Freedom Clicks

Thanks to Betsy, who has been posting lots of different freedom quotes as Facebook status updates today, I had a click.

As much as I support the men and women fighting in our armed services in Iraq and Afghanistan, as much as I want them all to come home safely and to have whatever care and support they need when they get home, I've never quite been able to make the connection when people say that those folks are fighting for my freedom.

I get how the soldiers of the Revolutionary War fought for my freedom, and maybe a few other wars. But, knowing what we know now (and knew then) about Iraq, in particular, having no connection to those who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, I never had the penny drop for me about how having our military fight in Iraq was preserving my freedom. I still don't, really.

What clicked for me today, though, from reading Betsy's quotes, is that the fight for our freedom is carried out on all kinds of battlefields and playing fields. It's carried out in front of computer screens as people sign petitions, email their legislators, and spread the word about ways to make sure that our civil and human rights are protected and defended. It's carried out in the work of community organizers working for justice in all ways for all people. It's carried out in pulpits across this country, not when preachers call for faithfulness to the flag itself, but when they call us live faithfully to God's call to extend a hand to those on the margins.

Freedom fighters come in all shapes and sizes. They carry out the fight in all kinds of different ways. Some fight in the courts, some on the streets, some in distant battlefields.

This Independence Day, I am grateful to all of them.

Ah, Wyoming!

The windows of my cabin at Ring Lake Ranch retreat center are open as a breeze blows through and the surprise rainstorm, much needed in this land where they've had a quarter inch of rain all summer, comes to an end. There's a big sagebrush growing outside my cabin and the smell of it is all I need to know I'm in Wyoming again. Just as junipers will always evoke Georgian Bay for me, so will sagebrush evoke Wyoming.

I didn't even know how much I missed it until I smelled it again.

I'm here as a part of my sabbatical for a retreat called "Prayer Through the Seasons of Life" with Roberta Bondi, whom I've admired since I read Memories of God thirteen years ago in a theological study group.

It's beautiful here. Opportunities abound for horseback riding, canoeing, hiking and fly-fishing. I probably won't be doing any of those. A bum knee and hip make hiking tough and I'm just a pound or two or a zillion over the weight limit for the horses. But it's a beautiful place to sit, contemplate, read, knit, and talk.

It's the essence of sabbatical.

What I love about Wyoming is both the spaciousness and the ruggedness. It's a place wide enough for all of God's spirit to expand, and in so doing, help my spirit expand. I'm so grateful for having had the chance to live here. And I'm grateful for the chance to come back.

Obama's Speech on Race

Every day, I am more impressed with Barack Obama. As a pastor who values both freedom of the pulpit and the community of faith, I am heartened to see his commitment to his faith community, Trinity UCC, even while he disputes and denounces some of the content of his pastor's preaching. It does my heart good to hear him talk about Rev. Jeremiah Wright as an important spiritual guide and as the person who brought him to Christian faith, even when it would be politically expedient to denounce the man along with his words.

I believe that if we ever had a shot to take a major step toward healing the racial divisions in this country, we have it now.

If you haven't heard this speech yet, take a half hour now and listen to it. It'll be time well spent.



Click!

Barack Obama on his pastor's comments

In this video, Barack Obama addresses some out-of-context, inflammatory remarks made by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in sermons at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

As so often happens when snippets of this or that are heard, Senator Obama is under pressure to denounce his retiring pastor and sever his connection with Trinity. To his credit, he talks about staying in relationship with both.

Clicks with shoes

What do these two guys have in common?

One is one of the co-founders of the Coaches Training Institute and one is Martin Luther. You figure out which is which.

Now, I happen to know the one on the left pretty well. I can believe that he never once confused himself with Martin Luther. But last weekend and this morning, I learned that their minds did not run on completely separate tracks.

Last weekend in the Process Coaching workshop, we played around in the muck of this reality: "What you can't be with runs your life." Can't be with strong emotion? Avoiding it will become a life mission and may limit your relationship potential with others. Can't be with failure? Fear of it may well govern your actions and decisions, making you less willing to risk. Can't be with conflict? Striving to avoid it will limit the potential of your relationships. And so on.

This morning I read the daily Lenten devotional from i.ucc. There was a quote from Martin Luther: "Who fears hell runs toward it."

"What you can't be with runs your life."
"Who fears hell runs toward it."

Click!

In other news. I got an official foot diagnosis of plantar fasciitis today. Now I have to wear shoes all day. I hate shoes. I kick them off as soon as I come in the house. I hate socks even more. And the shoes I have to wear in the house are not the easy shoes, the Birks or the Crocs. Nope. It's hot, clunky athletic shoes. Old-lady orthopedic shoes. Shoes that would have room for an arch support. Those shoes.

I'm trying to find a click, a transformational moment, a connection to something else, about wearing shoes. So far, all I have is hot feet.

The rest of the day was spent napping and messing about. And wearing shoes.

Sore feet clicks

I woke up about 4:30 am, stood on the floor, and wondered how on earth I was going to walk to the bathroom. The pain in the bottoms of my heels was like glass grinding beneath the surface. I hobbled to the bathroom, then to the living room where I finished sleeping in the recliner. Woke up at 8:00 and hobbled back.

I don't know what it is. It's been coming on for several weeks, but today it was intense and took more of my attention and focus away from other things than I wanted it to. I hate when that happens.

I hobbled through my morning get-ready-to-go routine. I hobbled into the office for a meeting. I hobbled to the car, then hobbled into my next meeting. I wore white socks and my Velcro gym shoes. I looked like I was 97 years old. Even through all of that, there were moments of Click!

• The arrival by email of the Daily Lenten Devotional from i.ucc, the online community of the United Church of Christ. Sometimes you get the thing you need to read right when you need to read it. Click!
• The desire to do ministry and strengthen churches shown by the people in the committee I met with today. They are way ahead of me in what they think might be possible. I tend to be the one coming up with reasons something won't work. I know I need to work on finding new perspectives about that. Click!
• A beautiful drive through the hills near Arcadia, connecting with sweeping vistas, the snowy beauty of a clear winter's day, and the Giver of all. Click!
• The opportunity to help another colleague find a perspective shift that may transform the way she looks at a situation coming up in her work. Click!
• A cup of sweet, spicy chai and a craisin-almond scone with a friend, simply on the spur of the moment. Click!
• Further clarification about the sabbatical I have the privilege of taking later this year. Click!
• Wonderful political conversation with Mom, debriefing Super Tuesday. Click!

I am continually amazed by what happens when I simply remain open to what God/the universe has to offer. Even if I have sore feet.

Ash Wednesday Clicks

Today is the first day of Lent and my Click! project.

My assignment was to be on the lookout for Clicks! that happen during the day, in light of my Life Purpose statement. As I look for clicks, I realize that the exercise may be different in different times. Some are just where the penny drops, some are ideas that resonate, some are moments of connection with other people, some are yet to be identified and categorized.

• An email from a friend that helped me shift perspective about my response to a mutual acquaintance. Click!
• Being able to say what I needed and wanted to say in an email to someone, then move on from it. Click!
  
• The chance to connect with a colleague who's going through some tough stuff and begin to help him work his way through it, perhaps connecting to something more powerful than he thought might be possible. Click!
  
• A zillion mouse-clicks to refresh the CNN.com page to see Obama's pledged delegate count rise to exceed Hillary Clinton's, at least for the moment. Click!
• A screamingly funny video seen on talldrinkawater's blog that tickled my funny bone and reminded of what's possible when creative minds and willing bodies get together to create experience. Click!
• A conversation with a dear friend and colleague whom I've been missing contact with lately and who always connects with me in a place of deep authenticity. Click!
• An Ash Wednesday service at church with many moments of connection:
• Meeting my pastor/colleague's eyes with truth as he imposed ashes on my forehead. Click!
• Feeling the healing energy of prayer connecting me to the community and to God as three people from our church's healing ministry laid hands on me and prayed for my own healing and for me to act as a channel of healing for others. Click!
• Lines from the sermon that helped redefine Lent as a season to offer to others instead of a time to give up small luxuries and habits. Click!
• The moment of connection that comes at the best of times when I take the bread and cup and commune with the Body of Christ. Click!
• Blackberry pie with cream. Click!