Five Minute Friday :: Here

• Five Minute Friday :: Here Linkup

1 God is here! As we your people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of your Spirit
into open minds and hearts.

2 Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, font, and pulpit,
here the cross has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence as in speech,
here in newness and renewal
God the Spirit comes to each.

• words by Fred Pratt Green, ©1979, Hope Publishing Co.
• music, Abbot's Leigh, Cyril V Taylor ©1942, renewed ©1970, Hope Publishing Co.

Do you know this hymn? It's one of my favorites to lead from organ or piano and a favorite to sing when someone else leads it well. Do you know the promise of this song? God is here. With references to God's assembled, Spirit-filled people and God's presence in the sacraments, in scripture, and in preaching, it's especially appropriate as the gathering song for worship.

Scripture tells us Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of God. [Mark 16:19] As Martin Luther explains, God's right hand, God's sovereignty, is everywhere, therefore Christ is present not simply right here, but everywhere—though in a special way "for you, for me, for each of us" [1 corinthians 11:24] in the Savior's particular presence in the Lord's Supper.

We start and continue worship aware of God's presence here within the gathered assembly. Does that remind us to look for God elsewhere, because if God is here in this place, God may be there in our next here, in every right "here" where we find ourselves and others find us?

Do you remember the promise of God's life in us here in the world?

On the day of Pentecost the gathered people received the indwelling Spirit of Life [Acts 2:1-18]. Because at baptism each of us receives the Spirit, in our daily walk in the world we are the Body of the Crucified and Risen Christ here on earth. [1 Corinthians 3:16]

Being in God's presence during worship is an important "here" place to be, but in many ways it's a model, a rehearsal, and a reminder that God is right here – and right now – wherever we are.

What places are your favorite heres? # # #

Five Minute Friday :: Half

• Five Minute Friday :: Half Linkup

The song "It's Getting Better" by the late Cass Elliot is about a love match, but it can be true of any aspect of life:

Once I believed that when love came to me
It would come with rockets, bells and poetry
But with me and you it just started quietly and grew
And it's not hard to see
That it isn't half of what it's going to turn out to be

Sometimes grief and loss and unmet expectations overwhelm me. Does that happen to you? But I love love love mornings! The morning light, breakfast with berries that doesn't happen year round but this is summer, and an imagination-fueled prospectus of what the day may hold – even when it's a routine everyday – gets me smiling. Isn't it about grace, surprise, serendipity and unexpected joys?

If you know me at all you know I love summer. Sunshine, warmth, city sidewalks, urban beaches, and ocean breezes. But maybe even better, if summer's here, my major new year is on the way—check out my opening image.

I've written about my several new years:

• The first Sunday of Advent
• January 1 of a new calendar year
• My late January birthday

all of which make solid opportunities for new starts. But probably like many others, late summer is my main new year, my primary new beginning. Memories of a new academic year ranging from kindergarten through a series of graduate and professional schools energize my hope; there's nothing halfway like it.

Schools around here began again on Wednesday, August 12. Something about that date doesn't feel half as exciting and fulfilling as when I was coming up and school started the Thursday after Labor Day.

I opened with a song about human expectations that romantic love will arrive with bells, whistles, and songs (sometimes it does), along with the reality that love in any kind of relationship frequently sneaks up on both persons and almost imperceptibly becomes deeper, wider, and stronger. When you look back you can see all the increments along the way, including the halfway mark.

The morning of every day. The dawn of a new school year (how poetic of me). Don't all of those start less than halfway and grow into more than we ever thought could be?

Did you know:
"In order to be considered half as good
a woman must be twice as good.
Luckily that is not difficult."
# # #

https://whatsyourgrief.com/grieving-an-online-friend-cybergrief/

Natural History Museum :: Butterflies + Orcas

Ads for the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum kept popping up online and all over town. For a while Tuesdays were the museum's day off, which meant I couldn't go there on my Tuesday day off. With summer the schedule switched, so two special exhibits at the NHM became my museum visit of the week.

Such serendipity because the Butterflies close this coming Sunday! As the poster announcement explains, visitors got 30 minutes with the lovely insects. The enclosure was extravagantly planted to attract and feed the twenty-some butterfly varieties in all life stages. Although there was no formal commentary, several staff members were there to answer questions.

After the Butterflies I ventured into Orcas: Our Shared Future; it was visually beautiful and scientifically detailed. For me the expressive orca-influenced art was the highlight. Most of the art was by indigenous artists – Pacific Northwest Coast First Nation peoples – and I didn't try for more than a few impressions. I also avoided displays that had a violence warning label.

Five Minute Friday :: Disrupt

Monday at Vacation Bible School 2014
ready to collect backpacks
for Community Christian Service Center's
annual back to school initiative.

• Five Minute Friday :: Disrupt Linkup

Kate's story intrigued me and because it was familiar, I decided to piggyback on it!

Intro:

When I still was in Previous City, the place I was living needed mold remediation. In their process the contractors decided to disrupt my bedroom instead of my landlady/housemate's art studio per her request, which created awkward entry and exit from my room. (Her studio was bedroom 3 in a 3 bedroom house).

Part 1:

For the mold exit week, we found a hotel with a good deal for pets, so we took P's small dog and my two cats there. It meant two humans and three pets in a regular size hotel room. And you know what? That disruption for everyone worked out fine for all of us.

It was August and Vacation Bible School week; with the church some distance away from the hotel because of our pet-related lodging needs, every morning I traveled to VBS during rush hour. That trip was a relatively minor change or disruption from when I lived around the corner from the church and could walk there in less than five minutes, but the less familiar scenery energized me—maybe by disrupting my usual expectations and routines?

Part 2:

Because getting the mold out meant a major structural disruption of ripping out a wall, my friend decided it would be a perfect time to update the second floor bathroom that had some mostly age-related concerns and that – like at Kate's house – was the only full bath.

Back in the Tierrasanta/ Holy Land neighborhood the week after our hotel stay that also was the week after VBS, since the mold people had left, the bathroom contractors were able to start. Did I mention it was August?

Because August is hot in Southern California, one (you, me, any person) had best not skimp on showers. So? We arranged with two different neighbors to shower at their house. Two households so as not to disrupt only one every day.

Outro:

You may be expecting to hear about another disruption, but the new bathroom with a working shower finally happened, so that's the end of this week's Five Minute Friday.

Since then the church's senior pastor has retired, his kids now are adults, and the church has a new fellowship hall. Since then I've moved north to Los Angeles.

I've enjoyed reminiscing because it showed me what might be possible again. And now? It likely will take a few more disruptions before my days are full again. Thanks for reading!

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Five Minute Friday :: Shift

If anyone has the world's goods
and sees his brother in need
yet closes his heart against him
how does God's love abide in him?
1 john 3:17
• Five Minute Friday :: Shift Linkup

My first impulse was shifting from one musical mode or key to another, shifting gears in a vehicle (did you know I loathe, despise, and abhor automatic transmissions?), changing styles, switching activities, changing your mind about something, an attitude shift. Then I read Kate's blog about work shifts! Of course! Although unlike her son, I've never worked third shift, in a past life I knew someone (RIP) who had. He explained a special kind of person loves third shift, often for all their lives.

To continue the employment topic, I can tell you working second shift isn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. Without a doubt it's partly my gratitude for a job, almost any job, and for the most part I like the job. My fave work schedule is odd irregular days, preferably with a couple of split shifts during the week (unusual, I know). If work needs to be Monday through Friday days, 7 to 3 fits best, though in real life I've worked those hours only two separate summers.

When I was a lot younger I worked five jobs seven days a week and loved it; I'd like to figure out something like that again. Because some of those jobs had fluid hours, I averaged 35 to 40 hours each week, almost never more than 45. That was so good because I had large chunks of time off most days.

Having said that, shifting from one job to another might be on the horizon for some of us. What does a major shift like that entail?

My header art asks how God's love can abide in someone who doesn't love their sister or brother? God's love wants to abide, to make a home – an abode – in us.

We have passed out of death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14

The Greek means to pass over, to change, to depart, to move. Death to life is a very big shift! # # #

July 2026

If you've been following this blog or my days in general, you probably know my current between lives work situation gives me one day off each week, so I do my best to make Tuesdays interesting and momentous with an activity like a museum visit. Here's the rundown for July.


• Tuesday 07 July

This didn't count as momentous, but I enjoyed hanging out at the Century City Mall. In an unusual configuration, you enter from the Santa Monica Boulevard sidewalk (there's also an attached parkade), and once you're inside the mall two floors of shops, department stores, and eateries open up.

Unlike many shopping centers, this one is alive, well, and a cool place to chill. It's larger and not as upscale as The Grove, and it's slightly less plebeian than shopping centers like Culver City that's also a Westfield. The LA Westside neighborhood of Century City claims pride of place in between the municipality of Beverly Hills and the Westwood hood where UCLA resides.

Because there was a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf I had to have a hazelnut frappe; did you know CB&TL does hazelnut much better than anywhere else?

With Subway's current meal of the day rotation featuring Tuna on Tuesdays, you know what I got.


• Tuesday14 July

• Village Square at LACMA.


• Tuesday 21 July

• Getty Center again because they had some new exhibits I intended to view, but instead of visiting them I sat around various spots inside and out and took some pictures.


• Tuesday 28 July

Again this time, I didn't write a separate blog for the last Tuesday of the month. I went back to the Getty and into the Research Institute building where I visited Lost, Found, Returned about the provenance of a particular drawing and Stendahl's World—Marketing Ancient Mexico and Modern Art in Los Angeles. I'd seen the word "provenance" before, but I didn't know the meaning. Provenance is where something originates (pro+venire=comes from), along with its journey if it has one beyond place of birth. In many ways tracing provenance is like tracking the title trail for a real property—especially legal aspects of both.

I don't link to the exhibitions on museum websites because they'll be gone as soon as the art in question is gone, but I strongly encourage you to check out Earl L. Stendahl's acquisitions, exhibitions, and sales, particularly when he got into Mesoamerican art and artifacts that became a trend and a status symbol. Everything wasn't genuine, and he left devastation behind at the excavation sites.

Wikipedia says, "He sold Mexican and Central American antiquities that were often stolen, looted, or assembled from disparate fragments. Often sold to Hollywood collectors, to museums, and even department stores." To think it happened during the century we just left!