more important issues in the world than that."

Like what?

"Your readers are happy that you are attending the Festival of Homiletics.
Your reference to this great event as "the festival of homies" is disturbing. Many of us think that you can't spell "homiletics" without an open dictionary.
I know you and you told me once that you couldn't spell "resurrection" without help until your third year of seminary...."

So Whot?

"I'm trying to discern a call to ministry. I like to read your blog and think about what your life must be like as a pastor. Do you date?

Say What?

----St. Casserole Mail Room

My people drove to New Orleans this morning for a day of Jazz Fest.
I'm at home because of a headache, a sermon, the bulletin and because the idea of a full day outside in the dusty heat with Porta-lets appeals to me like zip.

Thank you to everyone who goes to Jazz Fest, stays in New Orleans' hotels and spends money like water on good food, souvenirs and big-ticket items. The City needs your presence and your money.

Thank you, Bruce Springsteen, for coming last weekend and singing your heart about the City Who Care Forgot.

Thank you, LH, for taking my people to New Orleans today and giving me a quiet house to think and write and just be.

Blessed be,

St. Casserole

Life in the Katrina Zone No.879

From serious to silly:

The major department store is closed still but no word from them as to when they will re-open. No effort is made to reassure customers.

No bookstore, except used paperbacks. Paperbacks smell of mold. Charity shops have books but the mold smell is there, too.

If you are marginally housed, it gets worse. Couples stay together because housing is unavailable. Domestic violence increases.

Children who've been thrown from pillar to post get academic awards. I find this amazing.

If you need to put Ma or Pa in a nursing home or assisted living facility, you'll have to displace them further by driving hours to get them a place. We don't have the infrastructure for the elderly anymore.

You overhear a conversation between physicians discussing how the government should give a subsidy to doctors because the amenities of a doctor's life are impaired and doctors are leaving the area.

You wait in long lines for everything.

You think of New Orleans and want to cry. Not for the first time.

Nationally, people think that we've rebuilt and life is just great down here.

The post office is open and doing o.k.

P and C 1, along with P and C 2 are waiting for their homes to be finished. Great stress in being out of one's home.

Post Traumatic Stress kicked in around Month 6. Observing friends and acquaintances cope is painful. Some are doing so very well, others are not coping anymore.

We should get free depression meds. Use us for a group study.

Mr. W. stopped drinking, cleaned up his life, began working and re-established good relationships with is children. Praise God!

Every guest preacher from beyond the Zone preaches the same sermon about how God loves us and God's Purpose is Being Worked Out Even in the Destruction. Some of the sermons are quite good.

If you don't live here, you don't understand. This is said often. Not a good thing to think but true in many respects.

I need more coffee....

Yours,

St. Casserole

In Praise of Seersucker

If you live where the temperature hits 89 on May 2, you'd praise seersucker, too.
Seersucker, that odd fabric with the weird name which invokes both prophetic and stupid simultaneously, is the perfect Deep South cloth. Linen comes in second.

I found a "vintage" seersucker summer cover for LD's bed at a garage sale. I wish I could find one for our bed. The feel of seersucker and it's ability to cool you off just by touching it appeals to me.

LH, dressing for the office, began rummaging for his blue and white seersucker pants. We remembered that the pants had been tossed to the Garbage Truck because after years of faithful wearing, they dis-integrated. A man needs seersucker down heah. LH is looking for a new seersucker suit. I'll powder his white bucks for him when he finds the new suit. Nothing quite as pretty as a cute man in a seersucker suit on a hot Southern day.

I bought a seersucker nightgown after a long search this week. Not easy to find since night clothes makers design the most butt-ugly stuff out of wretched fabrics then charge high prices. I'm not pleased with the night clothing industry.

At Presbytery yesterday, I saw two older women wearing seersucker dresses. One looked like the polyester seersucker of years past and probably was. We Presbyterians don't let go of much and if a dress looked good in '73, we keep wearing it (cf. seersucker pants of earlier paragraph). The other woman's dress was the GREAT seersucker made without polyester. It was a shirt waist dress which one doesn't see much of these days. I loved the shirt waist style dresses of years ago but when I tried on a madras shirtwaist with full skirt from the thrift store, I looked like the old women of the '70s. Do not let me refer to myself as an old woman in print ever again.

Air-conditioning, that gift from God Almighty, probably made seersucker unfashionable. I wish I could find non-obnoxious style clothing in that cool fabric to make it through the coming Summer.

Grateful for Ceiling Fans in Every Room,

St. Casserole

A Quiz for Faithful Readers of This Blog Although No Real Clues Appear in the Blog, Ok?

Here is the list of speakers:

Of these, who is my favorite preacher?
Who am I eager to hear?
Who I have I heard the most often?
Which speaker's books are on my study shelves?
Which speaker publishes his/her every thought AND blogs?
Which speaker (s) are unfamilar to me and could be stuffed bunny rabbits for all I know?

Speakers for the 2006 Festival of Homiletics
Barbara Brown Taylor
Thomas Long
Barbara Lundblad
Peter Gomes
Valerie Tutson
Ysaye Barnwell (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
Anna Carter Florence
James Forbes
William Willimon
Roberta Bondi
Adam Hamilton
Grace Imathiu (Festival Host)
Joanna Adams
Frank Thomas
Dwight Andrews Quintet
Gary Charles
David Lose
Don Saliers
Donald Davis
Barbara McBride Smith
Kenneth Samuel
Victory UCC Choir
Marilyn Hauser Hamm
Don Harp Troy Bronsink

Unlike my sister-blogger, Mindy, there are no prizes only the deep satisfaction of winning.

Giggling with uncharacteristic freedom,

St. C

We are nine months and two days old.
We are off secret double probation lock-down.
We did what you suggested. We purred and snuggled.

What did you get us for our birthday?

Whistle and Fish, Almost Big Cats

Beginning to Listen, Still Not Hearing

The Sun Herald 04/30/2006 Staying with animals in Katrina was a deadly choice for some, and the hurricane left other owners seeking

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five on Saturday

What do I do to avoid doing what I have to do?
I am a master at procrastination.

Favorite ways to Procrastinate Like A Pro:

1. Look at 500 sterling bracelets for sale on eBay.
2. Shuffle papers.
3. Admire my books and wander off with one.
4. Stare at the backyard.
5. Take a nap.

Let's just say that it's past 8 pm. on Saturday night and I've got a not-quite-jelled revision of my sermon for tomorrow morning, so I'm blogging.

Yours,
St. Casserole

I forage on Saturday mornings at estate and garage sales. For the past few weeks, the sales were rotten so my Garage Sale Buddy and I quit early to go to Big Buffet Breakfasts at one of the re-opened Casinos.

Eleven years ago, our poor area welcomed dockside gambling. Dockside means that the casinos perched on barges on our Coastline with their hotels on land nearby.

Overnight, people got jobs, health care and benefits. Auxiliary businesses flourished. Things got better.

What didn't get better at the beginning and what isn't better now is the White Elephant We Don't Discuss.

MawMaw and PawPaw flooded into the casinos to spend the day playing slots, black jack and etc. Young people got good-paying jobs without needing an education. People who can't control gambling lost homes, families and themselves. People bragged about winnings, didn't mention losses. No one remembers as they gamble that the House always wins.

Presbyterians are clear about why gambling isn't good for people. You can look through the papers offered on the PCUSA website about gambling.

Many casino workers belong to churches. The casino jobs produce income that may end up in offering plates. Some congregations accommodate the 24/7 work schedules of casino workers by offering services on Saturdays or during the weeks. Other churches remain stuck with a 11 am. Sunday morning service only.

What we enlightened Reformed Christians do not discuss is that gambling is an activity that presupposes that the work of one's hands, ie. money earned, is of such little value that "playing" with it is entertainment. Gambling is marketed as a "family destination" or "gaming" as though the slot machines and roulette wheels are a great thing that our children can aspire to do as adults.

Yuk.

I suppose that life without gambling in some form is not possible today. We gamble with insurance, the financial markets and more. We take chances everyday and perhaps gambling is a controlled way of handling our anxiety about all the things we cannot control.

However...

It's just durn tacky to make a social occasion out of going to a casino and gambling. From the garishly patterned carpets to the abysmal interior design of the buildings, the entire enterprise reeks of tacky. Can we not find another form of entertainment that builds community and contributes to our well-being?

Thinking,

St. Casserole

Why We Are In Trouble
by Whistle and Fish the Kittens

It just happened. I know I didn't do it.
We heard a noise and the lamp hit the bricks. It made a mess!
We are in deep trouble. Don't text message us or phone us. We lost our cell phone "until we learn to be better behaved kitties". We can't watch TV or listen to our ipods, either. We are in lock-down double secret probation. I bet Whistle did it! He looks like the type who breaks lamps! I know that Fish did it! He is wild!
We have to go.
I don't think SHE will let us use the computer for a long, long time.

Could you send us cat treats? We are in BIG trouble.

Sincerely yours,

Whistle and Fish

Marshall Ramsey, Editorial cartoonist for the Clarion-Ledger, gets it right again.

Not laughing,

St. Casserole

Happy Anniversary to us!
Happy Anniversary to us!
Happy Anniversary, dear Casseroles!
Happy Anniversary to us!

Twenty-five years ago, at a morning worship service, I walked down the aisle holding my father's arm and greeted my pre-LH. My senior pastor and a Presbytery staffer prayed and spoke to us. We said our vows and exchanged rings. My ring was dated 1881 and was from "Ella to Thomas", his ring belonged to his grandfather.

Thus we began our hopes and dreams on a Sunday morning in a church as packed as it could be. A Sunday school room served as the reception area. We left for a wedding lunch at a nearby club.

We honeymooned for two nights at a bed-and-breakfast in the Quarter then both of us returned to work.

I led a retreat for the congregation 5 days later and when someone called me, "Mrs. Casserole", I didn't answer. Didn't recognize the name as mine. Finally, the church member tapped me on the shoulder and we laughed.

Thank you, God, for all these years together. Thank you for the grace to live and love and be with my dearest heart mate. Through plenty and want, joy and sorrow, You sustained us to this day. With grateful hearts, we say "amen".

Lewis M. Henderson, of Carrboro, died Thursday, April 20. Born in 1988, Lewis was 18 or 88 in human years. A native of Durham County, he lived in Durham and Carrboro.
Lewis was a cat of superb phyicality. He maintained his youthful tuxedo looks all of his life. As the years went by, he developed a chronic disease. During the years of his treatment, he displayed a calm dignity and good humor which was a model for all who knew him.
As a young kitten Lewis enjoyed egg rolls as a treat while later, his favorite food was hand-fed surf and turf.
He shared his home with "his" Bea, who adored him. The two cats made their home playful and entertaining for their humans.
Ever adaptable, he welcomed kittens from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to his home after Hurricane Katrina. Because the kittens were eating kitten chow, Lewis ate kitten food with them. Greatly admired by his young cousins, he allowed the kittens to follow him around, nap near him and mimic his every move. A cat of lesser patience would not have accommodated the kittenish antics of the evacuees but Lewis, ever the gentleman, did.
Lewis was loved by three generations of humans. He was known to family and friends as a beautiful cat whose large eyes and great roaring purr were known to calm even the most distressed human.
He was a good companion to his owners. He head butted his primary human and rubbed against her legs. She provided for him well as he did for her. A comfort in trouble, a companion in joy, Lewis leaves many friends around the country, who, when they think of him will say "Good Cat".
At his death, Lewis gave one last great purr then slipped into mystery. His cremated remains will be kept at his home.

I'm Home

The Pastor's retreat to Florida was lovely. Seeing undamaged buildings, no debris piles and gorgeous landscaping helps placate my eyes. For three days, until yesterday afternoon when we returned home, I didn't see evidence of the Storm.

Coming home to abandoned water heaters leaned up against gutted homes, debris piles of limbs, stumps and demolished sheet rock felt dreadful. The retreat area looked like a disney fantasy area. Home to the storm area is ugly.

Several of my readers comment that I don't blog much these days. Lent/Easter kept me busy with other things but ministry isn't the entire reason I've been silent. Trying to spare you the incessant reflections on the storm kept me from writing here. The writer's maxim of "write what you know" must be true at this time in my life because I can't write about much else than storm stuff.

I'm fighting depression, weariness and trying to be cheerful for others when I feel like running away. This is as close to the truth as I can get.

Those of you who know me realize that I am not whining. I DO see the positives around me and am able to enjoy the improvements, restorations, blessings and bouts of happiness in this beat-up geographic area.

For whatever reasons, my life is here in the storm-tossed Gulf Coast. Must be something for me to learn here and I'll do my best to learn the lessons of life.

I'm not mad at God for this time in my life. Rather, I feel a tickly at the edges of intuition that I am both held in God's presence, as well as, living what most of us will never know. I am starving and filled at the same time.

Thank you for being with me,

St. Casserole

More Random Than Usual

I wish we could take back our words, erase them, as quickly as this computer can backspace.

Have we developed all the swim strokes possible for the human body? I don't mean adding technology of equiptment or medical enhancements. Do we know all the swimming strokes human bodies can do now?

Why does chronological age bother us? When I was five, I felt old enough and competent for life. When I turned 20, I wondered if there was any interesting life left.

Just thinking. How's it going for you?

St. C

I forgot to pray for rain in the pastoral prayer Sunday. It's dry as a dust pit here in the deep South and we need a soaker. The cattle are thirsty in the fields. Plants are distressed.

I prayed without notes except the scribbled requests for healing and care I wrote as the congregation spoke up.

After all my preparation for Easter Sunday, I did not have a pastoral prayer ready. Part of the problem was the worship bulletin did not list the prayers of the people. The secretary is an airy kind of gal.*

Do you write out your pastoral prayer?

Just wondering. And, we need rain.

St. C

*Secretary looks a great deal like me. Sounds like me, too.

It's early Easter Monday. Go see stuffonmycat.com for more funnies like this poor cat baby.

He is risen!

O, Good Friday!

Greetings to you who preached several times this week, planned worship, stayed for longer choir practices and have not missed a moment of Holy Week.

Blessings to you, in fact, for you are living through one of the most arduous weeks for clergy.

So much to do, so little time. Don't forget anything. Make real the resurrection for your people!

I get overwhelmed when weary. I forget and can't recall that I can't remember. It's difficult.

Even as a little kid, I used memory devices to keep stuff stuck in my brainage. These techniques are "mnemonics". I use these all the time.

'a' before 'e' except after 'c'

thirty days hath September...

Spring Forward, Fall back

I wish I had a book with all the verses and clues to help us remember stuff. So, for this end of Holy Week when we are all bleary eyed (and joyous), add your memory device so I can remember what you know, too.

Thinking of you,

St. Casserole

Crisis presents great opportunity. I see this around me.

Yesterday, I went to see an incredible woman with a life story so difficult that one wonders how she copes. She copes very well.

M moved to the Coast to be with her fiance. He died after the wedding reception, dropping dead from a heart condition. Months later, Katrina blew six feet of water into her home, leaving her with homeless.

These facts tell just a smidgen of M's life story. If you hear about her, your first thought is, "how awful, how can she cope?". When you meet her, you know that she has risen beyond these facts, used them to surge forward into a new life with humor.

After the death of her husband, she called her nationwide network of friends to help her grieve. She went on a cruise with her family. She began to do youth work at her church. She reached out.

After her home was destroyed, she called to her network of friends again to come help her. They came and she had a group living in her open carport, travel trailer and tents to help her rebuild. Throughout the past eight months, she's hosted a variety of relatives and friends and they've helped her rebuild.

She is working with disaster relief at her church, working with youth and being a beacon of light to the weary and distressed.

I wish each of you could sit down with her for 15 minutes.

I don't feel sorry for her, I envy her. She knows how to ask for help without being "needy"; she is vulnerable and open in ways I can't imagine while allowing others the same vulnerablity and openness. Her genuine loving presence is healing, welcoming and unusual.

Great crisis presents great opportunity.
She'll tell you that she feels "God real strong" and you'll know what she means.

Clergywomen's Store

While I'm dreaming of things that aren't but could be, let's tour my imaginary store for clergywomen. All items available at the retail store and online.

Clothing:

very comfortable, breathable natural fabric clerical shirts in a variety of colors, plaids, polka-dots and vertical stripes;

clerical collars that are comfortable at all times,

vintage and new gorgeous collar buttons.

Pants (I don't like the word "slacks") and skirts cut fashionably, comfortably and slimming;

great shoes that look like beautiful shoes, nothing matronly, all comfortable:

a magical purse that carries everything but never weighs much and looks great;

Dignified, but fun and comfortable maternity wear.

Accessories:

Make-up area for those who wish to wear it

Jewelry area of gorgeous religious jewelry but nothing with big bling

Clergywoman car emergency car kit: hospital visiting gear, small communion set, boots for walking in fields or barns, new pair of pantyhose, personal care products..., extra $30 for hand-outs and breath mints.

Vestments:

Beautiful vestments made for a woman's body. All comfortable. Reasonably priced. Great fabrics and colors.

A vestment exchange so the vestments you tire of, out-grown clerical shirts (hey! it does happen!) and the like may be exchanged because what does a thrift store do with a clergywoman's blouse?

Bookshop:

Clergywoman's Guide to Ministry (What Isn't Taught at Seminary but Should be)

How-To: Practical Ministry Skills

Explaining Your Call to Ministry

Great Stories of Women Who Survived Churches As Horrible As Yours!

Humor for Clergywomen (3 vol. set)

Being Yourself in Ministry

There is a children's area in the store, coffee and tea bar and lovely chairs to sit and visit. Sweet women walk around the store saying: "Oh dear, you are trying to be all things to all people. That's not your calling." and "When is your day off? What do you have planned that will feed your soul?" and "I think you are wonderful. I'm proud of you!"

What do I need to add before I take my business plan to the bank?

St. Casserole

While we look over window mullion styles and paint samples at my church, I dream of a church with these features:

*During worship, the street doors to the sanctuary stay open. Anyone walking or driving by the church will see worshippers in the sanctuary and think, "I could worship there and not be afraid". Our sanctuary exterior doors open into a tiny narthex and the old exterior doors creak. Dream church has doors open whenever the sanctuary is being used with no loss of heat, cool air or any flying bugs getting inside, entering the sanctuary is easy and quiet.

*Perfect acoustics for the preacher so that she can be heard by anyone in sanctuary regardless of hearing abilities. All congregational shuffling, snorting or chatting silenced by magical acoustics. Any preacherly snorts, coughs or sighs silenced, too.

*Silent raising and lowering of pulpit to accommodate height of preacher. Soft carpeting behind pulpit for preacher to remove her shoes if necessary. Bare feet or stockinged/socked feet never seen by congregation.

*Great lighting so that the congregation is in beautiful light. No spot light on the preacher. The sanctuary is not large enough to need a Preacher Spotlight.

*Beautiful hangings in the church reflecting the liturgical seasons. The antependium, table coverings and etc. we own now I purchased at the Goodwill. No kidding. Top that one, folks! I'd like to have the art used by a UCC congregation in Chapel Hill for baptism. The entrance door to the sanctuary was hung with varying lengths of ribbon and other textiles in blues and greens. People walking through the doorway felt as if they were entering a beautiful space of water's colors. The hanging didn't touch anyone's head but moved gently when walked through. Various textures of ribbons and cloth along with yarns gave this door piece an ethereal look. A similar piece in reds would be great for Pentecost and the tongues 'o fire.

More later,

St. Casserole