Week 11 Sabbatical News:
Coming Home
 I
was hoping to get a picture of one of these shaggy cows for most of
my time here. We stopped to see another set of ruins and this cow
came walking around the corner! I was glad I had my camera! As our
tour of Scotland comes to a close, we've both been thinking of home
and getting back to the routine that seems familiar.
I am grateful for this time apart. I have had many new experiences.
I have been pushed spiritually and physically. I have spent time
with my family and time by myself, time in remote places and busy
new locations. I have seen some really remarkable sights in our very
remarkable world. I have read some good challenging books and
reflected on them. There are days when it seems like I've been gone
much longer than 3 months and days when I feel like I just left.
My family comes from this country I've been visiting. I don't know
much about where they are from, but I've enjoyed looking for similar
signs of family while I've been here---a body type, an expression, a
Sunday custom, the way the rivers run, the hills and valleys....
little things that make me feel connected here even though I don't
really know a soul here.
But what keeps coming back to me, especially after this long stint
in Scotland is the saying that we've all heard and quipped before:
absence makes the heart grow fonder...... My family may be
genealogically located here, but the family I'm really linked to are
all in the Midwest....St. Louis and Iowa and of course Chicago! And
then there's my church family at Broadway and Addison who
collectively represent all the corners of the world, but who
represent home for me in such a real way this week! I sure am
missing you all!
I'm looking forward to being in worship with you on the 19th and
sharing some of my experiences with you after church that day! I
also cannot wait to find out what's been happening with you! A lot
can happen in three months and I'll be glad to hear from you!
See you soon!
Joy
Week 10 Sabbatical News:
Going with the flow
Disorder is the baseline and the rule,
order is the exception.
God moves over the face of the deep and actually creates amid chaos.   
The last book, In the
Midst of Chaos, by Miller-McLemore, has taken me the longest to
approach (obviously). I think I thought that I would not
want to read about chaos when I was trying to escape it. So
what a surprise when I discover from this author the wise words that
might have rescued me many times over in the past. This has
providentially been the right book to read last, just before I get
ready to re-enter my work life once again.
She concedes that
“unrelenting, brain-numbing activity is not good for anyone. We
have to be careful about calling this spiritual.” I can
recognize that place. But what this book seems to be saying is
that the chaos of life doesn't have to be seen as a negative. Our
Puritan/Protestant drive for order may in fact drive God right away
(my words, not hers). God creates in the midst of chaos
and for those who love order that has to be frightening. For those
have embraced the “chaosmos” as she calls it, it is also
frightening.
We all want God to set
things in order, to right wrongs, to make our way clear and conflict
free. But as the pastor where I went to church on Sunday (Church
of Scotland) said in her sermon: “We are not saved from
trouble, but in trouble.” What if God were busy working in
the midst of the very messes that define us, in the midst of the
hospital visit, in the midst of the application for unemployment, in
the midst of the line at the train, in the midst of changing the
diaper, in the midst of juggling the day—every day? Since I don't
have a lot of experience with complete order, and since most
attempts at creating it are often thwarted, there is some comfort in
easing back from that frantic feeling that sometimes accompanies
chaos, and just, well, “going with the flow”.
These pictures that I
send this week come from the highest point on Iona. Pretty easy to
contemplate chaos from this point......where the most chaotic thing
that ever seems to happen is when the ferry has to change its course
to accommodate the shifting wind......we'll see how I feel about
chaos when I'm thrown back in it. Truthfully, after eleven days of
relative isolation, I say bring it on!
Oh, last night at
worship I met Molly, the youth director at Central Presbyterian
Church in Atlanta. She met David Murad at a MoreLight conference a
few years ago and says hi! She brought a bundle (maybe 40-50) high
school students to Iona! It's a small world afterall......
Have a good week! See
you soon.
Joy
Week 9 Sabbatical News:
Songlines
 It's
particularly appropriate that I finish the book “A Song to Sing, A
Life To Live” on the island of Iona. Those of you who read
this book probably understood why I chose it and may have been
thinking to yourself---this isn't going to be particularly
challenging for Joy----since it affirms most of my thoughts on music
and worship and the intersection of “Saturday night” and “Sunday
Morning” music. Still there is always a good feeling when you
realize that others (who know how to get published!) are thinking
the same thoughts and making some of the same observations that you
do. I was struck by their use of the term “songlines” and this
notion that we all have a songline that identifies who we are and
where we have come from and is important as we search for meaning in
life through music. So, parents out there: SING to your babies!
I was fascinated by the scientific observation that even the
smallest particle of matter that has been identified is something
called “strings” which vibrate and confirm what the psalmist has
long known ---that the whole world is singing from its smallest to
largest manifestations!
I came to Iona for the
music and I am learning a lot of new music---beautiful, thoughtful
music and I can hardly wait to come back and teach it to you! My
time here has given me plenty of time to wonder at the beauty of
nature and music and the connection.
 I
went on a three hour walk a day ago and spent a lot of time talking
to some sheep. I know that experience will find its way into a
sermon some day, but that led me to singing all the sheep songs I
could remember from Mary Had a Little Lamb to The Lord is My
Shepherd. I'm anxious to be back home where my songline and your
songlines can come together for worship and ministry and community!
I am so glad that last
week you were able to celebrate as a community the departure of Ray
Sendejas, Erika Poethig and Sam! To mark their leaving is so
appropriate! I know kind words of appreciation were said, but I
want to add some of my thoughts. Erika went with me to the very
first workshop that I attended about redeveloping churches. She
has been a sounding board for me ever since as we have discussed
ways that we put into action the principles we learned at that
seminar. I will miss her keen insights , her strong leadership,
her witness in the community to her faith and the church will have
lost a significant pillar! The only thing that makes this bearable
is that we know our loss is the country's gain as Erika goes to work
for HUD. Pray for her in her new position! As Erika left the
Session, Ray came on and we quickly discovered the breadth of his
good gifts for the church as well! Financial Secretary, Finance
Committee, On Holy Ground, and commissioner to the Presbytery,
Associate Pastor Search Committee, Personnel Committee.....all roles
he has taken on willingly and graciously. I will miss his quick
wit and generosity, talking about our hometown together, and hearing
his observations about the PCUSA from a relative newbie. And Sam!
Well, Sam is off for new adventures and with his parents, we all
wish them well. I believe that people have been calling the Obama
pull to Washington of Chicago leaders a “brain drain”, but for me it
will be much more than that---a “friend drain”, a “colleague drain”,
a “heart drain”! Farewell good friends. I know that we will see
you again!
This Sunday, I am
attempting to send you a video message from Iona! This is
seriously testing my techno abilities, but my test-case that I sent
home to Paul and the girls went well, so we'll all hope for the
best!
Make sure we make a big,
beautiful, rainbow splash on Pride Sunday! Hope there are lots of
people there to march, walk and worship! See you, via video, this
Sunday!
Joy
Week
8 Sabbatical News: A
Room With A View
Eleven days of this
view. I'll muddle through somehow. My room is a bit
cell-like....suited for a monk.
 Though I never considered myself
very monk-like, I like it. The island is beautiful, complete with a
view in every direction, lovely people and worship twice a day. I
went to a healing service last night, not completely unlike the ones
we do at Lake View. I actually was mortified to discover that I
slept through morning worship this morning.
 When I was going to try
to race and catch part of it my host at the retreat center said:
"Slow down, there'll be another one tomorrow." (this has been the
theme of my sabbatical, I think) I went back to sleep and almost
slept through lunch! 30 hours of straight travel will do that to
you! Now I'm awake and exploring, have found the internet hotspot
and my adventure here begins. I'll write more soon. Thank you, thank
you, thank you, for sending me away.
Take care,
Joy
Week
7
Sabbatical News: Let's
Get Serious
 "Christianity is at
its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and it is at
its worst when it is popular, credible, triumphal, and powerful.
.....We can support a president while also worshiping Jesus as the
Son of God. But how is this possible? For one says that we must love
our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the
economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness
of debts. To which do we pledge allegiance? " (Jesus for
President, p. 165-166).
So, it is heavy for
summer reading, I"ll concede.....but I have been challenged
while reading Shane Claiborne's Jesus for President and thinking
about how I'll ever figure out how to live in the world (a world I 
basically love, by the way) and hold up under the scrutiny of the
demands of the gospel (a gospel I basically love, by the way). I
doubt that many of us are really drawn to the message that we would
be practicing Christianity at its best if we were peculiar,
marginalized, suffering..... And even if I would rationalize this
sentiment into meaning that if I am peculiar, marginalized and
suffering Jesus/God will love me best......I'm still going to have
to struggle through all those days when that is not my condition.
And if the gospel is really only going to come alive when people are
at their worst.....then I'm going to have some serious questions
about the sort of masochistic nature of that logic. So, true to my
own twisted way of thinking, the questions are still rolling
in.
 As a good liberal (or
are we calling ourselves 'progressives" now?), I have to also
struggle with the second half of his statement. Some of us have
sighed a big sigh of relief knowing that our president is finally
saying the "right" things (his Middle East speech was near
brilliant, don't you think?--I particularly liked the part where he
talked about the interdependence of our world right now) and his
actions seem to be backing up the commitments he made that got him
elected......and so we're tempted to beam on the sidelines while his
pedestal grows higher, giving him the responsibility and the credit
for changing the world. We can see that that isn't particularly
healthy either.....so where does that leave us?
 Martin Luther King is
quoted in Claiborne's book, too: "A nation that continues to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social
uplift is approaching spiritual death." This might be a useful
barometer. Somewhere in the book we read that 36 cents out of every
dollar paid in taxes goes to our military. Does our breath catch at
that statistic? Are we aghast or does it make us feel safe? Are we
outraged or are we complacent because there is nothing we can do
about it anyway? Does spiritual death really matter to us anyway? So
long as we can believe what we want, do we actually care about the
nation's spiritual death?
Oh, wow....I've really
opened a bunch of wormy cans here.....I wonder what you think about
this. Why don't you write me an e-mail with your thoughts. I may not
be able to respond, but would love to hear what you think. Besides
it hardly seems fair to raise all these controversial questions and
not give you a chance to weigh in. Send them to my email at joy@lakeviewpresbyterian.org.
These seem like important issues for today's Christians to
ponder.....and what better time than summer for a little theological
thinking?
I'm headed off to
Scotland in a few days. I'll be staying on an island where
Christianity first came to Scotland via St. Columba in the year 587.
We'll see if any of that ancient wisdom rubs off on me there.
Anything's possible!
Happy Summer to you
all!
Joy
Week
6
Sabbatical News:
On Boats and Buffalos
 I’m
half way through my sabbatical, and it’s a good thing I planned the
big trip at the end. I’m getting kind of road weary and ready to get
back to the routine of work! But I’m also looking forward to the
trip that is coming up. Scotland here I come!
Today I’ve been reflecting on Marian Wright Edelman’s book The Sea
is so Wide and my Boat is so Small. The book contains a wealth of
statistical information about the conditions for children in the
world and she inspires us (even if its overwhelming) to participate
in changing those conditions. As I researched her own biography a
bit, I discover she is the daughter of a Baptist minister who taught
her that Christianity obligates one to service. That might account
for a quote in a biography written about her where she simply
challenges: “If you don’t like the way the world is, you have an
obligation to change it. Just do it one step at a time.” I wonder
which part of her book has challenged you to act in some way to
participate in change.
 In
Chapter Three, she challenges the community to take responsibility
for protecting children and she tells the story of a YouTube video
that shows a herd of water buffalo protecting one of their young
against a pack of lions. If you can stomach it (and it’s definitely
not for the soft of heart), you can watch it at this address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
She goes on to raise some good questions about how it is that we as
a community might learn from the water buffalos. Where is our human
posse that is protecting our children again the human lions and
alligators that want to eat our children? (last weekend’s Chicago
death toll was absolutely unacceptable!) Edelman is convinced that
the community can be powerful agents in transforming the lives of
children.
 This
weekend is the graduation for our Lake View Academy students and the
first graduation/awards ceremony that I’ve ever missed. I’ll be
there in spirit though, because it is such an amazing witness to the
power of Edelman’s very conclusions about community. For almost 40
years our church has been a witness (to use Emily McGinley’s
challenge!) to the way that education can overcome adversity for
children. Students come to us who might otherwise be eaten up by the
ravages of the world they experience. Under the close supervision of
a highly motivated teaching staff, our students thrive and move on
to a safer, smarter, and healthier future.
We participate in that miracle as we volunteer with the kids, as we
sit on the Academy Board, as we provide for the building needs the
school requires, as we pray for the students and their progress. I
hope that many of you will be able to attend the ceremonies on
Sunday afternoon. Whatever small or large part you might play in
supporting Lake View Academy, your participation will identify you
as part of the “posse” that will protect and provide for God’s most
vulnerable in our midst! Be a water buffalo this Sunday!
Have a great week!
Joy
Week
5
Sabbatical News:
Little Cabin in the Woods
 I
thought I had been in some remote places before, but this one takes
the cake. 30 miles south of
Salem,
cross two bridges, go 2.2 miles, take County Road 222 left for 1 mile
til the fork in the road, turn left for 1.5 miles until it dead ends.
That's where I am. And if I thought Vermont was quiet, this is that
times 10. No hotel noises. No tv. No internet. (I have to go into town
tomorrow to even post this) and Geneva is barking at every animal
noise that comes remotely close to the cabin. The road literally ends
at my cabin door. How cool is that?
 And
maybe the most beautiful place I've been yet. Here's a funny story. My
dog Geneva got to come on this trip, and after almost a year of
protecting her from the dangers of city life by diligently insisting
on a leash everywhere she went, I thought if we came into the woods,
she might be able to go free for a few days. We walked around the yard
that had been cleared around the cabin. She stayed right with me. This
is good, I thought. Then I called her to follow me back toward the
cabin door and she made a beeline for the woods. When I caught up with
her she had a piece of horse poop the size of a tennis ball hanging
out of her mouth. When she saw I was getting close, she tore off a
piece of it and gobbled it down. So, if you aren't too grossed out to
keep reading, turns out I discover, that there are wild horses here.
If I would get to see those in the morning, I would count this week a
success even with the dog's bad breath and sick stomach that is sure
to be coming.
This
week I am going to look at the year ahead and do some broad worship
planning. I have two bags of books with me! But I think I might just
worship some myself in God's great cathedral that is right outside my
door. There's a picture included here of the cabin, but another that
shows the views! Yowsa!
And
the picture of the road? This is the road that led me to this place.
All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.
And on the remote chance
this ever happens to you, try not to get so worked up about the
horse poop in your dog's mouth that you miss the holy right outside
your door!
Have a great week!
Missing you all....
Joy
Week
4
Sabbatical News:
Sshhh! GREEN MOUNTAINS
Another beautiful spot, another range of mountains, another week of
being outdoors. I can't tell you how restorative it is to be away
from noise. Most of the time when we
 live
in a city as big as Chicago, we tune out the noise of trains, and
ambulances, and firetrucks. We learn to pause our conversations for
the interruptions of honking horns and el trains passing by. We
somehow come to accept that noise is just part of who we are as
urban dwellers. When we moved 12 years ago into a house that was two
houses away from the Brown Line we knew that it would take some
adjustment, but that eventually we wouldn't even hear the trains.
Most of the time, we don't. But when you go away from the city and
you are somewhere that is actually quiet, even silent, you realize
just how noisy life in a major metropolitan area really is....and it
makes you grateful for moments of quiet that come from time to time.
Of course it's easy to appreciate quiet when you are away from the
city altogether like I am this week.
What is more challenging is to find quiet when you can't get away
from the city! I've come to believe that we really do need quiet
every once in a while just to make sure we can still hear the beat
of our own hearts, or the birds in the trees, or some sign that God
is trying to give us that is being drowned out by all the racket in
our lives. Sometimes we find quiet in people that we know. Those
people who just exude a sense of peace and calm and quiet. They make
you restful just being in their presence. They are centered and
grounded. They don't need to be centerstage or in charge. You know
someone like this, I'm sure. And if you don't, it would be a good
project to take on. Finding one friend who brings quiet to your life
and helps you to hear something beyond noise.
Ruth Pettigrew was just such a person for me. She lived 98 long
years and she lived those years gracefully and well. Her parents
immigrated to this country from Scotland before she was born, but
she and two sisters grew up in the Lakeview neighborhood and at the
Lake View Presbyterian Church. She loved to travel, she was a school
teacher, she was faithfully generous to the church through the years
even when she had little to give and she was the keeper of many
stories about the early days at the church. She and her sisters were
known at Lake View as the Pettigrew sisters and they were very
active in the programs that were held in the Parish House and in the
life of the church. She represents the last in a generation of
people who remember Lake View from the 30s and 40s and she saw many
changes over the course of her lifetime.
I will miss her a great deal. To spend time with Ruth was to
experience a restorative quiet that just wasn't easily duplicated.
She had a gentle spirit, a kind heart and that "quiet" essence that
just made being in her presence a wonderfully renewing experience.
All the Pettigrew sisters are reunited now, and I suspect there are
some good stories being told about Lake View church even still! What
a wonderful image that comes to my mind, these three sisters who
quietly impacted the life of our church, hanging out with God, and
bringing some peace and quiet to God's heaven! Celebrate her life on
Thursday and know that I will be remembering her well on that day as
I hike through the quiet forests of Vermont.
Take care,
Joy
Week
3
Sabbatical News:
BLEEDING HEART
 This
is a Bleeding Heart plant that is blooming profusely in my garden
right now. As I have been in and out of Chicago in the past weeks,
it was a great pleasure to discover that beauty can be found in your
own backyard, and Chicago is certainly having a glorious spring. My
Bleeding Heart pushed me to ponder that age old
expression---bleeding heart liberal---and I think I understood it a
bit more given the news in our denomination.
While I was in Canada, the amendment to our denomination's
constitution that would have allowed for the ordination of our dear
lgbt brothers and sisters...failed. This amendment was originally
passed at our General Assembly meeting last summer and I was present
for that vote. Our spirits were high on that day, and we were
convinced that the church had shifted directions and actually had
the possibility of becoming the inclusive church we knew she could
be. But it won't happen this year, and my heart knows what it means
to "bleed" at the loss that represents.
Still, in the midst of that sadness there were some positive strides
that were made during the process. 75 presbyteries have voted so far
in favor of the amendment (87 were needed to defeat the amendment).
Out of those 75, 32 changed their vote from the last time we
considered this amendment. That is significant! So, though my heart
bleeds at the thought of what it will take for us to ramp up for
another vote next year, I am encouraged that one day it will
definitely happen. The church is changing directions, and it may
well be the most important time ever for us to remain diligent in
our efforts to build on this positive momentum.
I've finished reading the first of my books, Bulletproof Faith by
Candace Chellew-Hodge, and in it I was reminded of a few quotes that
provoked my thinking and resonated with my own beliefs.
"Give up all religious beliefs that make you cry or diminish your
self-esteem. Jesus came to give us abundant life, a life to enjoy to
the fullest" (p. 26) I've had this conversation with many of
you....weren't you glad to hear it from someone besides me? I was!
quoting Kathleen Norris...."I refuse to be shaken from the fold.
It's my God, too, my Bible, my church, my faith, it chose me." This
is important for me to read when I want to just throw my hands up in
despair that the church will ever see the "light" on issues of
inclusivity.
And finally from Chellew-Hodge...."....the ultimate power of love
resides with God, and when we continue to practice that love on
earth, it will surely manifest. We may not see the results of that
gentle, powerful love come to fruition in our lifetime, but we must
remember that God is stronger than any human institution.
Same-gender marriage will one day be the law of the land despite
mighty struggles against it because marriage is properly based on
love, and love will win out. All discrimination against LGBT people
will fall by the wayside because inclusion and fair treatment are
the hallmarks of love, and love will always win. Throughout history,
oppression has always given way to inclusion. Don't be discouraged
by political setbacks or the church's tortoise-paced movement toward
inclusion. Our faith, working through love, will prevail." (p.131)
Our faith, working through love, will prevail. That is, of course,
the beginning place not the ending place and even with our hearts
broken and bleeding.....that's what we will do.....begin
again....and again....and again until love prevails.
I leave for Vermont soon! Blessings on your spring!!!
Joy
Week 2
Sabbatical News: TIME
Last week I was so far
from Lake View. Internet was possible, but not convenient, and so I
took an electronic break, something I don't easily do. On Tuesday I
saw glaciers in the Canadian Rockies. Glaciers. You know, that
stuffy section of 7th grade science class you thought was mostly
history? And mostly over?
 In
the presence of the glaciers, I can only say that I felt
small--another feat, to be sure. I am easily irritated by a long
line at the grocery or the slow road to peace or the eternity that
passes while we wait for things like contentment, or happiness, or a
clear sense of purpose....and then God drops a glacier in your lap
just to re-orient your thinking. When we've been pushing a mountain
for hundreds of thousands of years, then we might have reason for
impatience.....though even these glaciers did not seem in a hurry.
Stately
they sit in frozen silence
biding their time
literally watching the world go by
making their impact inch by holy inch
This was my prayer on that day: O God of Hope and Health, are the
mountains beautiful because you created them that way, or because
you've given us the eyes with which to behold them? Either way,
thanks. Amen.
I came home to discover I'd missed the swine flu scare, but have
developed a humdinger of a cold myself. Rest and fluids and OJ
seemed to have kicked it. Hope the mountains you are trying to move
on this beautiful spring week are manageable and that you are
enjoying your reading. I'm gearing up for some commentary on some of
the books next week! Talk to you soon.
Joy
Week 1
One of my favorite car
songs as a kid was a little ditty that went:
We're on the upward trail
We're on the upward trail
Singing, singing, everybody singing
As we go.......
 I've
been breaking in my new hiking boots in preparation for my trip
tomorrow to Canada. They are pretty heavy, but very comfortable, and
I am grateful for people who know how to make comfortable shoes!
Walking in Chicago has been cold, but Spring is finally/sort of here
and I've seen daffodils and a few reluctant magnolias trying to
burst. Enjoy Spring in these next few days because it looks like
it's going to be summer by the weekend.
I have to thank you all for making Sunday so special. I couldn't
have asked for a better send-off! The food was great, music was
great, company was great......all just wonderful. Thanks for being
enthusiastic with me about this trip. By next week I'll have more to
tell you, but I wanted to start things off on the right foot with a
big thanks!
Give Emily hugs from me and enjoy the thoughtful sermon she has
prepared for you!
Talk to you soon.
Joy
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