Five Minute Friday :: Recognize

• Five Minute Friday :: Recognize Linkup

Re-cognition. Being cognizant (all over) again. Revisit. Relearn.

Kate wrote beautifully and lovingly about a re-visit to South Africa and especially the sensory recognition of what she'd previously known there.

Lately I've been realizing – recognizing – that people I knew in places like City of History Boston-Cambridge and Previous City San Diego remain frozen in the time and situation where I last interacted with them. It might not be difficult to recognize chronological adults, but if someone's offspring was six years old when I saw them ten years ago, they're now sixteen!

The senior pastor at one of my churches in Previous City retired. The congregation called a new pastor, and former senior pastor has been doing a series of interim pastorates. In his newsletter article for another of my several San Diego churches (where that pastor retired a few weeks ago) where he's now interim, he described what each of his kids are doing and—they all are young adults! No!

But it's yes and though I didn't know his kids well at all, if I ran into them I'd need to ditch my previous ideas about them and recognize their adult identity. But I well could make too many assumptions that would interfere with my ability to recognize who they have become these ten years later.

In addition, I'm thinking of the times I spent at that church. According to facebook, they've been building a new fellowship hall. I have great memories of helping cook and serve Thursday night neighborhood dinners, teaching different kids in VBS, facilitating scripture study and saying a lot about the texts when that pastor led, accompanying Holden Evening Prayer on the piano—in the old fellowship hall. If I returned for a visit, would I insist on everything still being the same before I'd be willing to recognize the place and the people as the church I enjoyed in the past?

On this Reformation Day 2025, would Jesus recognize the church he gave us with his promised presence? What would he tell us when we insisted on seeking and finding how things used to be two decades or six years or seven months ago? "Discuss."


Community Note:

Our FMF host Kate will be on medical leave until January, but surprise! The wonderful poet Andrew offered to host us for the next two months, and he's even scheduled every single Friday without a break until Kate returns! Prayers and hope-filled wishes for Kate's recovery and endless thanks to Andrew for helping maintain this important space for writers.

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Five Minute Friday :: Capacity

O Lord, I love the house
in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory
abides! Psalm 26:8

• Five Minute Friday :: Capacity Linkup

David wanted to build a house for God, but God replied he always had "moved around in the tent of meeting" and never ever had asked anyone for a cedar house.

It wasn't a brand new theological concern, but the famous meeting of Reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli at Marburg centered on the Lord's Supper as they debated whether the finite (bread, fruit of the vine) had the capacity to contain the infinite. They had that debate even though Jesus had announced, "this is my body!" And even though God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth already answered that question! To paraphrase the Heidelberg Catechism, we move from Nativity with the mystery of Spirit in flesh to Ascension, with the mystery of flesh in Spirit.

God eventually got that house of cedar and stone, yet neither the first nor the second Jerusalem Temple had the capacity to contain God. Its mini-model of the universe was a pathetic attempt to mimic the reality of the Creator God whose place of being and acting always had been the entire panorama of creation… but "contain" the free and elusive God?!

Finally, on the fiftieth day of Easter, the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of Life filled the world. Every crack and corner and crevice. Every person.

O Lord, I love the house
in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory
abides! Psalm 26:8

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, which you have received from God? Now you belong to God. You are not your own.
1 Corinthians 6:9

God had moved around, peregrinated, free ranged in the tabernacle. Now we are the house in which Divinity dwells, the place where God's glory abides. God moves around everywhere in the people of God called "Christian." The Christ of God always is incarnate, enfleshed, embodied. And now in us!

What does that say about the capacity of the human heart? The mercy of each life? The welcome we offer strangers and outcasts, the sojourner and the lonely? We are the house where God lives. God's glory fills us. What does that say about God's claim and call on us as individuals? As community?

O enter, Lord, Thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's Guest,
Who gavest me, the earth-born,
A second birth more blest!
Thou in the Godhead, Lord,
Though here to dwell Thou deignest,
Forever equal reignest,
Art equally adored.

So you can sing all thirteen stanzas just as Paul Gerhardt wrote them (1653) and Catherine Winkworth translated them (1863):

• O Enter, Lord, Thy Temple

Tune: Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren, Johann Crüger, 1653
German text: Paul Gerhardt, 1653
Translation: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.

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Pope Leo XIV

On Thursday 08 May 2025, the conclave elected the first ever North American pope! His birth name is Robert Francis Prevost; he chose the papal name Leo. You've probably been reading "all about it" everywhere, but I still needed to blog.

Back in 2013, before the world knew we'd have Pope Francis, I so did not want Cardinal Sean O'Malley to leave this country. He'd been (he still was at the time) a stellar Archbishop of Boston, but someone told me not to worry, because no way would they [ever?] elect a North American. You can read Cardinal Sean's reflections on Pope Leo XIV.

Like the new Bishop of Rome, Martin Luther was an Augustinian. Someone noted the Augustinians gave the world a Protestant and a Pope!

On Friday 09 May, Liz Cheney said it best on Blue Sky:

In an era that looked as if it might be defined by an American man of depraved cruelty, corruption & shame, what a magnificent thing the Catholic Church has done. The elevation of an American man of goodness, grace, humility, mercy & faith to the Throne of St. Peter is moving & momentous for us all.

That same day when a twitter friend asked our opinion about "the new pope," I wrote:

I'm excited that Pope Leo will continue ministries of justice, inclusion, creation care, etc. Like any human's, his track record isn't perfect, but altogether a great choice. And he's multilingual! I'm mainline protestant, but with the world I'm happy to say Habemus Papam!

Five Minute Friday :: Noise

• Five Minute Friday :: Noise Linkup

Noise, sound, music, speech, (silence) or not your ears can detect, that your brain, body, and emotions can react to. Even if an individual is very hard of hearing or deaf, their person's body often picks up and reacts to noises in the vicinity.

I appreciated our host Kate's contrasting her spouse growing up surrounded with layers of sound, whereas relative quiet or silence remains her preference. I'm one that definitely prefers not silence. I often try to explain how traffic, a nearby radio or TV, conversation next door, and similar help me concentrate. Is it because I grew up in the inner city? I don't know. And I do know that when I've gone camping or on retreat to a more rural or countrified (bucolic, maybe?) location, it takes about a day to get beyond my anxiety over the lack of external aural stimulation and begin to appreciate not necessarily complete silence, but sounds of a different quality and caliber.

To find illustrations I searched my computer with keywords noise, sound, and music. My header turned out to be from the church in San Luis Obispo we visited during July 2017 as one of the almost a dozen stops in the Reformation Roadtrip the ELCA judicatory sponsored to celebrate Reformation 500. What a day! I won't mention how early we got up on that Saturday morning to drive 200 miles up the coast from Los Angeles to SLO (because I don't remember. Otherwise I would).

My original snapshot was full color sRGB. Technically, the gradient map overlay added some noise to the photograph. Speaking of gradients, I'm still stuck in the era when printing gradients was risky because even with high end mechanical presses (think Heidelberg, but not the catechism), they'd often end up banded. Adding some noise such as 15% Gaussian blur often solved that. Besides, sometimes adding the noise of a Photoshop filter changes an image just enough to make it more interesting. Then there's shadows and highlights that I'd describe as a sophisticated, nondestructive subtly noisy version of brightness and contrast.

These image editing-enhancement digressions closely pair with our human desire – sometimes it's a real need – for some amount of ambient music, sound, noise or related to help settle our senses, often to help focus if we're doing a thoughtful activity that requires intellect and brain power.

What's your own home, work, recreational, or outdoors noise preference? Is it consistent, or does it vary?
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October 2024

• Header is an Inglewood evergreen (well named) trio from Tuesday 01 October.

• I'm still adding some of my art and design favorites to this page.

• Urban Wilderness / City Paradise for October

• Sunday 06 October, Saint Francis Day, concluded the formal Season of Creation. I worshiped at Christ the King in Torrance that has a huge labyrinth in the worship area.

• This collage by google AI showcases both interior and exterior. They use different templates than the ones we can use, and generally choose great arrangement of pictures, though sometimes what parts of the pictures display is a bit funky.

• After worship I facilitated a season of creation art workshop.

• Monday 07 October, Chrysanthemum breakfast bouquet

• My first ever trip to IKEA LA (in Carson, not far from Cal State Dominguez Hills), where I bought a few fun things.

• That same Monday evening, 07 October

Home is the place where when you have to go there,
they have to take you in
(and a cup of Americone Dream Ice Cream).
…Robert Frost

• First picture is the actual ice cream I enjoyed

• Google AI made this ice cream collage. They use different templates than what's available to us. I love the angles and surprises on this! Of the dozens I've collected from my google photos, this layout is unique.

• Saturday 12 October – A wonderful Journaling and Prayer workshop at Christ the King. Joelle, the facilitator, helped immensely with my journaling roadblocks. Having a single focus (prayer, gardening, sightseeing, travel, etc.) is a good idea. And she has a twice monthly substack newsletter!

• Friday 18 October – Donuts and Celestial Seasonings Berry Tea

• Sunday 27 October – West Los Angeles for Reformation Day Worship, farewell to Pastor Peg, and an alfresco potluck. I actually forget to take pictures of the brunch and dessert tables, but happily realized the sun would have been too bright.

• But I captured the Autumn Centerpiece at our table!

• Thursday 31 October Halloween / All Hallows and actual Reformation Day

• I have enough pictures this month so I didn't make new ones for Halloween or Reformation.

October 2023

• Some of the overgrown fig leaves some people have been commenting on create a lovely autumn duo for October's header.

• Urban Wilderness – City Paradise for October

• Roxy left earth on Wednesday 11 October. Here's one of the pictures in her beautiful Easter bandana.

• A trip downtown through Vermont Wilshire Metro Station (the one with the long escalator) on Thursday 12 October and a visit to Angelica, not all that far from MacArthur Park. Here's some of the emoji art on classic subway tiles.

• Photo collages from Twin Valleys Fall Festival on Saturday 14 October. Fab autumn-Halloween decorations, tasty BBQ, and a beyond fabulous jazz band.

• For Reformation Sunday in West Los Angeles we had an al fresco potluck and decorated small pumpkins. Look at this fun and fancy array!

• Today, 31 October is Reformation Day 2023.

• All day today, 31 October is Halloween. Though I didn't keep a visitor tally, I handed out four packages of fun size candy bars at 2 per person, including several parents. The last few trick or treaters got Halloween Oreos I actually remembered. Happily they loved the cookies!

Five Minute Friday :: Strive

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

• Five Minute Friday :: Strive Linkup

As we approach Reformation Sunday / Reformation Day with its glorious affirmation of salvation by grace not works, it feels especially apt to consider this week's strive prompt. Of course we need to be diligent, work hard, make quite a lot of effort for our lives to bear fruit that benefits others and offers us the warm glow of achievement. In short, we do need to strive. We need to strive and try and sometimes cry, but if we don't first recognize life as God's gift of grace we'll get tied up in knots of anxiety and for sure we'll be less productive.

For churches that follow the lectionary for their scriptures, every year's readings for Reformation are the same:

• freedom that is ours when we continue in God's word and abide in Christ – John 8:31-36
• justified before God by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – Romans 3:19-28
• the new covenant promise of God's law on our hearts – Jeremiah 31:31-34
• Psalm 46 that Martin Luther loosely paraphrased to create his hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

Have you seen Psalm 46:10 formatted:

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am
Be still and know
Be still
Be
God created us human beings and not human doings. We first claim our identity as icons or images of God with simple being. After that, with less anxiety, more confidence we absolutely can strive to do and succeed in doing whatever work God calls us to because…

Psalm 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.

⁴ There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of the city, she shall not be shaken;

⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;

¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

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October 2021

• Clockwise from upper left: red church door on Reformation Day; Keep Calm and Mask On kitteh; patio wall lizard; red flowers and cross on Reformation Day

• Lectionary Project for October

• A splendid vision from the community garden

• Real-life church on Sunday 24 October

• Overcast morning street scene in West Los Angeles

• My design for Reformation Day 2021 again. Psalm 46 scripture reads, "Be still and know that I am God."

Reformation Day 2021

#Reformation #ReformationDay #Reformation2021 #Reformation504

#Psalm46 Be Still and Know that I Am God • God is in the midst of the city

• Reformation Day 2021 on my Lectionary Project •

October 2020 :: Covid Continues

• I'll start with this month's Urban Wilderness-City Paradise Sunday School lessons. October had 5 Sundays, so 5 lessons this time—including specials for Jubilee Weekend, Reformation, and All Saints.


• The first full moon for October was a Harvest Moon.


• Church hosted a virtual Blessing of the Animals on the First Sunday of October. Roxy always gets into weird poses when she sees camera or phone and knows I want a cute picture, so we used this old one.


• It's true I wanted a reason to blog this picture here; it's also truth that regular stores and farmer's market still have sweet juicy watermelons. "Simply Living" picks up my theme of Living Local for 2020.


• For the most part I blog berries every month during berry season. Blueberries and Blackberries both have been plentiful, yummy, and not too expensive. This picture's a companion to September's Strawberries in a box.


• Eight months into covid tide, and getting to West LA a few times has felt good. Characteristic October foliage and power lines created an urban scene on October 18th.


• A friend in Previous City connected me with the newish professional networking site Alignable that's much smaller scale than LinkedIn. They noticed I was an artist, and even emailed to ask if I offered Art Classes! They then created very appropriate text for my ad, and I popped this painting into the ad. Despite the pandemic I'd already been seeking to lead a few art classes or workshops… serendipitous.

• The LA Dodgers won the World Series!!! This is Dodgers Nation!!! Because I couldn't find a good picture with reuse rights, instead I'm writing in their current Dodger Blue.


• Paraphrase of Psalm 46:1-2 for Reformation 2020 reads, "God is our shelter and our strength—always there for us in troubling times. Therefore we will not fear." Martin Luther more or less based his famous hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" on Psalm 46.


• And a second full moon in the same month, making the Hunter Moon on Halloween also a Blue Moon. My FB page still is online but currently not active, so I didn't design anything for Halloween this year.