A Positively Poetic Priest

When I woke up this morning it was 61 in the house! It's fall! Laying my black dress with a long sleeved shirt and sweater.  I'm a fourth of the way through my wool challenge and I'm loving it. 

Today's adventures involved taking a walking expedition down the river Rails to Trails line and reading my early copy of Karen Walrond's The Lightmaker's Manifesto. A lovely fall afternoon. I layered my Wool& dress with a Smartwool plant-based dyed shirt. 

 As a follower of Jesus, I see a lot of confusion in the Christian community about kindness. People say, "Christians are supposed to be kind;" sometimes they say this as justification for not standing up to bullying or injustice, sometimes they use this against others when they are trying to hold them accountable. Sometimes people say this even as justification for 'loving on' someone without even checking in with the person in question. In many situations, the concept of kindness is abused. Yes, the Christian Scriptures tell us to be kind. Yes, Jesus was kind to those around him. Yes, kindness is one of St. Paul's Fruits of the Spirit. Yes, we are called to be kind. However, (however, however, however!) we are not called to use kindness to allow others to walk over us or to justify disrespectful acts or to get out of the consequences of our own behavior. This is where I see the real strength of this quote from Asha Dornfest. Kindness is an act of resistance. Resi

I love having an unofficial uniform. It doesn't make for great fashion pictures, but that was not my point. That is why I'm not doing this on Instagram. No fashion here. Simple comfort and utility. Yay wool!  

  Trying to relax into my housework today.  Pink and black is a go to color combination for me.  Pink and black in wool. Pink and black on my bikes. 

After a big day at church, chilling out in a calm comfy wool outfit. 

A Letter to the Church in Franklin Today is my last Sunday as priest of St. John’s Episcopal Church. While I knew I wouldn't be here forever, I didn't imagine this day coming so soon. I certainly didn't imagine I would end my time here during a global pandemic. As I thought and prayed about this day, I wondered how I would say goodbye and what I would say for the last time from this pulpit. And then I remembered that I am not the first priest to say goodbye. In fact, saying goodbye and wishing a faith community well is so common that it is part of our holy scripture. And so, I thought I would take a page out of St. Paul's book and write you "A Letter to the Church in Franklin," also known as the Epistle to the Northwestern Pennsylvanians. Salutation From Elizabeth, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be a priest of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To all of God’s beloved in Franklin who are called to be saints: Grace and peace from God our Loving Parent, the L

Food Pantry Distribution this morning. The temperature was in the forties! I had to break out my wool beanie with my wool sweater. 

Pretty much my last day in the St. John's office.  Its a cool Friday morning, so I have my thicker sweater on.  

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21 BCP 234) I've done a lot of running during my time in Franklin. Running around town to train for triathlons and marathons, and the Applefest 5K Race for Any Pace. I've also been running in other ways, running towards the future, running towards more support for St. John's outreach programs, running towards God. Not all of us can physically run of course, even my knees are starting to protest, but as we continue to strive in following Jesus, we grow in grace. This coming Sunday will be my last as St. John's priest. Together we will pause in our running and reflect on the ministry of the last five years and start to imagine new futures. I expect this

  I found a new (to me) company out of Montana called Duckworth Wool  which makes merino wool clothing with various levels of thickness and wool blends. This grey shirt is a 100% merino wool cloth new addition to my wardrobe. The weather has really turned to fall today! I also wore my RBG earrings. 

The first day of fall look.  

Today has been a plain outfit day, but that is because the focus today has not been on fashion, its been on the International Day of Peace ! The Franklin Rotary Club, of which I have been a part the last couple of years, installed a Peace Pole at the Franklin Fire Department and had a little ceremony today with white doves. (The Peace Pole is in the garden in this picture.)  

I've heard many whispers in my life that I have been grateful to have followed. The first was the whisper when I was a child about belonging at the church altar. Since then most of the whispers have followed in that vein, I enter a space or meet a person and hear/feel, I belong here, not knowing what that will mean, but knowing I need to listen to that whisper. Every time I have followed that whisper of God I have had an amazing adventure.  Kid President came out when I was in seminary. @KidPresident was one of the first Twitter accounts I ever followed. Before Twitter, I watched the videos on YouTube and I was immensely grateful for the creativity, gratitude, and wisdom of the series. Last year, towards the beginning of the pandemic, I found out about the book that the creative mind behind Kid President wrote, Becoming Better Grownups by Brad Montague. I immediately bought and read the delightful and thought provoking book. I even drew out an emotion map for my (at the time) fia

Trying another shirt-dress combination for some color with my black dress. I've been thinking a lot about belonging lately and what it means to belong to a place or with a group of people. One of the reasons I have stuck with the institutional church, despite its many issues, is my sense of belonging. The same applies to my husband, and funnily enough, though on a different level, this dress. It feels right and that is amazing.  

Underneath all the Sunday morning vestments (indoor Eucharist and Zoom Morning Prayer) I've got on the same black Wool& dress. Seeing me through another day. 

Today has been a long day. We rode the BikeMS Cook Forest River Ride (57ish miles) this morning.  This is a picture Jimmy took of me having just passed through the orange balloon finish line.  Between the two of us, we raised almost $400 for the National MS Society. This is our goofy team photo.    And this is me while trying to make dinner after the church service in my dress. 

 I've realized I'm either going to be very boring in my outfits or I am going to have to be more creative. I think that will be a daily decision. 

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20 BCP 234) "while we are placed among things that are passing away" Yes, there is a lot changing in our world these days. None of us are sure about how things will look in the next month, the next year, the next decade. While we thought we had gotten the pandemic under control, we are now seeing a resurgence. While we thought we were making strides on slowing climate change, we can see by the weather-caused natural disasters that we have a long way to go. While we can acknowledge that the church needs to change too, it is hard to see it change so quickly.  The Collect of the Day prays that in the midst of all that is changing we are able to hold onto the things

While cleaning out and starting to pack our closets, I found another wool blend sweater!  So I am wearing it today for the cool morning over my dress.   

Plain Elizabeth today.  

Back in Black!  After two weeks of this challenge I have noticed a dramatic change in my laundry habits. While I don't have as much laundry to do, I have had to do small loads on a more regular basis. The number of supporting wool clothing items I have (pants, underwear, shirts, sweaters) is not enough for my previous laundry habit. I love the capsule wardrobe idea, with a couple of specific items to intermix, which is where I hope this challenge will lead, but I will also need to make sure I have enough support items! 

  Rocking the headphones today!  Finding joy in the little things! Despite our human obsessions with destruction and suffering, I firmly believe that God created us for joy. God created the universe and everything in it and found it to be good. God found joy in us and we can find joy in the world. Some days it is a struggle to find that joy, but when we do, we are able to continue sharing God's light in beautiful ways despite the destruction and suffering.  Personally, I know how much joy means to me in my line of work. Throughout the last seven years of ordained ministry I have been faced with a lot of really hard situations and really depressing and destructive behavior. Yet, I also find tremendous joy in my work. People find God and hope and love and peace and those are amazing things. Despite all the despair I sometimes feel, I also feel the joy of God's light in this world. This is what keeps me going.  @ValarieKaur #lightmakerbook #keepmakinglight www.thelightmakersmanife

A turquoise accent to my day!

A busy Saturday! My dress is doing wonders though. Styling the collar for a wedding this afternoon. 

A collar and a new grey wool sweater with my black dress. A conference and a wedding rehearsal today. 

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 19 BCP 233) Every year's Rally Day is different. Three years ago, we had to bring the Dino Bounce House inside the Parish Hall because of rainy weather. Two years ago, we had a hot dog luncheon on the front lawn. Last year, we had a guest pastor outside because of the pandemic. This year we will also have a guest priest with us, and we will learn more about the season of transition which is upon us.  Transition always brings out a lot of emotions in community. We know this is not new to society today, we have plenty of stories from history and the Bible which show groups of believers struggling and trusting during major transitions. They are our inspiration and guide. They prayed to God, they put their trust in God, and

Today I'm styling my new glasses (!) with my dress and light wool sweater.  Its always amazing what I find I have been missing when I get new glasses. Black goes with everything!  

  Nicodemus doesn't care about my Wool& dress or my RBG mask. He just wants me to keep petting him.   I don't usually consider myself an activist, but this quote is making me think differently. I have been, in the last couple of years, much more vocal and public about doing what I can when I can where I can. I have started changing my lifestyle to support creation care in ways I couldn't have imagined years ago. It is amazing what we can do when we stop feeling overwhelmed by the system and start doing what we can, where we can. This way, we make light. D oing the Wool Challenge is directly one of the things I am doing where I can to help climate change and creation care. Unvirtuous Abbey #lightmakerbook #keepmakinglight www.thelightmakersmanifesto.com

  Today I am trying to look professional and colorful, despite wearing lots of black. I think the red collared shirt and the multi-colored scarf/belt do the trick. 

  Today will be a sunny day in the east and I am wearing my Conner hat with my dress to keep my face out of the sun. Conner makes handmade, environmentally friendly hats and I love my summer hat. 

This wool dress is great for traveling! Comfortable and classy! 

Today I'm wearing the dress with a blue tank top collar shirt for our Saturday evening outside church service. I love that this dress has pockets! 

  It was another cool morning (47 when I went biking at 6 am!), so I added a pink long sleeved wool shirt to the dress and gave it some color.  In biking with merino wool undershirts and long sleeved jerseys, I have found that fog tends to bead on the outside of the shirt. It is kind of funny to take part of the fog cloud with you as you speed along. I look forward to the day when someone makes a merino wool padded bicycle short for actual cycling. 

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 18 BCP 233) "Pride" is one of those words in today's world which has a lot of connotations. We can talk about the healthy pride of having accomplished something, we can talk about LGBTQ Pride which is about self and social acceptance, we can talk about unhealthy pride or sinful pride when we put ourselves ahead of others in destructive ways. The Collect for this coming Sunday specifies the kind of pride meant when it prays, "the proud who confide in their own strength." The old proverb, "Pride comes before a fall" is an abbreviation of a Proverb from the Bible. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverb

  Because of this morning's early autumnal temperatures, I donned this hunter green hand-me-down merino wool sweater with my Wool& dress. 

    I have started the Wool& and my four month Wool Challenge.  I choose for this challenge the black Cora Shift Dress.  As it is a rainy Wednesday here in northwestern Pennsylvania, I doubt I will be doing much other than work and house work in it. I think this will be a good choice for me.  I still feel as I did when I bought it, I could live in this dress!  Now we will see if I can for the next 100 days!