February 2022 :: Urban Delights

…Winter, too:

• December 2021 All Around Town

• January 2022 Trippin'

• February is Valentine Month and Heart Month!

• Maybe you noticed outings and activities had started again? Suddenly because of Omicron, work and play have been crazy, so life subsided. For February's traditional emphasis, here's some city love in the form of urban beauty.

• Lectionary Project for February concludes the Season of Epiphany

• Worship Planning Retreat on an early February Friday

• Graceful Tree and Ground Shrub in the Parking Lot

• Garden of Hope and Birdhouse Looking Out into Town

• Noontime Winter Shadows and Flowers

• Still Living Local in 2022

Five Minute Friday :: Peace

• Five Minute Friday :: Peace Linkup

Ever since Abram and Sarai journeyed from Ur of the Chaldeans toward the place God would show them when they got there (no surprise they're considered our progenitors in faith!), humanity has been involved in a social experiment. Ever since then, to be human has meant to be political, to live together, not trying to do life as solitary individuals or even as that mid-twentieth century curiosity of the nuclear family.

Many people outside of the Divine influence know something about irenic peace that's absence of conflict, but God's shalom reaches further, expands infinitely into every facet of every person and institution. Shalom is peace that's fullness, integrity, sufficiency. "Shalom" means enough of everything for everyone, a world where no one lacks yet no one has true excess, either. God commanded Jubilee we learn about in Leviticus 25 as a way to restore shalom.

News of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has devastated the free world; Russia's post-USSR oligarchy has been to blame. Like everyone, regular Russian people desire and need to participate in their own destinies, to live as self-ruled people, part of which happens when we choose our own leaders in free and fair elections.

God created us social beings. After Israel left imperial Egypt, where an oppressive tyrant and his minions had attempted to work them literally to death, by grace Moses helped God liberate the people. You know what happened next! Along the way to the place of bounty and stewardship they'd find on the other side of the river, the people received Ten Words of Life with the grace-filled gospel of continued freedom embedded in each one. If they put God and neighbor first, the people would participate in their own destinies. Everything they did would converge to create the fabric of the society God created us to live in. They would live in shalom as self-ruled people!

Matthew's gospel records Jesus saying, "Blessed are the Shalom Makers, for they shall be called Citizens of Heaven." For our right here and right now, that heaven is in the land where God has led us and placed us. Amen? Amen!
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Five Minute Friday :: Stretch

• FMF Stretch Linkup

Intro

During the year Y2K, I was playing Saturday night Scrabble again with my last City of History landlord and housemate. I tiled a 3-letter word and asked Nick, "Is that a stretch?" because I tended toward imaginative or obscure (or imaginary) words. He replied, "No. It's a shrink."

One of my pastors in Previous City used to have a website called Stretchy Church! That one's defunct; online these days he mainly hosts a podcast called Spiritual Life and Leadership where he interviews people from all over the place. It's been a good way for the church to stretch a distance and it never could have happened without the worldwide stretch of the internet.


God, who stretched the spangled heavens
infinite in time and place
flung the suns in burning radiance
through the silent fields of space
we your children, in your likeness
share inventive powers with you
Great Creator, still creating
show us what we yet may do

© 1967 Hope Publishing Co.
Words: Catherine Cameron, William Moore
Music: Holy Manna, from Southern Harmony, 1835

• All the Words to God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens


Stretch

I began with stretchy scrabble words and a stretchy church, but before those I remembered a hymn that sings of our stewarding the earth and of our co-creating with God. People sing it to different tunes, but it first got to me because I'm a pushover for traditional Americana hymnody like songs from Southern Harmony.

Stretch has many physical and psychological connotations, but the most important for today is to stretch boundaries and borders, to stretch our expectations and hopes to pray to listen and to search, to heed what we hear, to start healing creation. It starts with a very first move that then extends and stretches way far beyond this time and this space. Formed in God's Divine likeness, we stretch out our presence and our gifts and our reach. And we help stretch the borders of our local churches! Logically that stretches the reach of the universal church.

• This is a five minute free write. I thought about what I'd say before starting, but some of it doesn't come together well so if you're reading, please stretch your imagination.

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Five Minute Friday :: Commit

• Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth grass,
and the fruit tree yield fruit,"
and it was so. Genesis 1:11
• FMF :: commit linkup

Be committed to an institution. Join the church!

You may have heard the church is a human institution decided to God, a divine organism dedicated to humanity—and the rest of creation?

Whether or not you formally get baptized and officially join your local church as a full-fledged (flight wings more or less under your own control) voting member or mission partner, it began because of God's total commitment to you and to all God's beloved creation. As Martin Luther famously and scripturally explained the third article of the creed (sanctification), "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel … in the same way the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth."

I bounced my header banner with the Genesis 1 quote off of my art for Season of Creation 2018; Word was the series focus that year. Speech and action are one and the same with God: God speaks and it happens. God's Word creates, redeems, and sustains because of God's [humanly] incredible commitment to us. Since God has covenanted with us in a completely unchanging yet endlessly adaptable commitment, is it not a privilege of grace already given to us and for us to respond with our own commitment to creation that's also our commitment to God? Caring for earth's grasses and grains, stewarding those lovely fruit-bearing trees? Not by our own power, reason, strength, or will, but because the Holy Spirit makes it possible.

So… are you ready to commit? To God who's committed to you? To the creation that's God's glory and dwelling-place, the creation that embraces us in commitment?

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January 2022 trippin'

• 4 more Reflections on Scripture During a Worldwide Pandemic on my other main blog: Urban Wilderness Lectionary Project

• Float Fest happens the day after the Rose Bowl Parade. They charge not low $$ admission and these days you need to prove your vax status, but especially after watching the parade on TV a few times the day before, admiring the floats up close was fabulous! Due to their scale and my proximity I didn't get enough good shots, but here are a few; my header collage includes a couple others of my fave pics.

• A first ever venture into nearby world-renowned Forest Lawn, where I saw their stained glass version of Leonardo's Last Supper. Good Friday and Easter need to wait because they were closed to visitors. They didn't allow inside photographs and I didn't attempt to capture the green grounds.

• Next stop the same day as Forest Lawn was the almost brand new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures that forms a trilogy with the Petersen Automobile Museum and LACMA. They do allow guests to take pictures, but due to the nature of the displays and other factors I didn't try very hard to get anything memorable.

• Lastly, we sauntered to the Farmer's Market for dinner. Some vendors already had closed, and astonishingly the venue was new to me despite my having become an Angeleno (as in no longer a "San Diego transplant") and despite having lived in nearby Koreatown.

• This year there were many online observances for MLK Day, but I didn't participate in or watch any. So sad. Hopefully 2023 will be different.

• On the fourth Sunday of January that wasn't its last, Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area "A Symphony of Sounds" started mid-afternoon and transformed into the golden hour.

• Enjoy these tangerines! I LOVE this picture!

• Formally and officially I began living local in 2020, not long before COVID became a worldwide reality. I was happy to revise typography and year on my banner.

Five Minute Friday :: Trial

There grows a tree in Paradise
The Pilgrims called it the Tree of Life…
The leaves of the tree
Are for the healing of the nations

Art copyright © Leah Chang / Sun Tree River Design
• Five Minute Friday Linkup :: Trial

All My Trials

I had a little book was given to me,
And every page spells liberty,
All my trials Lord, soon be over.
Too late my brothers, too late
But never mind,
All my trials Lord, soon be over.

There grows a tree in Paradise,
The Pilgrims call it the tree of life,
All my trials Lord, soon be over.
Too late my brothers, too late
But never mind.
All my trials Lord, soon be over.

Excerpt from traditional Bahamian spiritual; full lyrics on Daily Prayer Ministries accessed Thursday 27 January 2022

Trial

"All my trials, Lord, soon be over."

Every page spells liberty?! That must be a very very Good Book! Popular theology that's often not very scriptural too often tells us a certain trial or series of trials is necessary for God to achieve God's purpose in a situation and/or for God to refine us into that next stage certain point. As sweet as it would feel were that the truth, many many trials, disappointments, and conundrums we experience are anything but redemptive; too many to count actually slow us down, detour us, and in the end confound what would have been a better path with a healthier outcome. (In themselves they're not salvific, but in the end God redeems them, no surprise.)

Quite a while ago former neighbor and occasional blogger Sara observed the gospel in one word is–remember! As we necessarily focus on preparing for next week, for tomorrow, for next year, or that dream God revealed to us, we can get caught up in the pain of yet another this isn't quite working out; I thought God had already brought me through this particular type of trial (and I even learned a whole lot from it), but rather than agonizing about each trial du jour, we need to remember the witness of scripture—especially exodus and easter! Those events spell liberty for the future, freedom from a past in bondage to sin and death. Those events point toward the not yet for us that yet is a place God already has gone and waits for us to arrive. Exodus and Easter summon us into well-stewarded creation with pristine waterways, gift-laden trees, a cosmos that thrives and helps heal. Toward the time all our trials are over.

Several times I've quoted Cornel West and I need to remember his reminder, "We are people of hope! Why do we party on Friday nights? Why do we go to church on Sundays?" Because we are Easter people, who love to and who need to practice resurrection! Gospeled Good News from the Good Book!

"The Leaves of the Tree are for the Healing of the Nations."
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Five Minute Friday :: Possibility

• Is anything too hard for the Lord? Genesis 18:14
• With God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37
• Possibility FMF Linkup

Photos and patterns, graphics and designs inspire us the same way as single word prompts. Come to think of it, so does music.

I love Kate's two lane highway to a possibility! Could that possibility be home? Either returning to a previous home or journeying home for a first time ever? Are we driving alone or together to a place we'll recognize when we're there? The road's not labeled, though (of course) it started somewhere and this particular one ends—wherever it does. Does it connect to an interstate or maybe arrive at a city or town? Streets and roads so energize our imaginations! Remembering ones we've driven and trod. Recalling old night dreams and faded daydreams and bringing them back to life. Do you remember Abraham? God told him "go to the place I will show you" …when you get there. Did Abraham's descendants know "this is the place" when they finally reached the edge of the Jordan?

This road isn't remote. It's paved, has a median strip and runs betwixt verdant fields. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Resurrection from the dead isn't. So even homecoming isn't too hard for God? With God no thing – even a broadly settled place – will be impossible. The good, the graceful, the bountiful, and the new will flourish as God leads the way to possibilities that aren't exactly remote.

Did you watch pre-Olympics skating last week? At some point someone said "it takes a village" to raise a skater. It takes a village to create any life, to make any dream a possibility. It takes a village to make a home. It takes a village to welcome someone home. Again or for the first time ever. Remember! With God everything will be possible! Amen? Amen!

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Five Minute Friday :: Determine

• FMF :: Determine Linkup

Intro

The apostle Paul determined to preach only Christ and him crucified. (This is a theology blog, remember?!) My intro image is from a 5-part Whimsies series I drew long ago; I bounced the Determined 2 title off the late theologian and Snoopy cartoon creator Charles Schulz's Determined Productions company name. I'm definitely Determined 2 as in Roman numeral II – also known as a second expression of – and Determined 2 as in "2 keep going" "2 succeed" "2 be".

Determine

The outcome eventually will be determined because it's not over until it's over, but I've spent literally forever (since I was a little urban kid in the second grade, yes that long!) determining to prepare for a life of service, especially determining to beautify the inner city and help a whole lot of others to do so, too (or is that "2"?). Along with that determination I've consistently acted, making what I determine more likely than not to happen.

Given Christianity's high theology of vocation, to determine one's own destiny may sound arrogantly self-willed, yet i've done my best to listen to and heed promptings of the HS, to observe my surroundings, to ascertain my particular gifts, and even to consider other's comments and observations. Ages ago when senior pastor commented on my musical abilities and I replied "I don't have the passion for music a person needs to pursue a musical career," he replied, "You're right; you don't. Your passion is obvious—go for it!" Wisely i didn't ask what he considered my passion, though he'd sent some of my scripture-related design to a prominent artist-poet-theologian.

In the interest of bloom where you're planted scripturally expressed by Jeremiah as "seek the well-being of the place where God has sent you," with high determination I've kept on keeping on with my dream of beautifying my surroundings wherever I've found myself.

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December 2021 All Around Town

• Urban Paradise Lectionary Project: Four for December

• Tuesday 07 December: Ecumenical Prayer followed by Soup, Bread, and Pastries at the Armenian Cathedral in Burbank

• Neighborhood Toy Drive and Christmas Party on Saturday 11 December

• Day Long Worship Planning Retreat on Thursday 16 December

• Las Posadas Tuesday 21 December "Wear Your Own Costume" because of COVID. I was a black cat panther.

• Front Lawn with Nativity Scene to set the seasonal theme

• Christmas Eve – Participatory Lessons and Carols at church. I got to be pianist because our staff pianist's spouse had a high fever so the fam wisely didn't go anywhere.

• On 26 December, "The First Sunday of Christmas," three of us gave a talk – here's mine – focused on our testimony of Christmas. Instead of live music we had a wonderful video of scripture readings and music for another Lessons and Carols.

• The afternoon of 26 December I finally saw West Side Story 2021, one of very few movies I absolutely wanted and needed to see.

• Final event of the departing year—house blessing for Jeremiah at noon on Friday 31 December. His place is full of beautiful furniture and decor. I've included pictures of the cow painting that's similar to one or two I have; the tall digital clock he got at Home Depot for an amazing price; elegant elephant tapestry.

Nativity 2021

The First Sunday of Christmas

The pastor asked three of us to bear our testimony of Christmas for the proclamation on Sunday, the day after Christmas: where do we find Jesus, the Christ child? On my mostly lectionary blog I posted approximately what I plan to say. I really like the prayer I wrote to help focus my remarks, so I'm blogging it here.


Nativity Prayer

Root of Jesse, Son of Heaven, Mary's Child.
Cradle of Joy, Word in the Manger, Astonishing Gift.
Lord of Creation, Abundant Promise, Dayspring of Peace.
Be with us here in this place; make us shepherds of your grace.
May our lives season the world with salt;
Nurture our neighbors with leaven;
Light a path to show your way.
In your name we pray—
Amen!

Five Minute Friday :: Announce

• FMF :: Announce Linkup

The last Five Minute Friday of 2021!

• On my mostly lectionary blog this week I wrote about Mary Jesus' mother's response to Gabriel's announcement. As the world approaches again celebrating God moving into the neighborhood (thanks soooo much to late Pastor Eugene Peterson for that description) in Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem Little Town of House of Bread, we read again in Luke's gospel how Gabriel the angel first announced John the Baptist's upcoming birth to Elisabeth's spouse Zechariah; Gabriel announced to Miriam/Mary the birth of a son. Both those events were biologically unlikely and humanly unexpected. What can I say about announce today on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Advent? This blog description announces, "Theology – Ecology – Liturgy – Life" so I don't limit its content as much as I do for Urban Wilderness.

• Taking 5 to write:

I'll start by announcing communication is key in every facet of life. Humans and critters have many ways to convey what's going on; varieties of spoken and written language are fairly central to people, but signs, gestures, colors, and symbols play major parts. It's announce for today, but sometimes speech and other forms of communication makes a reply, reminds, or has another function. Where am I leading? Back to this morning, when a gentle mid-December sun announced the hope of yet another day of grace. On to a little later when an email announced a quick client design I need to start and finish at almost the same time. Then to the calendar announcing tomorrow is Sunday.

More than once I've quoted Cornel West, "We are people of hope? Why do we party on Friday nights? Why do we go to church on Sundays?" So along with Gabriel each of us can announce the surprising end of the routinely expected status quo. The dawn of the new creation. Is this only reason to rejoice because our waiting for God in our midst in Jesus is almost over? No, let's announce it's already happened, it's been happening, it'll keep on happening! To quote Jesus' cousin John the Baptist, "Jesus must increase and I must decrease." With light and evergreens, my header advent candles design announces, "All Earth is hopeful; the Savior Comes…" Even COVID-devastated earth. Even war-ravaged people and places. All. Announce it! Amen!

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