Five Minute Friday :: Season

• Five Minute Friday :: Season Linkup

Intro

It's always reassuring to remember our lives have seasons similar to creation's. In addition to clear "life seasons" of struggle, growth, plateau, reversal, and glory like the weather outside, we also experience hints of different seasons within any current one. Have you ever had a sunny July day turn into a horizontal downpour with near zero visibility? Or been surprised by mid-February melting snow and bright crocuses when you know the calendar says spring is weeks away? I've mentioned human seasons enough in this blog; for this Five Minute Friday let's conside our planetary winter, spring, summer, autumn. Their necessity, their interrelatedness, their gifts. This week's five minutes hasn't turned into a book, but the subject of season was so fun I kept on writing.

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no vegetation of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground—

then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.… Genesis 2:4b-9

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Genesis 2:15

Seasons

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22


Winter

Five Novembers ago I blogged Bulbs Roots Beauty about the gift of winter. When I lived in places with cold, snowy winters, though going outside to work, school, or other activities often was a major challenge, I enjoyed the coziness of being inside looking out, especially if I didn't need to go outside soon. Related to winter I love warm sweaters, and (of course) body and spirit warming savory soups and hot drinks. What are your faves?


Spring

Spring's colorful new growth—how did this happen after winter?

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matthew 13:44

In his Reading the Parables, pastor-professor Richard Lischer quotes from a sermon he happened upon: "When Jesus was taken from the cross, they hid his body in a tomb and then sealed it lest someone find him. For 3 days, Jesus himself was the Treasure hidden in the field; for 3 days he was the seed lying dormant in the ground. Jesus was a human parable of God's love and power."

A seed of God's love and power…

What are your fave things about spring? I especially enjoy lighter brighter colors in our natural surroundings and in spring clothing. They both remind us spring is a beginning of new life that hasn't grown or developed much into what it will become.


Summer

Always my favorite! From spring greens intensifying as days grow longer and then shorter days but more sunshine, more parties, more fun, and better times. I don't want summer to end because I love the hot days, now and then cloudbursts, bright, light, mostly casual clothes, sometimes spontaneous get togethers and outings. What are your summer joys?


Autumn

Autumn is my most real and best new year, because back in my day and back when many others were younger, that's when school started again. New beginnings, a new classroom, new teachers, books, (notebooks, pencils, pens, markers, crayons) classes, and activities. And there's even something new and novel as the natural world starts to slow down, bright summer colors fade and mellow, life at the same time deepens and broadens. Despite summer being my best season, I always appreciate fall's sense of wisdom and maturity, of knowing what battles to choose and which ones to ignore, of getting into warmer clothes that somehow always look like better quality and better styling. How about your autumns?


Seasons

…Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).
John 20:14-16

Supposing him to be the gardener??

But Jesus is the gardener. Jesus is the seed that is the Word of God that is the seed. Without a seed, without a beginning, (without the Spirit,) there is no growth or life or resurrection from death.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden … [and] made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…

Yahweh is a fertility God! Created in God's image, God calls us and we become people who care for the land, protect creation's integrity. Without a seed or source there's no growth, no fruit.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15

The earth, the land, the garden first was gift of grace before it was a covenantal charge and endeavor. Earth and land and garden are gifts for all four seasons, earthbound realities for every one of our summers, springs, winters, and autumns.

What's your favorite and best?

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

# # #

Five Minute Friday :: Clarify

• Five Minute Friday :: Clarify Linkup

You don't get much clarity about an object or situation if there's not enough light to show the details. Ever since God said, "let there be light," and there was light, we've had a front row seat that clarifies the glories of creation.

As our host Kate said, we try different ways to clarify the life path ahead, and with good reason. Looking at all the inputs as best as possible helps reveal how we might contribute to the planet's greater good and give God the glory. We talk about transparency in financial and other transactions, in our everyday family and workaday interactions.

Those of us in the church have a habit of trying to clarify God's attributes and actions. Although we have God's words in scripture, some of those need interpreting to clarify them. Then again, we have the best interpreter of scripture, the incarnate Word Jesus Christ, who makes God's written word clearer than it otherwise would be. Some have called the sacraments "visible words," that also help clarify God's presence, God's ways, and God's will for creation.

Similar to ways God communicates with words and the Word, we humans interact with one another with speech and with symbols that sometimes are plainly familiar, sometimes need interpreting and clarifying by spoken explanations or with visual illustrations. Don't be obtuse and opaque! I really can't see through you. But is word not symbol in itself and is symbol not a kind of speech?

Whatever you call it (if anything at all), you probably interpret your context – neighborhood, workplace, church, school, or city – literally all the time. You read signage and other indicators that clarify where you are, the purpose or safety of a venue, if you want to eat in or take out from a particular eating place…

You almost definitely interpret wherever you are in order to discover and discern and clarify—what's the quickest route home?

# # #

Five Minute Friday:: Anticipate

• Five Minute Friday :: Anticipate Linkup

If FMF wrote to an image prompt and not to a word, Kate's picture of boots ready to start an adventure would be perfect. How fun to write about and anticipate the always unknown we walk into.

Lately I've been reminding myself a lot that the best way to predict the future is to create it. And I wonder what on earth happened when so little I anticipated came to be. I haven't said much about that recently, but my "life stuff" tag leads to some I dared make public.

With yet another devastating war filled with unimaginable violence and horror, what can we anticipate? More of the same or similar? This week for my scripture blog on Philippians 4:1-9, I'm writing on God's presence. I'll link to it here when it's live.

• Pentecost 20A on Urban Wilderness/City Paradise

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and petitions with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will protect your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Carly Simon's "Anticipation" opens with "We can never know about the days to come, but we think about them anyway (autocorrect just now changed my error to antiwar. Wow!) Anticipation the song ends with "These are the good old days" and I know I'm engaging in irresponsible eisegesis to align those lyrics with today anticipating a better unknown future, but you know about poetic license.

As I prayerfully and fearfully (fear in the sense of anxiety, not in the holy awe meaning of Martin's Luther's explanation to each commandment in his Small Catechism, "We should fear and love God above all things") anticipate the future of planet earth, particularly my current small slice of creation, more of Carly's music and lyrics encourage and remind us into God's future.

Let the river run. Let all the dreamers wake the nation. Come, the new Jerusalem.

We're coming to the edge // Running on the water
Coming through the fog // Your sons and daughters

We the great and small // Stand on a star
And blaze a trail of desire // Through the darkening dawn

God's sons and God's daughters! Let's trust God's presence and anticipate the unknown in our sturdy boots. Let's blaze a trail of desire. Let's predict the future and participate with God in the adventure of creating that future we anticipate. Amen? Amen!

# # #

September Summary

• Urban Wilderness / City Paradise Lectionary Blog for September

• By Labor/ Labour Day on this side of the Big Pond, the pomegranates I've been tracking since spring approached ripe enough to eat.

• Garden Work Day, Saturday 09 September yielded a lot of pictures I've featured in this month's header, the header for my Earth sermon on the 24th, for this line item, and for my almost monthly "California" blog footer declaration.

• I didn't capture it in action, but the Autumnal Equinox came around as it always does.

• We've been celebrating Season of Creation in a less structured way than when it first began. Due to my own uncertainties, struggles, and other concerns, for at least the past two yearsI haven't specifically designed for the liturgical emphasis, but on September 24th I got to preach on Earth. I even may edit my post later with more pictures. One of the graces of my ongoing struggles was having enough notes I reasonably could expand them to blog my homily.

• No pictures of the final Supermoon Full Moon of 2023 that graced the sky on Friday 29 September as a Harvest Moon.

Five Minute Friday :: Copy

• Five Minute Friday :: Copy Linkup


With Kate's boombox picture, how could I not five minute friday today? With the "copy" prompt, how could I not reflect on copyrights, digital rights, and AI/Artificial Intelligence? I needed to consider my own claims to my own creative processes and output. I need to remind my readers and viewers:

Blog Content © 2002-2023 …

text, images, graphics, designs and photographs may not be copied, reproduced, or used in any derivative manner without explicit written permission.

Portable stereos or ghetto blasters remain a fond blast from my past; every so often music from one happily energizes my present. "Personal, individual" music conduits like earbuds and headphones simply don't resonate and reach far enough, but please don't worry. You can have the best of all words and plug those into any boombox manufactured in the past couple of decades, and yes, you can buy a new one for yourself or a model for your kids at any nearby Big Box retailer.

But copy remains a concern. As a creative, I frequently remind people there's nothing really original; almost everything derives from something else in some way. You've heard the hue and cry about AI crawling the internet to steal words and art and other creative output. Aside from residuals and other concerns particularly related to streaming, AI was a huge factor behind the recent SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

A few weeks ago I participated in an AI-related ZOOM forum aimed at creatives. One of the presenters asked if we wanted to return to minuscule capacity hard drives, dialup modems, 3.5" floppy disks, *even* 5.25 inch floppies.

I've recently read counsel on how to identify AI-generated photography. Online options to check for plagiarism have long been available. You always can reverse image search to find out if someone has stolen your art or photography. Yet none of this addresses risks and concerns of AI making copies, overwhelming, and overtaking the world.

# # #

Summer of Salt

• Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno on Powell's


In this page-turner YA fantasy, older twin Georgina narrates the summer leading to her eighteenth birthday. It's close to equal parts mystery, magic, friendship, sisterhood, witchcraft, and coming of age into a world of possibilities humans might dream of.

Summer of Salt happens along the east coast of the USA on the previously safe and crime-free island By-the-Sea where uncounted generations of the Fernweh family have lived. Aside from improbable magical powers, the fact of many family members never even briefly leaving for another locale feels unwise to the point of destructively insular, but this is fiction, this is imaginative, and it's supposed to expand the reader's perspective.

Annabella the eastern seaborn flicker, the other central character – or possibly the main one – has held the interest of non-island birding communities for centuries. Annual summer visits from birders long has helped By-the-Sea and the Fernweh family stay financially afloat. I'd suggest those outsiders also have brought a needed taste of worlds outside By-the-Sea.

Summer of Salt is well-written without the annoying stylistic quirks I love to hate. It's strongly feminist yet balanced; none of the characters would denigrate a person who identifies as male or "other." With references to sexuality, orientation, and preferences of Georgina and her classmates more or less in passing, this isn't exactly a sapphic ode.

As a [chronologically] mature adult whose favorite fiction genre is YA, I found Summer of Salt an engaging summer read. And look at the brilliant cover!

Season of Creation :: Earth

• Last Sunday's Sermon. I had more notes than usual (tired body, weary mind, sorrowful spirit), so this is close to what I said. I haven't expanded all the shorthand, and from the lovely comments I got afterwards, I trust my presentation was more lyrical than these on-screen words.

• Genesis 1:9-13


Responsive Prayer

For the fruit of all creation,
thanks be to God.

In the help we give our neighbor,
thanks be to God.

For the plowing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while we are sleeping,
thanks be to God.

For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God.

Most of all, that love has found us,
thanks be to God.
Amen!

Fred Pratt Green, 1970. Stanzas combined in the same order as the original.

Five Minute Friday :: Opinion

• Five Minute Friday :: Opinion Linkup

There's opinion and there's authority. What's the source of that attractive or crazy opinion? To what or to whom do we ascribe authority? Did you read it in a book or see it on the internet?

There are truths and there are facts. Unlike facts, truth isn't always measurable or quantifiable, yet truth has an eternal unchangeable essence. Truth carries an authority that facts often don't.

I often enjoy opinion pieces from reliable websites, print publications, and various media channels and outlets. If the writer or speaker has attained a certain number of years, has varied experiences, good academic credentials, I often consider their opinion, even when it differs considerably from my default.

But in her five minutes, our host Kate reminds us the standard is God's opinion revealed in scripture and especially testified to in Jesus Christ. It may not be unusual for people – Christian and not Christian – to seek and value opinions of friends or acquaintances we know as ethical and especially those who get where we're coming from. It's not uncommon to resonate with trending style or content, whether culinary, sartorial, or entertainment-related. It may feel good and appear innocuous, but we still need to measure everything against the eternal authority of God's opinions.

# # #

Five Minute Friday :: Escape

But Moses said to the people,
"Do not be afraid, stand firm,
and see the deliverance that the Lord
will accomplish for you today.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have
only to keep still." Exodus 14:13-14
• Five Minute Friday :: Escape Linkup

But Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still." Exodus 14:13-14

Escape from slavery in Egypt as well as from death-dealing demands, outrages, excesses, and dehumanizations of the countless empires that hold us hostage. Escape from the worst of our own pasts—including wrongs we've done and sins committed against us. Escape from hopelessness and from those griefs that refuse to escape from us. Forgiveness unlocks the doors. Easter catapults us from past deaths into wide open futures.

Escape into dreaming and possibilities. For myself. For my community. For the world. "Redemption" is one of the theological words. God fights for us and literally redeems us. God buys back our life, re-establishes our identity. God frees us for service to our neighbors, to strangers, to family, to creation, and to ourselves.

Over on my scripture website, my considerations of Exodus 19:1-9 on June 17^th this year relate closely to escape, release, redemption, and purpose.

# # #

911 :: 22 Years

Yet my soul,
keep thou silence unto God:
for mine hope is in God.
Psalm 62:5

I've partly borrowed this from the intro to my lectionary blog for 911-2022 when the saga of un-creation from Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 felt like the reality of WTC Ground Zero. Although they frequently advise us "preach the text and not the day," the appointed scripture sometimes feels custom picked for the day's event.


911

9/11/2001 + 22 = 2023

Twenty-two years later, where has the grief gone? Where have the memorial services gone? Happily or not, at least a few tweeps have asked where we were when we heard the news. That would be for those of us who are so old we were chronologically mature adults on 11 September 2001. And we're always ready to revisit our experience, to retell the horror.

Monday evening 9/10/2001 I'd gotten back late from a seminar for the year-long Community Economic Development certificate program I'd just started at San Diego State. Tireder than usual, I'd gotten up maybe an hour later than I typically did. By the time I turned on the morning news, the news had gone live. I watched the second plane hit the second tower.

And I never forget the hope of two and a half days later.

Thursday evening September 13, 2001, my Presbyterian Church (USA), the large Evangelical Lutheran Church in America across the street and the smaller ELCA around the corner, a nearby Roman Catholic, that big United Methodist, and the United Church of Christ that bordered this neighborhood and the adjacent one gathered at the ELCA across the street and celebrated Eucharist. In the wake of unprecedented destruction on USA soil, yes, we offered thanksgiving! A glance into all creation healed and whole. A moment in the future God dreams of and calls us to help create.

Where were you? What words or communities or actions or realities sustained your hope? Hold you in hope?

Five Minute Friday :: Rely

• Five Minute Friday :: Rely Linkup

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now… Romans 8:19-22

Six years ago I blogged my notes on Romans 8:12-25 from the adult Sunday School class I facilitated every week pre-covid. I referred to "the interwoven interdependence and interconnectedness of human creatures (that's us!) and the rest of God's created order that we sometimes refer to as the natural creation." That means all creation relies on all creation like the wonderfully intertwined rope in Kate's FMF rely illustration.

Theology of creation is one of my long-time passions. Like most people, I'm becoming more and more aware of how the non-human creation and we humans rely on each other for… everything.

For the past couple of decades, with the ecumenical Season of Creation, denominations and many local churches have emphasized specific aspects of life on planet earth for several weeks (mileages may vary) leading up to the first Sunday in October that commemorates St Francis of Assisi; on St Francis' feast day, many congregations offer the community a festive Blessing of the Animals as a truly geographical parish event. Although in the global North the liturgical Season of Creation celebrates the fullness of summer and anticipates a bountiful autumn harvest, it originated in Australia.

Even the originators have updated and tweaked the emphases and liturgies some, but the three-year cycle has a specific focus for each Sunday that includes forest, land, water, outback, sky, humanity, storm, fauna, flora, jubilee for the earth, protecting the commons…

A couple years after starting this blog I compiled a starting bibliography for the book about ecotheology I've long dreamt of writing. I've added a few titles but haven't yet started writing, but I hope readers of his blog and Urban Wilderness – its mostly scriptural first cousin – have noticed how often I consider the mutual reliance of human creatures, non-human critters, and the amazingly diverse, color-filled variety of plants that support – and rely upon – all of us and that God also calls us to steward.

By the way, I'm super excited I'll be guest preaching on September 24th for Earth Sunday. If my notes are coherent enough, I'll write them out to blog here.

# # #

Five Minute Friday :: Absence

• Five Minute Friday :: Absence Linkup

Disclaimer: Faithful readers! I don't want this to sound like poor sorrowful me, but it is a lament. You can't change what you don't acknowledge, and I've gotten into the very bad, destructive habit of toxic positivity. After all, things almost always could be worse, right?

Absence.

empty plates
empty houses
empty beaches
empty lives
empty hope
it's winter all over my world

is absence devoid of life, or does something else now occupy and live in that space?

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann reminds us much of life – most of life? – is sabbatarian. We spend many of our hours and even many entire days inbetween Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

People who live in places with cold snowy winters are particularly aware of (and wait expectantly for) the verdant glory that happens after winter. As a result of winter. Some flowers and plants require winter in order to bloom. To quote my linked blog, "Hushed, quiet, still, chill of winter is essential to make roots that literally give the bulbs power to make flowers; winter temps allow bulbs to grow long, deep roots."

But I can't help but wonder about the length of my winter, the almost endless absence of life. Of summer.
# # #