Milo...

I took my manta out for a stroll yesterday, found a hillside bathed in light and spread out. Fully intending to read for a while, I promptly fell asleep under the sun as a light breeze swept over me. It was beautiful.

I awoke some time later, and as I tried to regain any semblance of conscious thought, I heard the ferocious yilp of Milo. I turned and saw the maybe foot and half long pile of white curly fur darting towards me, his owner pleading with him to come back. I have never been charged by a yippy dog before. I was not sure if he would bite me.

He didn't bite me, however he never really stopped running at me. He ran up my lap and yilped at my face and hopped down and ran in a few circles, and jumped up on me again. Lots and lots of energy. His owner came and retrieved him, apologized and continued on their way.

I am thankful for a few things here. That Milo was a small dog, and not a golden retriever. That most large dog owners are responsible enough to train their dogs, and I kind of wish small dog owners would take that initiative. That energy exists in small dogs like Milo and in kids as well. It is kind of a joyful thing to watch.

I wrapped my unread book and waterbottle back up in my manta and tied it to my back and headed home.

My first Seder....

Rabbi Lynn definitely laughed at me when I asked what Seder was. I don't totally blame her, as it would be like asking me what Christmas or Easter was, but considering how far away from Jewish culture I grew up, I don't think you can blame me for asking either.

For those of you in the same boat as I was, Seder is the dinner that takes place the first night of Passover, and yes, it is appropriate to say Happy Passover, as you would say Happy Easter.

Anyway, Lynn invited us to celebrate Seder with her at the Shomer Shalom house here at Stony Point. As always, there were some local Jewish folks and some Stony Pointers who were in attendance. I won't go through the entire evening, but I will go through some of the thoughts that came out of it for me.

One thing that is glaringly obvious is that Moses isn't really talked about at all. From a Christian tradition view, that surprised me. The focus was on how everyone worked together to be freed of oppression.

The second thing that stayed with me was the ideas of oppression---how many different forms it comes in. There is direct oppression, and oppression through fear, and then there is the idea that the oppressed have somehow bought in and allowed the oppression to happen. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT PEOPLE ASKED TO BE SLAVES. Please, don't infer that. Keep in mind that this is coming from the Jewish tradition-----remember the years in Egypt, remember the Holocaust. It is just to represent that there is submission in oppression.

For me, it brought out some internal struggle of oppression I have been dealing with. I have been considering a future in the church somehow--be it a mission co-worker or a pastor--but have always been kind of turned off by the idea of marriage. It has never meant a whole lot to me personally. This does not mean that my parents were bad examples--I think that they are great actually. It just means that I don't put a lot of stock in the governmental contract that is marriage. I do put stock in having a partner in life. But, in considering the future, I feel obligated to conform to the standard that I have to get married to be respected in the church. This is a form of oppression.

It challenges me to be a voice, that stays grounded in my desire to not be married and still seek out my possible church connected future. This year in Egypt, next year in Israel. This year oppressed, next year free.

There are so many arenas in which I feel called to challenge the church, and I wonder if I have the strength to be that voice. I feel like so many are oppressed, and so many of us have the opportunity, the challenge, to be a voice, to stand in solidarity. I wonder what it would look like if we all stood to challenge oppression when we heard the call. I wonder if part of hearing the call, is that you can not ignore it.

Anyway, our meal was amazing, and the reflection on oppression was deep, and the songs were beautiful. If you ever have the opportunity to celebrate Seder, take advantage of it. You will learn a lot.

Ack...

So, I had a dream yesterday night, or the night before yesterday began, if that makes sense. It started and I was somewhere, and I went into a Goodwill type of store, where I found all of my Stony Point posessions for sale---and they were overpriced. I had to buy my work bag for $21.97. Then, on my way back to somewhere, I saw that the kids had missed some of the easter eggs from the easter egg hunt, so I started to collect them. They were beautiful eggs. I put them in my overpriced work bag, but I soon ran out of room, and found a garbage bag. The eggs seemed to multiply beyond reason, and it became quite a burden to pick them all up--though, I was pretty excited about the Cadbury cream eggs I found. The next thing I remember is that I had just finished some sort of sporting competition and was going to shower, and the only shower left I had to step up into, about 4 feet off the ground. Please keep in mind that the shower head was in the same place it would be normally. The most uncomfortable shower of my life.

Suffice it to say that I realized through waking from this dream that I have not written on this blog for a very long time and have no doubt that anyone who was reading it, has long since given up on me. But, I am going to work on that; to share what has happened over the past month and a half here at Stony Point.

I hope you all are well.
all for me, for now.
katie