alancreech

summer activities

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:23:00 +0000

The Summer has been lumbering along. Right now in Kentucky it's very hot and humid. For the last week or so, it seems to have been in the mid 90's (F) and lots of humidity in the air - very sticky. We've had plenty of rain this year, as opposed to last. We're due for another one soon. I thought I'd run through some of the things I've been doing regularly this Summer. You see one of them on the right there - tomatoes. Liz planted this garden and somehow I've sort of adopted these tomato plants. I've put cages around them. I make sure they're tied up, staked up, etc. I take time each day to go out and water the whole garden, along with the tomato plants. I've found myself a little place in the shade of our redbud tree, in that chair on the left, to sit quietly for a little bit while I have the hose set up watering sections of the garden. I try to meditate there - maybe pray a decade of the Rosary here and there.

Since we moved into this house, almost 3 years ago, we have wanted to put either a patio or deck in the back but never have gotten around to it. Well, it's finally happening. You can see the progress so far on the left. I'm very excited about it. And no, we can't really "cash" afford it right now, but it'll add value to the house, that's the way I've got to look at it. Listen, it'll add value to my life as well, I'm certain of that. It becomes an outdoor room and will draw us to spend more time out there. Also, we're hospitality people and lately, we haven't done a lot of hospitalitizing. Life has been such that it just hasn't happened like it used to. We want that to change and I believe this will help. It's a huge excuse to invite people over all the time to hang out on the deck. There will be a party very soon - prepare yourself!

Fishing is one of my life hobbies. See, even calling it a "hobby" doesn't seem right. It's more than that. It has been woven into the fabric of who I am since I can remember being alive. And I too up that mantle. Lately, it has fallen by the way of life. It's sad. I recently made a point of getting both myself and my Dad out to go fishing. He's more pitiful than me - hasn't been for a long time. So, we took a little trip to Harlan, land of our birth, and fished the old River of both our youths - the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River. It was a good trip. We didn't catch many, too early in the day I think, but it was good to be there, actually fishing. We both remembered what a work-out our kind of fishing is too. I seriously need to make myself do this every week.

People who know me, know I love to cook, and that I am pretty good at it. My daughter McKenzie (12) (she's not the only child who has) has taken up this mantle. She loves to cook and has become quite the little chef. That is, in fact, her stated career goal now - to be a chef. We'll see how that works out, but she's got my support. Anyway, we both love Asian food and she's pretty brave when it comes to trying new foods. We have Vietnamese neighbors whom she eats with sometimes. So, we decided, since she now likes it and it's growing on me, to make a batch of our own Kimchi - a Korean fermented cabbage and spices dish. It's basically the staple side-dish/condiment of Korea - they eat it with everything. And we did it! It's not that hard actually, just takes time. So, after 4 days fermenting in a plastic container in the kitchen, we opened it up (wooo hoo! what an odor!) and we now have a very spicy quart of homemade Kimchi. Yes, you can have some if you come over. :)

OK, that's it for now. Nobody reads blogs on the weekends anyway for some odd reason, so "see" you on Monday! Peace.

my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Ant. 1 We saw him despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with infirmity.

Psalm 22
God hears the suffering cry of his Holy One
Jesus cried with a loud voice: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
You are far from my plea and the cry of my distress.
O my God, I call by day and you give no reply;
I call by night and I find no peace. ...

Do no leave me alone in my distress;
come close, there is none else to help.

I prayed Terce this morning (the mid-morning prayer in the Office) instead of the Morning Prayer. I'm glad I did. I feel now as if it was providential. This is what stood out to me - well, nearly the whole thing, there's only one section of a Psalm in the little hours, but these parts particularly stood out to me as I have felt like this lately.

I have often found myself in the Psalms. I'm sure we all can here and there, and that's why they're there for us. So this time, I find myself inside the cries of Jesus, both prophesied and actually, as well as of the writer of the Psalm. And even though these words sound painful, and they are, to read them in conjunction with my own inner goings-on is comforting.

introducing....

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:06:00 +0000

That's Steve Harvey, comedian of the Original Kings of Comedy fame, introducing Jesus. Thanks to Michael Spencer for pointing this out. I've you've never heard of Steve, you might need to stop being so white for a minute and check him out - and that's Ricky Smiley on the keyboards (way too funny not to know about). I'm pretty sure Steve done preached himself happy by the end of this, for real. And I'll tell you what, he might preached me happy too. This is classic stuff. I've sat in preaching services like this. I have room for it. Amaan mistu Steve, Aman!

in a galaxy far far away...

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:07:00 +0000

This is my very good friend Kevin Rains. Today he wrote a little piece on his blog remembering some connections some of us made several years ago. It was a little bitter-sweet for me to read. As he said, two of our comrades have since moved on to a fuller expression of God's Kingdom. Also, the connection we all had after that day, growing for a few years, seems to have faded a bit. That's not necessarily bad. God has moved some of us here and there, shifted our focus, etc. It still feels like something I'm personally lacking though - sometimes. That's a little sad for me.

When I was at the event Kevin describes in his post (it began the night of July 25, 2001), I kept a very constant written journal. I recorded my thoughts as that weekend progressed. In 2005 I posted my own memorial post about the same event. The poem you see at the end there was one I wrote after a bunch of us went to a local bar/music club there in Cincinnati one night. I actually have pictures of that time somewhere, probably on a roll of film that never got developed. I'll try to track those down.

I love you people - still - believe it.

Palmer and Chad, pray for us.

benedict on my desk

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:43:00 +0000

Today is the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western Monasticism. I've not had a huge devotion to or focus on Benedict most of my Christian life - probably more implicitly than explicitly because I share a drawing to similar monastic ideals. He does sit in my "cloud of witnesses" you could call it - icons on top of my desk in the study. He's there with Patrick, Francis, Jesus the Teacher and the Blessed Mother. Jesus with his burning Sacred Heart takes up residence across the room in a special, central place on top of my book shelves. Thank God for visual aids.

I don't have tons to say about Benedict. You can read a sketch there at the link. The thing that always, without fail, comes to mind when I focus on him is that, and consider all he has been and is to the Church, to monks, to many in Orders that bear his name, to Christians all over - is that he was really just a lay person who wanted to find a way to serve and focus on God with others while they were being transformed into the Image of Christ. Not a priest. Not even a Deacon as far as I know. But he is Father Benedict. There's hope there. Pray for us, O Abbot.

my birthday - a meme

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:39:00 +0000

I still hate that word - "meme" - goofy sounding. So is "blog" but what are you 'gonna do? Anyway, I picked up this deal from Chris Kan and thought it sounded cool, so here you go...

The instructions of the meme are as follows if you're interested...

1) Go to Wikipedia

2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.

3) List three events that happened on your birthday

4) List two important birthdays and one death

5) One holiday or observance (if any)

Here's mine - September 25th - pretty cool thing.

Events:
1066 - The Battle of Stamford Bridge marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era.

1789 - The U.S. Congress passes twelve amendments to the United States Constitution: the Congressional Apportionment Amendment, the Congressional Compensation Amendment, and the ten that are known as the Bill of Rights. Only the Bill of Rights were ratified at the time, while the other two were proposed by James Madison but not ratified. In 1992, the Congressional Compensation Amendment was ratified as the 27th amendment to the Constitution.

1996 - The last of the Magdalen Asylums closes in Ireland.

Two Births - One Death:
1764 - Fletcher Christian, English Bounty mutineer (d. 1793)

1930 - Shel Silverstein, American humorist and author (d. 1999)

1617 - Francisco Suarez, Spanish Jesuit theologian (b. 1548)

Holidays/Observances:
R.C. Saints - Saint Finbarr.

old mountain woman

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:25:00 +0000

Can I just talk like an old mountain woman (womern as my Mammaw used to say) for a minute? Here's what they do: How's it going Alan (or Berthy, whoever)? Weeell, let me tell ye, I can't hardly make it back and forth to the smoke house any more my back is so bad. And this pain in my elbow is about enough to make a big ole man cry sometimes. They laaaaaw, and did I tell you about my knees - laaww me, I can hardly get up and down some days, it's a sight. All the way down to the bottom of my feet, my right foot that is, my toe or foot, I b'lieve its the gout. In the sweet by and by I reckon all this pain'll fade away.

'Course I don't sit around thinkin' about dying and going to heaven, but you know, all that pain business is true. For some reason it just feels "good" to whine about it sometimes. Sleep last night was at a precious minimum - tossing and turning to relieve the back pain. I mean seriously people. I'm only 41! I feel like I'm fallin' apart over here. It's downright disheartening, I tell you.

Liz and I went for a walk yesterday. I actually initiated it. I'd like to stay consistent at that, but I don't have much faith in myself on that one. We'll see. Hell, by the time we got through, I was so stiff I was nearly bent over - riDICulous! It's time to do something about that - let's see if I do. I know, by the way, what to do, it's just a matter of doing it.

It doesn't help that I'm likely physiologically depressed these days either. Bryan was talking about his battle with depression lately. I don't have mine figured out as well as he does - I just know it's there, just sitting there like a frickin' lead weight on my soul, and I don't seem to have the strength to get it off. Fortunately it hasn't gotten so bad that I've just chucked everything and given up (although I feel like it sometimes). I keep praying, worshiping with the Church and doing mostly normal life stuff. Anyway, there's that. Peace be with you and me.

TV in 1978

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Wow! Now this was a memory lane deal. This era in television for me was one of the most memorable. This showcases only the classic offerings of one network, ABC, but this alone is a treasure trove of amazing old shows I used to watch. This was their promo spot for the Fall season of 1978. That Fall I would turn 12. I remember all these shows and watched most of them. The only one that I don't, and didn't make it I guess, was the one about the depression or something goofy. The others are now pure classic TV in the U.S. And Kyle, please wait till the end for the preview of a great new series for that Fall! Have fun folks. Let the memories come flooding in.

technorati tags > vintage television, 1978 tv

reunion '08

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:36:00 +0000

Saturday was the family reunion we usually go to every year. It's a combination of the descendants of my GGrandfather, Joseph Creech, in Harlan, Kentucky. It takes place at Kingdom Come State Park near Cumberland, which is Harlan County - beautiful place. Of course Joe Alec (what he was called) has been dead since 1940, but now his two surviving children, my Great Aunts (photo on the right there) Rhema (88) and Beulah (90) are continuing the reunion tradition. Apparently it has been going on for 38 years. Lots of good food, children running around, talk about family history, and of course, singing - mostly old hymns. It's usually a good time. I usually blog about this when I go. This time I took a little movie of Rhema (the most talkative of the Matriarchal sisters) talking a bit at the end, as everyone is about to leave - then Beulah gets a couple of words in there too - classic stuff. Some of you will have to listen carefully, and perhaps a couple of times, to understand her accent - serious old Kentucky mountains here folks.

On the way out, I decided to try to find one of the first houses I remember us living in when I was a wee child (between 1 and 3 I guess). That's it there (I'm pretty sure) on the left - in Cumberland, Kentucky - still Harlan County. I do remember living there a bit - next door, you can't see it, was Mrs. Beard's house, my babysitter for a while. She used to fix me what I called "kid's coffee" - about 90% milk and sugar and a little coffee. I must have thought that was cool. I also remember choking on a lifesaver near her front doorway, and my Mom turning me upside down and smacking my back until it came out - I lived! Just in case you were worried there. The other photo is of a spring water outlet pipe located on the side of the road in Bell County. It was set up years ago. People just stop there and fill up their jugs with free, pure, mountain spring water. There are a few of these around in the mountains. McKenzie and I stopped there and got us some water. Good stuff. OK, that's it for our little adventure. Peace.

Oh, I took a bunch of other photos too and uploaded them to my Flickr page - you can see those here.

liturgical prayer options

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:24:00 +0000

I started thinking about different ways that many of us pray liturgically. There are several options for Christians who wish to pick up this habit of prayer. I thought I'd lay out a few here to give people an idea what's available. All these links are to Amazon but there are plenty of places you can get hold of these books.

Before that, I'd like to share a quote from Thomas Merton I found today while skimming through a book of his letters, The Hidden Ground of Love. The quote is from a letter written to a woman named Etta Gullick, who studied theology and later taught on prayer for a while at one of the colleges at Oxford. Apparently she had asked him to write something about "progress in prayer" - this was his answer - very interesting and worth chewing on.

Progress in Prayer: all right, if you like, I will think about writing something on it, but it is a ticklish subject because the chief obstacle to progress is too much self-awareness and to talk about "how to make progress" is a good way to make people too aware of themselves. In the long run I think progress in prayer comes from the Cross and humiliation and whatever makes us really experience our total poverty and nothingness, and also gets our mind off ourselves. But I will think a little about it. I have a real repugnance for writing things that tell everyone specifically how to do something or other spiritual now.

So, as long as you don't abuse these resources and try to keep track of your progress in a little notebook or something, here you go...

Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary

Celebrating Common Prayer

Celtic Daily Prayer

Christian Prayer (1 volume liturgy of the hours)

Shorter Christian Prayer (from the above - M., E., and N prayer)

The Book of Common Prayer

The Divine Hours

The Glenstal Book of Prayer

The Liturgy of the Hours (full 4-volume set)

The Missio Dei Breviary

Venite: A Book of Daily Prayer

Now, I haven't used all of these. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. Liz has the 1-volume Christian Prayer, and we have several of the Shorter Christian Prayer around for if we ever have a prayer party. I have a copy of Celtic Daily Prayer and the Glenstal Book of Prayer. I haven't used either regularly. I like the Glenstal book - it's a brief one. It's from an Irish Benedictine Monastery, has lots of helpful prayers as well as versions in the Irish language. I've modified the Evening Prayer from that book into a little booklet for our family to use together. Anyway, there are some options. Hopefully that's helpful.

technorati tags > liturgical prayer, fixed hour prayer, liturgy of the hours, prayer

liturgical prayer > thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:03:00 +0000

Skimming through a copy of Cutting Edge (the Vineyard's church planting magazine - I'm still on the list apparently) lately and ran into an excerpt from a 2002 interview with Phyllis Tickle about prayer - specifically about praying the office. The quote I want to share is just a great, brief synopsis about praying in this way from Phyllis as she answers a question from the interviewer. I'll include both question and answer.

Talk a little bit about the nature of praying with fixed-hour prayer.

Praying the office is to enter a place built by words which have been with us for 3,500 years. They are the words Jesus himself used, the words of the apostles. When you enter that space you bring with you the communion of saints across all the ages. You pray words that are not your words. They are the words of the saints, and you don't mess with them. They have been given to you. A reporter once asked me, "So, what do you get out of fixed-hour prayer?" Before even thinking, I said, "Not one damn thing."

Of course, I pray spontaneously, as well. And I set aside a portion of each afternoon to do petition and intercession, which are not formulaic or written. I cannot imagine a prayer life in which that didn't happen. But I wouldn't want to have one without the other.
–from Cutting Edge, Winter 2002, Phyllis Tickle: The Shaping of a Prayer Life

That's a great quote. Phyllis is a member of the Episcopal Church and has done a ton to promote the practice of praying the office. She developed a prayer book called The Divine Hours which helps people do this. I've prayed with people using her book but I don't use it myself. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. I need to "use" it more. The term "fixed-hour prayer" doesn't quite fit with me yet on praying the office. There isn't a specific time Liz and I, or just I pray. I'm sure in the future more set times will emerge in our practice but right now that's not the case. It's the rhythm of doing it that's probably more important I would think.

I love that answer to the reporter's question - "Not one damn thing." Awesome. Here's what she basically means - we don't pray this way in order to get something out of it - not to feel anything or sense how amazing we're becoming. We do it because that's what you do. You have a rhythm of prayer in your life because you have His Life inside you. You keep in flowing. The water moves and it keeps moving. Technically, in the end, I suppose we do get something out of it - being in the flow of contact with God in His Word, with the Church - just not in the way people think when they ask a question like that. So, if you pick up this habit (and it takes a while), don't expect to have a very exciting experience as you pray. Now, it may feel like something every now and then, but that's not what its about.

And yes, there's an Episcopalian talking to a Vineyard magazine about practices that have been a part of her Anglican heritage and of the ancient Catholic heritage for a long time. This way of praying is catching on all through the whole Church's proverbial circulatory system, down the capillary ends. Most Catholics barely know what praying the office is, it has so long been only something that the clergy or monks did, even if the Catholic Church has stated a desire that the entire membership pick up habits of prayer like this and pray them together. I doubt most Anglicans or Orthodox take advantage of the deep, liturgical prayer traditions in their arenas either. Saying that is not about dissing anyone - it is simply, for me, sad. It's spreading out, though, and that's a very good thing. We can pray in this way together, all of us. It can be a unifier of sorts. It's a deep, fruitful river we can all connect ourselves to and allow it to irrigate us as one common crop of God.

technorati tags > liturgical prayer, fixed hour prayer, liturgy of the hours, phyllis tickle

soooo sick

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:27:00 +0000

This may be one of the things I have to say: I am sooo sick of controversy in the Christian arena. I'm so damn tired of theological argumentation - We've got this right, of course they've got all that wrong. I'm so glad I'm not like that crew over there. It makes me feel really good knowing that I've got it all wrapped up.

Seriously - I see so much of it in the blog world that it just makes me ill. But healthy theological debate is important - Truth is important - we've got to hash these things out and get to the bottom of things. I'm really beginning to wonder about all those statements. How important is it? Please don't answer that - any such answer will undoubtedly be in the category of that which makes me want to throw up.

Listen, I'm a theological thinker. My mind works like that. But when it comes to what's really, really important in the Christian life, in life in general, I'm beginning to believe that getting everything tightly wrapped up in a neat little "Truth bundle" is NOT it. It's not what we really should be expending our energy on. I'm sure there are healthier examples than I see regularly. It would be nice if they were more the norm - but they're not.

Yes, yes, it matters what we believe. Yes, some things are "truer" than others. Some things believed produce other things that aren't good - I know this. This can be so without us all becoming those who just sit around waiting for opportunities to pounce on those with whom we have "issues" ecclesiastically or theologically. All this mess goes 26 different directions. There really aren't many innocents out there. Hell, I'm sittin' here bitchin' about people who bitch about things, so there you go. We're in a broken world. We would all do well to more fully realize this.

Lord have mercy, please.

technorati tags > theology, controversy

still blogging

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:49:00 +0000

Well, I have this blog, you should check it out... Wait! You're here already. I used to have lots to say. I probably still do - maybe too much?? Maybe it's too - hell, I don't know. I'm sure my "blog voice" will come back soon enough. Sorry for all the old faithful readers till then. I'll try not to leave it so high and dry around here.

Various Crap...

Going to a party tonight - farewell to a friend who's moving to California. Well, she's mostly Liz's friend but I get invited too.
My daughter Meaghan is funny, and stubborn sometimes - wonder where she gets that from?? Hmmm. We have a hard time talking sometimes, but we eventually get it together. I love her very much. Hopefully she knows that by now. She's sitting over there on the couch, so I just thought of this.
My wife is much like Meaghan, or the other way around. I love her too. She's on the chair there so I thought I'd throw that in there.
The tomatoes are growing and growing - you know, that's cool.
Conor's baseball team ended up #2 overall in their league this year - on to the city tournament next week!
I made some very good beef stew today/tonight - we ate some.

alan creech design

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:20:00 +0000

Most of you have probably already seen my design business site for Alan Creech Design. I'm continuing to try to make a go at this freelance thing. I've stayed relatively busy and am grateful for those of you who have hired me or referred me to others. More work, more better though. Moving right along. Just a little update on the site address. I bought a new domain name yesterday that's up and running now and wanted to make sure to publicize the new domain. If anyone has a button or banner on your site, you might want to point it to the new site at www.alancreechdesign.net. Thanks.

technorati tags > alan creech design, graphic design

sandals and tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:55:00 +0000

Those are my feet in my sandals. They are Chacos (I have the Z/1 with the thicker sole) and I highly recommend them. They're not cheap but they will last you a long while. That's not really why I took a picture of my feet in sandals though. I was sitting in the park around the baseball field before Conor's game the other day and had something running through my mind. I'm not sure how widespread this word is but I saw it on the internets and it kind of stuck with me.

Here you go: Sandalista. Alrighty then - I think a Sandalista is supposed to be some kind of "whacked out, liberal Catholic" or something. It seems a bit of a negative slam of sorts. Some random thoughts that came to mind about it were as follows:

Hmm, Jesus probably wore some kind of sandals - hmmm.
Hey, I wear sandals all the time!
Yeah, that just doesn't come off very well, does it?
I hate how "liberal agenda" items 4-6 always get lumped in with items 1-3 (which aren't necessarily about being "liberal" at all as the term gets thrown around).
Is name-calling really going to help anything?
Hey, I call names sometimes too - maybe I should rethink that.
Boy do I hate controversy - all this throw-down arguing is just not helpful.

Anyway, nothing profound on that whole thing, just some thoughts. I do have other shoes that I wear often, but I have these cool sandals. I even have the "Chaco lines" on my feet from suntan. Maybe I'm just saying, I'm cool like that.

Yesterday was a gardening day for me and Liz. Well, after Mass and naps, we got out into the yard and I finished putting together these tomato cages I wanted to put around the tomatoes that Liz planted. We also transplanted some of the "wild" tomatoes that sprung up in the garden from last year and built a cage system for them as well along the back of the house. We're 'gonna have a heap 'o 'maters this year I'm thinkin'.

You can go here to check out photos I took yesterday of what we were doing. Also, I took another bunch of photos of the whole garden a few days ago - you can see those here.

Liz is way ahead of me on this gardening thing, but I was finding yesterday, that this was really good "work" for me. It was just good and healthy to be out there. Productive, peaceful, and for us too, very prophetic in how it kind of foreshadows a life that we will have in that rural, monastic community setting here in the next few years. I encourage any of you who are monastically oriented, if you have room, to just do the garden thing. It's just some good old ora et labora stuff - thanks St. Benedict.

technorati tags > sandals, name calling, gardening, photography

though the fig tree blossom not

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:59:00 +0000

My friend Bryan reflects on how the Psalms speak all our human emotions as we pray them in daily prayer today. It made me think of what stood out to me this morning in our Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Off and on, I struggle with very similar emotional and mental "down" times as well. This little portion of the Canticle this morning was appropriate:

For though the fig tree blossom not
nor fruit be on the vines,
though the yield of the olive fail
and the terraces produce no nourishment,

Though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet will I rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my saving God.

God, my Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet swift as those of hinds
and enables me to go upon the heights.
–Habakkuk 3

This kind of thing happens fairly often to me as I pray the daily office. Real things that I'm going through just jump out at me and come alive. That piece from Habakkuk above is an example. It's not about feeling God and being happy. Even the last part there about God being my strength, is a statement, as I see it, of faith - faith even in the midst of the proverbial terraces producing no nourishment. And that business about continuing to rejoice in the Lord isn't about an emotional joyful feeling bubbling up. It may well at times but this is about a choice to keep on walking even though you're not quite seeing the end very clearly - even though all your bones and muscles ache - even if you have to walk slower sometimes, you keep walking.

technorati tags > liturgy of the hours, liturgical prayer

God told me

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:30:00 +0000

Sounds like it's going to be a big 'ole thought out post doesn't it? Ah well, sorry to disappoint. Just thinking - thoughts rolling around in my head and I came up with this. Here's an interesting list of people who had a bad case of the "God told me's":

Abraham - yes, THE Abraham
Moses
Jesus of Nazareth (let's go big - a man like us too, remember)
Paul of Tarsus
All those freakish Apostles for that matter
Any of a number of dessert hermits
St. Patrick of Ireland
Any of a number of Irish monastic/missional folk
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Theresa of Avilla
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Lots and lots and lots of others, myself included

I may have a little bit of a point to this post. If so, it's this: Let's not toss out God speaking to people and telling/leading them to do things, go places, etc. It may be in some kind of private ecstatic state. It may be very much more "regular" than that. It may come through another person. However God is speaking specific things to us, let's just not throw that out the window as if it's some kind of crazy, fanciful nonsense. As I see it, I'd say, "well, of course God is at least trying to speak to all of us, lead us, guide us, move through us to do certain things - this is part of His whole plan of reintegrating us into His everyday Life."

So, of course! But of course (also), not everything you think you hear is God. Not every leading you believe is from Him, is indeed, from Him. Be about having a relationship with Him, with and in His People. Be about the business of being formed by Him. Don't sit around being about the business of "hearing" this or that all the time. We hear Him best as mature believers, as well-formed spiritual adults. So, don't be crazy about the thing, but also, don't be overly rational and skeptical about it either. I'm pretty certain He's always talking. Our "job" is to get in the way of what turns us into the kind of people who can always be hearing.

a few life things

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:14:00 +0000

It seems to be the time of year, or decade or whatever, for these guys. This is a Cicada - a big 'ole insect that lays its eggs in the ground and when the larva hatch out (every 17 years on a large scale), they hit the trees and make big time noise huntin' for some lovin'. And the noise is very distinctive and loud. I, for one, love it. I lot that sound. I grew up hearing that sound in the Summers. Some must hatch out every year because I don't remember ever not hearing them. I've said before, and I'll say it again, that I can't imagine living somewhere where I can't hear that sound. I would have recorded it for you in the back yard but I didn't want to go through all that to get a Cicada noise on my blog. You can do a Google search and find plenty.

It's hot here in Kentucky today, for the last few days - in the 90's - not common for early June here really. Too hot for me. I could honestly be satisfied if it never got above 75 or 80 degrees (Farenheit). So, inside in the air conditioning, yep.

I'll end with this: I found out today that my Uncle Dave died last night. He was David Earl Creech, my Dad's older brother, only by 2 or 3 years. I think he was 74(?). He's been relatively sick for several years and has had lots of health problems off and on for a long time. He apparently died in his sleep, so that's a slightly positive slant. I'll likely be headed to Glasgow tomorrow for a memorial service (Kentucky, not Scotland). If you think about it, please pray for his wife, for his children, my cousins, the whole family - and for those who are turned toward such a thing, for him. Pax vobiscum.

technorati tags > cicadas, hot weather in kentucky

christian humor > saints > church

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:42:00 +0000

I just finished watching these 3 videos about the value of humor in the Christian life. Very good stuff from Fr. James Martin, S.J. I actually saw James on the Colbert Report (which I don't watch regularly, just happened to see it) once. Anyway, check this 3-part deal out as he addressed a publishing convention. Very funny - good thing considering the subject matter. Many, many of us (Christians of whatever stripe) take ourselves MUCH too seriously. Laughing is far too foreign to us. These are helpful words for sourpusses. Peace and laughter.

technorati tags > christian humor, catholic humor, james martin sj

actually... seriously...

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:30:00 +0000

I did it. I actually made the time and went fishing yesterday evening. I can hardly believe it myself. I drove to my favorite creek, about 30 minutes away, and fished for about 3 hours. I only caught 4 - well, I caught 4! Nothing of any size really but fun anyway. 3 Smallmouth Bass and 1 Sunfish.

By their behavior, I'm fairly certain the Smallmouth are still on the nest for the most part. That means they don't eat and you only catch them, generally, because they're protecting their nest and you get near it with your fly. Apparently I was a threat at least 3 times. The fishing will pick up in a couple of weeks after they come off and start feeding again.

At the end there I wanted to try one spot before I left. I caught a decent one there. I was fishing behind another guy. When I caught mine he started talking to me and eventually we starting fishing together for another 45 minutes, until it was almost dark. Nice guy. We just talked about the creek, fishing here and there, etc. I think in this scenario, I was the "old fisherman" to him being a bit younger and this being his first time fishing Silver Creek. It's always good to meet nice fellow fishermen. Our lot can be asses at times so you never know. Good trip all 'round. Now, it's time to go to Mass. Peace.

most sacred heart

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:33:00 +0000

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them,
and write it on their hearts; I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. –Jeremiah 31:33

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. I like it. I like that particular icon of the Sacred Heart a lot. You can find it here. A detailed description of the icon with all it's symbolism explained can be found here. Very interesting. Here is a little piece of that description, about the image of the Sacred Heart itself, in the center...

The Sacred Heart in the center of the image is topped with a flame signifying God’s passionate love for humankind. The heart bears within it the symbols of Christ’s Passion; the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails, the spear that pierced His side, and the reed with a sponge. The heart shows a slash on the side from the spear, symbolizing the Lord’s anguish caused by the rejection of His Word by His people. The chalice is positioned to catch the Blood of Christ, brought to us in the Eucharist.

Great image - just a very helpful devotion to the deep, loving heart of Jesus - a great way of meditating on how much He loves us and what that love did/does for us. The small Latin phrase at the bottom, which you can't see in this image well enough, says cor ad cor loquitor - hearts speaks to heart. It would do us well to regularly meditate on this amazing truth, that His desire is for His Heart to "speak" directly to our hearts - to transform us into His Image.

technorati tags > sacred heart, jesus

various and sundry thangs

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:40:00 +0000

My exciting life: I have still yet to be fishing, really. I mean, I threw a line in the water one day for about 10 minutes but my fisherman's pride will not allow me to count that in the "record books." It's a pitiful thing, I'm tellin' you.

I memorialized Star Trek yesterday by watching a Star Trek, Enterprise marathon on the SciFi channel yesterday. Did you know Velcro came from Vulcans who crash-landed on Earth in the 1950's? Now you do, so there.

Our younger cat started acting funky yesterday - panting heavily, meowing loudly, etc. His name is Peter and he's only a year old so we thought he was poisoned or something. We don't use pesticides or anything so it was confusing. Anyway, Liz took him to the Vet and nothing's wrong with him. I'll tell you this, I did lay my hand on his furry head and pray for him. We don't need no emotional turmoil 'round here.

I have some design work to do and I promise I'm gettin' there.

Tomorrow is my/our (takes two) 20th wedding anniversary - and no, nobody had to remind me, I'm not that guy. We met on Aug. 20th, 1987 and were married on May 28th, 1988. Yep, fast, but we spent lots of time together. Something worked I reckon. Of course it's not magic - it just "works" or it doesn't, no. Sure, there is Sacramental Grace if you avail yourself of it and then, continually, you work it. I still very actively love this woman I'm married to - her name is Liz, Elizabeth Ann for long. I'm takin' her downtown to stay in a fancy hotel tomorrow night. That should be fun. We would go to Ireland, but you know, we're not.

If you are one of my readers who was confused by the word thangs in my post title, let me briefly explain. America has many subdialects of the English language. Our forebears came from different regions of Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and various other countries in Europe and Africa. Our accents reflect these pockets of settlement (either chosen or forced). Since the railroad, the industrial revolution, automobiles and television, our language and it's dialects have homogenized a good bit. I mean, people don't sound as different as they used to when there were true cultural isolate groups in this country. Thangs means things in the Appalachian American dialect (and a couple of others). In the same places you might hear tars for tires or winders for windows - at least you used to. And let me say this - speaking in this way is not about stupidity or a lack of intelligence. It's about an accent, that's about it.

to the least of these

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:27:00 +0000

You know, you've heard that Scripture around, "whoever does it to the least of these has done it to me" - that one. We hear this a lot in the context of helping the poor - help the poor because we are helping Christ in them. We are ministering to Jesus in the poor, or to anyone who is downtrodden or marginalized in some way. That's the concept. It's a very interesting concept. I certainly see it, and it's not unscriptural, surely. Jesus said these things to people, to us.

As I was thinking about this the other day, I began to wonder if there wasn't more to it than that. I've thought this in the back of my mind many times along the way but have never quite brought it to the front enough to write about it like this. Let's begin like this: It's easy to love Christ, to love Jesus. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. He gave His whole life for us. He existed as a human being entirely for us! What's not to love? If I simply train myself to see that I am loving Jesus as I do something for some human person here on earth, then it will be much easier. I will even feel more of a pull or draw to do things like that. I mean, that's Jesus lying there in the gutter... for Christ's sake! And that's fine, for what it is. What I'm wondering though, and leaning heavily towards, is that this concept was given to us only as a beginning, not as the end-all of our reasoning for action.

"Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Remember that one? Sure you do. So do the ancient Israelites. They read it in the Torah long before God took on human flesh. The concept then was to love your friends, your countrymen and hate your enemies. That wasn't quite the God-created ideal now was it? No. God was dealing with us where we were - and, as always, leading us on to where He desired for us to eventually be. How about this? "Love one another as I have loved you." Now that's another shade of blue altogether in the sky above. The ozone has been cleaned up and all the pollution pulled away for that statement. We're getting at the ideal here. To love as Jesus loved is quite a leap from merely loving as you might love yourself. It's beyond what is presently considered human.

All this is getting somewhere. Back to the seeing Christ in the poor thing: What if God actually wanted us to love people for who they really were? I'm serious about this now. I believe God wants us to purely love the nasty, torn up people that we are looking at AS nasty, torn up people, not just as a mask for Jesus. He wants us to love AS Jesus (as HE) loved/loves, not just for the sake of Jesus. He wants us to become people like Jesus so that our love is on the same order as the Love of God - because we are breathing His Breath as Jesus did. He wants this to become natural for us, much as being selfish has been natural to us thus far. I'm saying this has to go beyond, "I'm doing what God directed us to do." I'm saying this really needs to eventually go beyond, "I'm doing this in order to love Christ in the unlovable." I believe what God set out to do here is to make us into people who don't need masked motives in order to be good. He is trying to make us fully good, period. Not so that we can do good - that will happen because we are good - but because that's how He created us.

If all we ever do is directed by a motive of "being holy" or "being obedient to God" - there is generally a "...so I... don't get in trouble - don't go to hell - can get to heaven when I die - get rewarded for doing the right thing - get my prayers answered - I, I, I..." It's sort of inevitable that we end up with a sort of selfish motive. Can we do something simply because it's the right thing to do, even if we don't feel like it? Certainly, and we should. But we shouldn't see this as the goal or the ideal of what Christianity is supposed to be. We shouldn't look at that as just the way it is and live there. We should understand this is where we may happen to be now, but God is actually calling us to be like Him, like Jesus - not just for ourselves, but for everything, for it all. We're called to be recreated, not just to do what we're told.

Our goal for ourselves, for everyone, should be the same as God's goal for us all. I believe His goal for us is that we should see as Jesus sees because we have been made who Jesus is. I'll clarify briefly. His goal for us is that we be people who are fully integrated with His Eternal Life, people who, when we walk down the street and see someone in need, have compassion because compassion and love is a part of the fabric of our being. How did Jesus do this? Did He see Himself in poor people or sick people or spiritually crippled people? Did he help them simply in order to fulfill His duty to the Father so He could be rewarded with the Resurrection? I'm thinking not. I think He saw and was compassionate because that's who He was. He loved people because He was integrated with Love Itself. So, if we love others as Jesus loved them, we will be loving them AS people - often as nasty, no-count, filthy, sinful people, not because somehow "they are Jesus," but because somehow we are Jesus. And I don't mean just acting on His behalf, I mean because we have become transformed, loving people and that's what people were created to do, to be.

technorati tags > helping the poor, christian holiness, love one another, transformation

little portion update from jmt

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:02:00 +0000

I got hold of this link from John Michael Talbot's blog. He's posted a personal video on YouTube telling the story of the fire and loss at Little Portion and asks for our help. Take a look if you haven't seen this. I feel a great kinship with them not just because I've loved John's music for years but also because of what they're doing as a monastic community. I feel myself in those shoes a little bit. So, I'll be praying for them at least, if not more.

technorati tags > john michael talbot, little portion hermitage, brothers and sisters of charity

confirmed

noreply@blogger.com (+ Alan) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Well, as of tonight, one journey is over. This is my family receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation - being received into full communion with the Catholic Church. Thier sponsors (or proxies thereof) are behind them. Our friend, my spiritual director, Fr. Louis Lipps, is presiding there. It was a very simple, sparsely attended daily Mass today at 5:30pm. I like that it was simple this way.

I'm very proud of my children today. They said "yes" to Jesus. They received more of His Grace to live that "yes." I love my wife, but I'm not so much "proud" of her as happy for her that this part of the road is over and now we can settle in and live it out. Things will not be perfect now. Difficulty is not over. We shouldn't think it is. One journey has ended... and another begun.