[Lent 1B] joy sadhana

[hermionesviolin]

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [ more info]
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up." --Anne Lamott

Good things about today:

• I think I got a good amount of sleep.
• morning church
  • Jeff M. preached "Lent--Lighten Up!" (which title I was initially really apprehensive around).
    • It was Jubilee Sunday, so the kids were up for the sermon. He had a pile of pillows and talked about how great pillows are and asked if anyone wanted a pillow. (In addition to various children, John O. raised his hand.) Jeff piled pillows on the kids (and on John -- I wished I'd had my camera).
      
    • His Scripture text was Matthew 11:28-30 ("Come to me all you who are weary..."), which gives me lots of positive Rest and Bread associations (even though he used the NRSV, which isn't quite the wording we used).
      
    • He talked about the fact that we come to Jesus already burdened down (and Jesus empties us out and fills us up) -- that we don't have to take on all these hard things in order to encounter God. He also spoke against the idea of doing something just because it hurts -- reminded us that God desires our healing and wholeness. (Quote: "God, in my opinion, doesn't think it's holy to walk around on a busted leg just because it hurts like heck.")
  • The Casa mission trippers returned early this morning, and Jeff B. had planned to be in church and indeed he was and I glommed onto him in the Coffee Hour line.
    
  • Jenni S. wants a graduate-level theology course out of her church Bible study [and according to facebook, so does Heather E.] -- so I'm plotting a summer small group :)
• bonus surprise phonecall from Cat
• Pride Interfaith meeting
  • I didn't have to chair the meeting -- and it ended at a time such that I got to CWM on time
    
  • I like Brent (the new pastor at Old South).
    
  • It didn't feel like the most effective/productive meeting ever, but I think we did have some good conversation and made some good progress -- and have some good plans for the next meeting.
• evening church
  • There were 2 newbies at worship (plus 2 EDS returnees), and while 1 newbie had to leave, the rest stayed for dinner and most of the pre-GC discussion.
  • HEUMC-Scott C. talked about various troubling things that will be on the table at GC (and I appreciated having them all sort of in one place, and to have some of the additional information I didn;t have before), including the vital church metrics stuff and afterward, Esther (not eponis) told me that while these metrics may not consider us vital, she has an inner compass that points to vitality, and it points to here.
    
  • Julia drove me home, so we got to catch up -- unsurprisingly, at one point I said I'd let her go home and then we got into more conversation ... eventually we hit a lull and I kinda reached for the door handle and she said, "Yeah, get out -- that's the only way this is gonna work."

Things I did well today:

• fed the cat (and did not kill it when it kept coming into my room -- I really need to replace the doorknob with one which actually has a tongue, so my door will actually stay shut when Sam-cat is feeling lonely or whatever)
• morning church
  • went to greeter training
  • gave Maria a hug before I left, as I hadn't gotten her during Passing of the Peace
• Pride Interfaith meeting
  • showed up, participated, volunteered to do some information-gathering prep for the next meeting
• evening church
  • was liturgist
  • helped with dinner setup and with cleanup

Things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
["anything that you're looking forward to, that means you're facing tomorrow with joy, not trepidation," as Ari says]

• no evening plans means I may get to bed early (also: grocery shopping and maybe acquiring more tights)