Over the River and Through the Woods

It is almost time for Della Lamb's Operation Thanksgiving. For many years, now,
The Lamb has given a complete "Thanksgiving Feast" to over 1200 families in their neighborhood. The meal comes ready to prepare in a big brown paper shopping bag. Each family (singles, too) recieve a frozen pumplin pie, dressing mix, a can of green beans, gravy mix, instant potatos, cake mix, eggs, canned cranberry sauce, and margarine. There is also a small turkey or a large hen.
And, early on the morning of the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the people come! I have seen them lined up all around the block, ready to enter the Gym on the Lamb's main campus.
The Lamb has served immigrants in the Northeast area of Kansas City for over a hundred years. These days the immigrants come mostly from Africa and the Middle East. At Operation Thanksgiving many of the clients will arrive in native dress and more than a few women will carry off their groceries balanced on their heads.
Oh, The Lamb does have a screening process to determine the needs of their clients, but all you have to do is hear the heartfelt thank yous, from the people as they pick up their groceries, to know that God is at work in the Mission of Della Lamb Community Services.
You can bet that there will be smiling volunteers helping Judy Akers and her staff
give out those groceries on November 24, 2009. I'll be there and Pastor Gustavo will be helping. Folks from COR, and other churches have promised to help.
If you would like to donate your time or your cash just let me know.

I Saw the Light.

Yesterday, our trusty handyman came to install a couple of new lights in our old 50's ranch house. One of the drawbacks to owning what is fashionably called a "mid-century dwelling" is that things die very ungraceful deaths. The light at the bottom of our basement stairs stopped operating one day last month. Click! Just like that.
We decided that we needed to replace that one and while we were at it, we would have a second light added at the top of our basement stairs. It was definitely a safety issue. Along with those two fixtures, I wanted a new light-fan in the hall bathroom.
Well, today I have light. Lots of light. And, with the new sources of light, I can see "all things new." Or should I say, lots of old things in a new way. The carpet on the stairs is filthy. I could weave a new rug with the cobwebs that I am seeing for the first time. The bathroom is in dire need of a new coat of paint and the towels are beginning to show their age. I'm not even going to talk about the old lady who stared back at me in the mirror this morning!
There is of course a purpose to this musing. When we finally choose to see life in the light of the Lord, so much is made clear to us. Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience become the way.
Precious Lord: Take my hand and show what needs to be done. I want to do it in your name. Amen.

Followers of the Lamb

Maybe you haven't noticed, but this blog has NO followers. That means, of course, that just as I have suspected, I am writing to myself. I'm okay with that, really. I've been talking to myself for years. It comes quite easily to me.
Talking and writing to oneself is very good therapy.
Now, back to Followers of the Lamb. My husband,aka the Singing Sewer Man, will be performing with the Kansas City Chorale on October 18th, in KC. The Chorale will be singing several Shaker Tunes including "Followers of the Lamb", and five versions of "Amazing Grace".
Here are some words of Blasphemous Heresy. I don't like the song "Amazing Grace". Why, you ask? (See, I can even talk for you.) Because, no one ever sings it like they are truly amazed at God's Amazing Grace. Ever since it became a Pop Song (can't remember if it was Judy Collins or Joan Baez who sang it) in the 1960s, people have been sadly droning on and on about "being lost, but now am found."
That's Good News, people!
That's a happy and wondrous thought.
It's a "bright shining as the Sun" thought.
I will change my mind about "Amazing Grace" when people truly believe it.