I can remember a long-ago day when my mom opened the kitchen cupboard doors and started putting the glasses away. That’s not really an extraordinary thing, of course, and not something one would normally hold onto in the crevices of one’s mind. Putting the dishes away is pretty routine. But there were a lot of glasses in that cupboard.
You see, my dad loved auctions and he’d come home with the oddest collections of things. One of the recent hauls had included a dozen or more drinking glasses that, now, would be considered vintage. They were promotional items from Frigidaire, lined with measurements so the lady of the house would be thrilled to be getting a novel cooking tool for free. And they had little coloured rectangles down one side, each depicting a colour in which you could order your appliances. Avocado Green. Harvest Gold. I can’t remember the name of the brown. But we all remember the colours. Classics.
We lived in that big house I mentioned back in a previous post. The one that my grandmother, Gretta, had filled with beautiful antiques. A lovely thing for a mother-in-law to do, don’t you think? Except that it meant mom, as a new wife, hadn’t the privilege of choosing any of her own things - the living room couch, the dining room table, the silver cutlery, the everyday or special occasion dishes, pictures, mirrors, dressers, beds, carpets, bookcases, the figurines - so many figurines… so many of them already repaired …. All of it came through the door, the choice of what arrived made only by her mother-in-law. How happy would you be about that?
So when my dad kept bringing home things that mom didn’t want either, watching him come through the door with another arrival felt like forcing a cold pancake down your throat. It wasn’t good. But mom, who knew the routine, took it like a champion and just made room for whatever it might be and moved on.
The interesting thing about the day, though, was that, as mom emptied the dishwasher into the cupboard, she took no notice of the fact that the door on the other side of the cupboard, the one that opened over the eating area (very cool back then), was also open. And she took no notice of the fact that as she put glasses in one side, the ones on the other side just fell out onto the floor. She just kept unloading the dishes in a silent - except for the crashing glass - protest that my dad would never witness. It was brilliant. I was both terrified and exultant.
I seem to have inherited a mix of those instincts. I love beautiful things and can’t resist adding one more of them to our home, undoubtedly too many and too often. But I also yearn for simplicity and being able to find things when I’m looking for them. And clutter definitely meets neither of those needs.
Which gets me - circuitously, I’ll admit - to the content of this post: the resources I’ve written for use at West Hill and collected over the years. The bales of writing converted to GBs of space I maintain on the net every month. They serve no purpose there.
Many assume, that as an atheist minister, I never used the Bible. Indeed, I expect that most think it was my idea to stop including its reading on Sundays. But, like almost every dramatic change that took place at West Hill, it happened at the initiative of members of the congregation. It was the Worship Committee that challenged me to stop using the Bible in services, and only then did I have the courage to drop its reading in our Sunday Gatherings. But, unbeknownst to them, it was part of my preparation process so I just never stopped using it. They just didn’t hear it anymore.
For many years, I’d augmented the biblical readings from the lectionary - a collation of biblical texts meant to cover the major themes of the Bible and gathered into three years of readings - with inspirational readings from other sources. Sometimes poetry. Sometimes literature. Sometimes something from the news or a movie script. They were always inspired by the theme I had drawn from the biblical readings for that particular Sunday. So when I was asked to stop including the reading of biblical texts in the services, I complied, but I continued to use them to develop my theme for the week, as I always had.
That stuff is still hanging around. Some of it is like the beautiful things that my grandmother brought through the front door - totally worth keeping even if unasked for. Some of it should probably go the way of the glass tumblers that fulfilled their etymological purpose as they tumbled out the back door of the kitchen cupboard. Just too much of too much. I guess I’m leaving it up to those of you who might be interested.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve pulled out the resources I have written for Advent, Year A, and shared them with the Rev. Kaye Glennon in California. She has been reading and commenting, providing sensitive and encouraging support as I try to wrestle these snippets and pieces into usable form for those who continue to lead services using the lectionary. Rather than driving all of you to distraction with the grinding gears of service preparation, I’ll post a piece or two here, using it to stimulate some writing (or not, if it stands alone). If you regularly lead a church service and are interested in the whole bit, send me a note in the comments, let me know where you’re working, and I’ll share it with you. Maybe, sometime in the future, these will all be available online.
Thank you for your indulgence! If you know of anyone who might be interested in using these materials, please share this with them and invite them to sign up.
I would love to share in your work and your findings as you explore. I do still provide leadership when they ask me. There are so few places to do so anymore. We are spiritually bankrupt and hunger to know ourselves and our connection to that which is beyond us. Thank you Gretta, for your hard work, your foraging and your tenacity. XO
I am at ST. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX and would love to have access to any of your materials you might be willing to share. I am trying to finish an advent daily reading document for our church right now. This is the third year I have done this and our membership seem to enjoy a more progressive slant to this crazy, hectic season.