This week at Faith 10/18
He just sits there. Watching.
It’s just the cat who is watching me. I seem to have dug my own grave by arbitrarily giving Lucky wet food whenever the mood strikes me. Cats need a routine, you guys. When you stray from it, they know.
Migraines, anyone?
This is going to be a pretty personal and informal version of This Week at Faith because I have been suffering from a three-day migraine. I know what you’re thinking: it’s already pretty personal and informal, whether I’ve got a headache or not.
I am willing to blame the full moon for this neurological mess, but it also means that I spent most of Monday in a dark room, under the covers. That’s a quarter of my work week!
That said, buckle in, my sweet brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings in Christ!
Supplies on campus
As you may recall, we hired a cleaning company back in June. The agreement was that they would clean Faith Center, the office, and the sanctuary weekly, but that the chapel and Parish Hall could do with a monthly cleaning. And wouldn’t you know it, mere days after we made that agreement, Pastor Sarah and Jane came into the chapel with their paint and their sanders and their beautiful, lovely energy. And then the NA group started to meet in there every weekday. And then we started having events on campus again. And then we started having C-Time again…
and I forgot to ask the cleaning company to come more often.
You guys! I’m sorry!
The good news is that this week, this will no longer be an issue. Our cleaning company will start supplying toilet paper, paper towels, and garbage bags. I’m so glad of it too because sometimes I forget that I’m also in charge of that space. It’s so far away!
Faith Place
Remember last week when I was all “Oh, this will happen eventually”? Well. Eventually is now. We received notice from Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) that they have a family of 6 coming next Tuesday, and they need a place to rest their heads. Soon, council member Brenda Lund and myself will go through Landlord Training with LSS-SW to make sure that we are doing our part in providing a safe, warm, welcoming place for them.
We may need to have ourselves a good old-fashioned barn-raising this weekend, which will include renting a Uhaul and picking up your furniture to bring back here, then install into one of the many….. many rooms in that house.
If you love moving furniture, or making houses feel like home, let me know and we’ll get you set up to unleash your creative juices!
Bookkeeping
Do you remember how good Deedee Ursin, our previous Parish Administrator, was at keeping the books? Man, those were the days. She did such an amazing job of sharing recent income and expense information with us, and also sending out our giving statements regularly, and in a timely manner. This is an area where I am admittedly far less excellent than Deedee. I’ve felt a bit concerned about the accuracy of our money data over the past couple of months, so Treasurer Dave Hulin networked a little on my behalf and set me up an appointment with a real accountant who could help me make sense of the books. Worry not, my fellow members of Faith, there is no dire information; nothing that indicates that we should be concerned about the state of our books. I’m just really excited to have the tools available to do well at my job, and I wanted you to know it!
There’s a lot in the works, so I promise that Dave and I will have some information about Faith’s finances in the very near future.
Pride 2021
I’d like to send a HUGE thank you to Bill Kochenderfer, Dave Hulin, and Judi Tyler for all of the work they have put into getting us organized for Pride. There is still a lot of work yet to do, so if you’re free on November 6 and 7, or have ideas to get us ready, please let me know and I’ll get you in touch with the right people!
The Work Room
Oh! I keep forgetting to tell you! Walking into the work room had been depressing me a lot because I miss Dennis. I had kept the space set up as if he was just on vacation, and the emptiness really bummed me out, so I decided to make some changes!
Sometime in my mid-teens, I got really into the Chinese art of Feng Shui, so I focus a lot on what’s called the Bagua Map. This is a concept that divides your space into nine energetic sectors: career & life path, health & ancestors, wealth & prosperity, fame & reputation, love & marriage, children & creativity, helpful people & travel, and health & center. The belief is that the type of energy associated with the sector tends to just… flow in that direction. In order to improve the vibe in your life associated with the sector, you may want to consider the positioning of elements in that area, as well as the color, and the material from which they’re made.
The work room falls into the office’s children & creativity sector, and here’s what I found out about that:
the best colors for the space are white, silver, and gold
the best element to keep in that space is metal
the best shape to use is a circle
décor should depict children, or be made by children to celebrate the imagination and wonder of children.
It just so happened that I had found a set of various-sized circular mirrors on campus somewhere (if they’re yours, please let me know and I’ll give them back). I also had a half gallon of gray paint at home from when I painted my bathroom last year. We had a beautiful linen icon of Madonna and child that I could not leave sit in a corner any longer, and I found a really rad dumpling steamer in a closet.
I’m so happy with how it turned out. What do you think?
And now, for something lovely
This is going to shock you, so I hope you’re sitting down: I’m an optimist. Big time. Ever since I was a small child, I’ve been the kid who stops in the middle of the sidewalk to watch ants marching in line, to watch bees gather pollen, and to watch spiders build their webs. Seeing the beauty of creation and stopping to appreciate it is my jam. I guess there’s a really easy way to say this, colloquially: I stop and smell the roses. I can’t help it! Each time I walk past those trees by the gates, I stop and I sniff as hard as I can because they are intoxicating.
So each week, I aim to find something on campus that is lovely, and showcases the minute beauty of our space. This week, I found a spiderweb on the gates. It was dusted with dew, and I just had to share with you.
I mean… seriously. Could creation be any more beautiful, mysterious, and magical? I hope that spider gets a good meal.