Whistle and Fish: The Kitten Report

Here we are and we are happy. We eat lots of kitty chow. We have furry mice to bat around the house AND we have a stuffed toy hamster we love the best. We make many noises like breaking Christmas decorations and knocking stuff off our Human's desk.

Here are the rules of our house:
Don't get on the kitchen counter. You get sprayed with water if you do.
Don't paw or climb the Christmas tree. You get sprayed with water if you do.
Don't go in Mom's closet.

Our Humans can't tell us apart. We look alike because we are brothers. If I get in trouble, I say it is my brother who did it. He says the same!

Whistle stays sopping wet most of the time.

We believe that curiousity is a virtue. Napping is another virture. Purring is a beautiful sound.

We are over 100 days old so we know these things.

Love,

Whistle and Fish

I Copy QUOTIDIAN GRACE One More Time...

You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you're making someone else happy. Why You're Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn't belong Why You're Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

John B. Nixon, Sr. was murdered by lethal injection at Parchment Penitentiary in Mississippi yesterday on behalf of a justice system which is inconsistent.

Mr. Nixon is the seventh Mississippian to be murdered on behalf of the State since capital punishment resumed here in 1976.

Our prayers are with the families of Mr. Nixon's victims as well as his family.

We agree with the Vatican spokesman who said that capital punishment is wrong because it denies redemption and does not uphold the dignity of human life.

---St. Casserole Editorial Staff

Mindy writes about gratitude this morning. I think I'll join her:

I'm grateful for:

*the preacher dinner party last night. It's over now and I can go back to the work pile on my desk. The LH cooked pork tenderloin, carrots and I made the salad. Preachers said of the meal, "I haven't had a good meal like this in weeks!"

*the wonderful Community Dark Roast Coffee in my Portmerion mug this morning. I'd correct the Port...spelling but I'd spill my java.

*a overcast Winter sky with dark clouds moving quickly.

*two ginger kittens on my lap purring away their rough night with the dog.

*having the money to expand our evangelism program at the church thanks to the donations of Presbyterians around the country to our Presbytery

*Clinique Lipstick in "Rasberry Glace" the suggested color for all clergy gals

*Christmas patterned china in the dishwasher

*Having LH in the house along with LS and missing LD

*Watching the faces of the preachers last night as they chose donated books to replace their storm damaged libraries

*being able to pay bills

What's your list?

Love,

St. Casserole

Bits and Odd Pieces of Mindy's Kingdom

Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips Gang Co-Founder, Is Executed - New York Times
Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips Gang Co-Founder, Is Executed - New York Times

I know his victims suffered. I know his victim's families suffer still.

I don't know all of the details of his life, only God knows the entire story.

However, let me be clear here: I don't see who was served by having the State of California murder Mr. Williams by lethal injection.

I doubt the ability of any state with any prosecuting attorney to choose with justice who should be murdered by the state authority.

I detest being part of a nation which participates in capital punishment.

Because I am an American, Mr. Williams' blood is on my hands.

I weep with his victims and their families.
I weep for Mr. Williams being victimized by the State.
No one is served except those whose sense of justice is blood lust.
History shows that blood lust helps no one.

St. Casserole

Five Facts

Following Leslee's tagging of ALL of us through RevGalBlogPals, here are my five random facts about myself:

1. I loved reading Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS.
2. An early mentor was an Episcopal priest in Virginia with CP who died soon after I was ordained.
3. I loved typing on my Grandfather's ancient Underwood typewriter when I was a little kid.
4. I thought it was my prayers that brought my little sister into being because I prayed with my Mom for a baby.
5. I have the gift of doggrel but seldom use it.

Your turn! You are IT!

Regards,

St. Casserole




Fresh-Cut Flowers

Hurricane Katrina blew over the Mississippi Gulf Coast over 100 days ago.
Often, I cannot believe the destruction the storm caused even if I am staring at the mess.
It's difficult to put my mind around how much misery wind, rain and rising Gulf waters causes in a hurricane.

The Mississippi National Guard will withdraw from the Coast soon. I'm grateful for the time they've spent helping secure this area.

Not everyone has decent housing yet. Hard to believe that people are living in tents this long after the hurricane. FEMA trailers are everywhere in our neighborhood and around the Coast although I see parking lots full of yet-to-be placed trailers and wish the distribution would speed up.

Most retail businesses have HIRING NOW signs. Not enough people to staff stores and businesses because people left, people have to wait until they have a home to work and the debris hauling business is good money.

Area restaurants and hotels are packed. It's easier to eat at home rather than navigate through the long lines at eateries. If you are coming to this area, have your housing plans firm before you come because the hotels are full. There is no room at the Inn this Christmas.

Christmas lights are decorating FEMA trailers, tree stumps and torn up houses. People want Christmas to look like Christmas even when the world looks like a Bomb Zone. The LH bought a Christmas Tree, decorated it and cooked a beautiful meal last night.

People are tired. The Katrina Cough is ubiquitous. People look storm shocked but are getting better. The air is bad. The water is questionable. I don't believe reports of the Beach being safe from chemical/sewage waste.

Our roof isn't repaired but we hope for help soon. Many people haven't gotten repairs yet so the Blue Roof is common. Tarps cover roofs, plywood covers broken windows and it doesn't look as if much is going on. There are too many repairs for the number of contractors/workers available so waiting is the norm.

Churches have been our best resource. Work teams from all over the States come to strip out sheetrock, replace roofs, clean debris, hold hands with survivors and make us feel like human beings. A church in Jackson is rebuilding the home of friend's who have nothing but disability and problems. God bless that church! Hope in the face of disaster is God's work.

I have moments of feeling normal and happy. I feel like myself for a portion of each day now. I don't cry everyday. I don't feel overwhelmed with the suffering around me all day long now. I'm grateful for this. It's a painful discipline to keep going day after day while filled with grief so that I may be available to others.

Advent is different this year. I'm preaching on Luke I:47-55 in about 4 hours.
"My soul magnifies the Lord" and I remember what it is to have a rejoicing spirit.

Grace and Peace,

St. Casserole

Songbird's Snow Day Friday Five meme

What is snow?

Confused but wanting to play the meme,

St.Casserole

Whistle and Fish, resident ginger kittens, review Disney's THE LION WITCH AND THE WARDROBE:

Whistle: First, the Mom doesn't die. This is good. Disney is big on dead moms and we don't like that.
Fish: Second, Disney did a pretty good job making a movie from one of our favorite books. Some stuff is invented, but we liked seeing what the Wardrobe looked like.
W: The main thing about this movie is that the hero is a cat.
F: Yeah, a big lion is the Christ figure. We like this image. The bad guys were wolves and dog things. Yuk. If you want to make a scary movie, a really scary movie, make the villains dogs.
W: I didn't like all the fur coats in that wardrobe. I hope they were fake fur. Fur belongs on animals, not people.
F: Thank you, Mr. PETA!
W: Well, it's gross to wear animal fur unless God gave it to you.
F: Moving on, the movie is long and if you get bored you can chase popcorn kernels under the seats. Just keep away from big human feet, if you do. The theater was packed.
W: I don't know what the evangelicals will do with LIKING a Disney movie. I thought evangelicals didn't approve of Disney.
F: Ever wonder why our Mom gets mad about the media using the word "evangelical" to mean conservative believers? She believes in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ but I don't think she's a fundie or creepy.
W: This is a movie review. Keep to the topic.
F: Just wondering.... Anyway, we love CS Lewis and think his "God in the Dock" is a great apologetic even if the references are dated.
W: Yeah, we like Lewis.
F: We have a cousin named "Lewis."
W: Keep to topic...
F: To sum up, we liked the movie. Cats are good; dogs are bad. Wolves give me nightmares.
We like the fawns and those beavers. The animation stuff is wonderful.
W: I think God is a big lion. Really big.
F: Probably.

Apparently, I am a Christmas Tree

Results...: "
What a marvelous person! You are the splendid
Christmas tree! You are a spirited person who
almost always in a great mood. Your smiles and
laughter are some things that people usually
look forward to in you. You are someone who is
full of energy and ready for a good time. Most
likely you are a social butterfly. All of these
characteristics make you a beautiful person
inside and out. People just really enjoy to be
around you. Merry Christmas =)


What Christmas Figure Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla"

Hat Tip to Quotidian Grace

More that I don't Understand

Help me understand this.

We have a pastor in our Presbytery who has made it known that if the vote doesn't go as he wishes at our next General Assembly, he will leave the denomination. I doubt this is just puffing on his part. He's a serious guy.

I can't imagine why he holds positions of authority in our Presbytery now. Why should he be participating as a leader if he doesn't have the loyalty to maintain a relationship with us? It's like dating someone rather than being married. I thought he made his commitment when he took his ordination vows. Are his decisions on our behalf made through the lens of a temporary relationship with us? Isn't this like when a pastor decides to leave a congregation and sloughs off what he doesn't care to do anymore because he's a lame duck?

I am dancing with the one who brought me. This old saying makes sense to me as I was educated by Presbyterians, nurtured through the Presbyterian Church and my ethnic background is Presbyterian.

I gave up on the Church as a perfect place years ago. I believe in what I understand to be God's vision of and for the church but since all human institutions are inherently sinful, I don't expect the church to be perfect. Rather, I understand my participation in the Body of Christ, the Church, as God's discipline for me. Not punishment, but discipline to seek, praise, worship, work and pray within the confines of the Church.

It gets on my nerves that we Presbyterians are so cantankerous. Wish I'd paid attention to the droll fights of the past in my Seminary textbooks. I'm not cantankerous so being a part of a denomination which fights over everything disturbs me. And, we are a wicked witness to the World with our ambushes, disagreements, territorial battles and general crabbiness with one another.

As a girl, I was part of Big City Church's Confirmation Class. The Rev. Mr. Soft Hands taught us.
This was long ago before confirmands were asked, "How do you feel about Jesus?" We were told about Jesus. I suppose Mr. Soft Hands should have looked us straight in the eye and announced,

"Young people, Presbyterians fight over most things. Our history from John Calvin who
had to flee Geneva more than once to save his life, began a chapter in acrimony which
Christians have seldom seen. We didn't invent church conflict but we've refined it. Be
prepared to watch your church schism, shake and scatter over all sorts of issues. Thank
goodness none of you young women wish to be pastors. It would be too rough for your
delicate feminine constitutions. Now, let's all turn to page 16 of our book...."

I love the Presbyterian Church because I first learned of Jesus from the Presbyies.
I like our form of government which should work to ease some of the conflict by being orderly but somehow every class of elders and often the preachers, don't know our Book of Order. I like our worship, which while not unique to us, is dignified and allows me to worship mind and spirit.
I like our ethos (despite the historical historonics) which values education, justice, and engagement with the larger world.

So, help me understand why this guy is still in charge of stuff when he plans to bolt if the vote doesn't turn out as he wishes?

Confused,

St. Casserole

Three Things I Don't Understand

What does "huzzah" mean? Who says this? How is it pronounced? Is it an exclamation/expletive?

What does "OOAK" in eBay listings mean?

Why was my pie a goopy mess?

I baked a Country Cream Pie from "Diana Rattray, Your Guide to Southern U.S. Cooking" on the 'net, followed the directions and I have a tasty goopy mess. I know how to cook so I don't know if it was the pie dish I used (French pottery), the substitution of whipping cream for half and half, the addition of 1/2 c. lowfat milk and 1/2 eggnog (didn't buy enough whipping cream) or the fact that the durn pie sounded like a chess pie with fancier ingredients and really really needed eggs.

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons of flour
3 cups half and half
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Mix sugar and flour well, get rid of lumps. Add liquids, pour into unbaked pieshell. Cook for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Let the pie rest to room temperature.

Serve with spoon.

I added cinnamon and fresh ground nutmeg since the flavoring didn't sound snappy enough for my taste.

Some things are a mystery to me....

Sticky,

St. Casserole

Advent 2005

As a child, I didn't know about Advent. The Big City Church didn't do liturgical season, we are Presbyies afterall.

Seminary introduced the Seasons to me and I became a captive to the idea of a holy calendar.

As a young woman, I felt I had Advent Edge because I knew how Elizabeth (Mrs. Zachariah) felt about childlessness and infertility. Waiting for a Hope delayed by one's body was in sync with the waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Not that I thought having a child was messianic but that the waiting for the healing of the world resonated with my own feelings of hope v. despair at being childless.

This year, however, I am seeing Advent with new eyes. I suppose that life down here post-hurricane is the closest I'll ever come (God willing) to living in a war zone. Basic services damaged, access roads demolished, debris, homelessness, immediate upheaval of a catastropic nature: all these things make me think I have some understanding of a war damaged area. The differences are large, though, in that we have military personnel everywhere but they aren't trying to hurt us. And, although the deaths here are too many, we weren't shot or bombed.

Granted, the analogy doesn't work completely but I am living where the future is impaired.
How does New Orleans get re-built? I understand that portions of the Great City are without power, water or any sign of re-building after three months. The earth in some areas is polluted beyond anything we've had to cope with before now. My New Orleans church members says she can't find even a drug store open without driving miles. The streets are quiet there, too.

How do we handle all emotional upset of life here on the Coast. Families crammed into trailers next to their housing slab. Ruby tells me that the FEMA installer told her to NOT turn on the heater in her trailer as it would blow up. She says she asked him why and he told her they couldn't fix the problem. It's cold here, now, and she will have to buy an electric heater or stay inside her damaged-but-standing home to keep warm.

Older people here are losing their friends who move away at the request of adult children or who decide that "they can't go through another hurricane" and are moving out-of-state.

There aren't enough workers to repair homes, rebuild homes or whatever one needs to have windows replace, roofs patched, etc. etc. The work teams coming often have skilled labor along with the happy hearts of non-skilled young people, but even these groups aren't enough.

*Physical discomfort.
*Emotional discomfort.
*Time to think creatively about the future of ministry on the Coast. It doesn't make sense to return to business as usual since there isn't any "uusal" left.
*Spiritual unease because there are many who see the hurricane, even if they are educated better than this, as God's big whack with the cosmic 2 x 4.

I WOULD WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE IN THIS DURN BLOG IF I COULD.

I've got an edge on Advent 2005 and I'm not stopping until I figure out what God means for me and my people. I will not let go until I see the blessing.

I see blessing in many places and am grateful for the love and generosity of people who come to help, send money and pray for us. I mean, I will not let go until I "get" this situation.

The valleys have been brought up and the mountains leveled. I hear Handel's "Messiah" in my heart and am filled with curiousity about what it means to be God's people here in this place, in this time with my community.

Grace and Peace to you,
St. Casserole

The Sun Herald | 12/05/2005 | CLOSE QUARTERS

The Sun Herald | 12/05/2005 | CLOSE QUARTERS

I worry about people coping with close quarters as this article discusses.

Monday Morning

Songbird asks about our Christmas decorating in her Friday meme. I didn't read the meme at her site but saw that all my pals read and responded in theirs.

I haven't decorated anything except my kitchen door. I found a bright wreath at a garage sale on Saturday and hung it as soon as I got home from the sales.

I intend to decorate but I've been busy. We said goodbye to our visiting work crew after worship yesterday. They were lovely folks and I'm sorry to see them go but when I have guests, it's difficult for me to do much house stuff.

I visited after worship with a family who are blue-roofed from the hurricane and who have gotten interior water damage since the storm because the FEMA roofers didn't quite protect the roof. You'd think that you could find a roofer to replace a roof twelve weeks after the storm but NO. Too many roofs, not enough roofers to repair damaged houses. Now, they'll have to move into a FEMA trailer when before, they had simple roof damage.

It's gray, cloudy and a bit chilly here this morning. Looks like December. Yesterday we were steaming with a 78 high. No wonder people are sick.

I'll drink more coffee, read my devotional, pray, then return here with something positive to say.

Happy Monday Morning, Y'all,
St.Casserole

Annual Report

Yesterday, the blog turned 1.

Thank you to all who've read the drizzle/dribble/detritus through the year.

You've comforted me with comments, gotten me through two hurricanes, made me fluffier with recipes for good eats and become my pals.

I've watched you congeal into a community through the Revgalblogpals. Your creativity amazes me. The warmth of friendship with one another consoles me. I feel hope reading you.

Thank you to my inspirations for this blog: the emergent church blogs, Rev.Mike's House of Homiletics in Charlotte, NC, Maggi Dawn over the Ocean and more.

*Most searched post: the one on Betty Feezor. Thanks, Bob, for writing to me.

*The Book Drive for Coast Pastors Whose Theological Libraries were damaged by Katrina is such a loving act that I could weep and have. Because of a post here, a loving RevGalBlogPal responded with over 600 lbs. of books for my colleagues. I'd mention her name but I recall that she was doing this quietly. I'll tell her identity if she allows it. God bless her!

*I discovered that Mr. C is a great blogger. He should have his own blog not that he isn't welcome to post here.

*The discussion over which OPI color we like best is an enduring topic. Pedicures rule!

*Grace's Hurricane Cake made it's way around the Country and around my hips via the blog.

*I mourned Rusty and welcomed four kittens.

Now, as I submit my Annual Report, I request that those of you who read but do not comment begin commenting. Especially you, dear Ms. Bowed Twice Grew up in the Great Hometown Tennis Playing New Office LLS Pal, ok?

Respectfully Submitted,

St. Casserole

We arrived in NC yesterday afternoon. The endless drive was enjoyable as the hurricane scene faded behind me and I began to see the rolling hills of Northern Alabama. We drove until I could drive no more then spent the night. LD was spririted, napped several times and a pleasure.

Actual Conversation at Hotel:

Clerk: You are a preacher? I didn't know they had female ministers!
St.C: We've been around for years. Presbyterians began ordaining women in 1956 and 1964.
Clerk: I've never seen one.
St. C: ...dripping irony....they all look like me.
Clerk: Oh, my pastor says it's fine as long as the female is under a man.
St.C: .....silence....

I love being with the Aunts. LD wandered off to school happy. Assumpta and Dibley look healthy and have grown into big teen-aged kitties.

My LLS is taking today off from her work to play.

More later,

St.Casserole

"Be hospitable to one another without complaining"

My text for today is I Peter 1 Peter 4:9 "Be hospitable to one another without complaining."

I'm driving to NC today to return LD to the Lovely Aunts. LD will finish out the school year in NC in a great school, a loving environment and away from the misery of life behind the razor wire of the Gulf Coast.

LD's return to the Coast and home for Thanksgiving gave her a chance to see the destruction of Katrina and to be home with us for a few days. I've enjoyed having her home. Being able to call her name in the house and have her answer made me teary. Seeing her pretty self at our dinner table consoles all of us. She's had a pleasant time with her father and brother but, with me, she's been crabby, sour, hostile and impatient.

I believe my best response is understanding my parenting as a measure of the real meaning of hospitality.

When a child is being rebellious in speech and attitude, when a mom cannot please or ease a child in daily conversation, hospitality in the welcoming sense may be of help.

Not that I enjoy being the object of her crabbiness. I don't like being looked at as if I were the creepiest grossest mom in the world. I don't like having sarcastic comments thrown my way. I don't like it.

I like LD, though. She has great potential and underneath her 13 year old exterior is a loving heart. She has better skills with people than most adults. She's able to help people make connections with others, intuit where people are emotionally and be an effective listener.
She has the physicality of an athlete combined with really pretty American healthy good looks.
LD's sense of humor and playfulness is engaging as is her perspective on the world.

I see all these admirable traits, I just don't have any of them directed at me.

I know adolescence is a difficult time where children begin the separation from their parents and begin to make their own way. I did youth ministry for over 10 years. I worked in a psych hospital with adolescents. I've read the books. All this isn't helping my feelings about being treated as drek.

So, I return to hospitality. The concept of welcome, loving engagement with the other and a "nurse" of the Spirit to the ailing one. I can do this.

I can't do it easily without recalling how much I love who LD is and will be. Right now, I wouldn't take this crap from anyone but her.

As we move into Advent, the season of preparation, I aspire to hospitality for LD because she is preparing for adulthood and I am preparing for loving an adolescent who doesn't love me much.

I will be hospitable without complaining. Not a push-over or return crabbiness for crabbiness but hospitable.

God give me strength for the days ahead. Keep me aware of your greater purpose for LD. Thank you for the gift of this child in my care. Give me brains, courage and humor to be her Mom.
Your Son gave his Mama trouble, too, according to scripture, so help me out here. Amen.

St.C

Whatever Grace does, I do. I am of the "Monkey See Monkey Do" School of Life, and Quotidian Grace is a favorite of mine.
Quotidian Grace: Gospel Birthday Meme

Here's the meme: take your birthday and look up the passages which correspond with that date in each of the four Gospels.

Here's mine for May 19:

Matthew 5:19 Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 5:19 But Jesus would not let him. He said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you."

Luke 5:19 But becaue there were so many people there, they could not find a way in. So they wentup on the roof and lowered the man on his mat through the ceiling into the middle of the crowd right before Jesus.

John 5:19 But Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing alone. The son does only what he sees the Father doing because the Son does whatever the Father does.

The first and last of the four passages have to do with authority; the second and third have to do with healing.
Can you identify the story of Mark 5:19? Points for identifying the translation I use here.

Thankful for each of you,
St. Casserole Who Has Time On Her Hands Since She Doesn't Cook The Turkey

Design Plans for Rebuilding Mississippi Homes

To Restore or Reinvent? - New York Times

Allison Rouse, of the above article, is correct that Coastians "pinch pennies" when building but, oh-my-goodness it would be great to see historic design built into our re-building.

When one doesn't cook the turkey, one has time to search the 'net...