The Blessing Of The Bike...s...ss

It was a beautiful day for the blessing of the bikes. Being the primary organizer (it was my idea, after all), I dutifully put on my helmet and rode my bicycle to church, arriving at about 9:05. While riding on the municipal bike path I thought of all the things that didn't get done. The sign for the front of the church that I'd thought of last weekend but didn't have time to make. The idea I had last night coming home on the train that we should have made signs to put up along the bike path a week ago. The people who told me that they would help but never called or even showed up for the event. The newspaper article that never appeared in the local paper. The lack of response from the local bicycling club and a local organization that collects used bikes to refurbish and distribute to kids who need them. Fortunately, it was too nice of a day to dwell on all of that, and I'd already decided that no matter what happened, it was a first time event, and it didn't have to be large or perfect to be successful.

I turned off the bike path just before it goes into the park across the street from our parish, and this is what I saw!

Someone made a sign! I later learned that Lois our priest had painted it and put it up on Tuesday. Shows you how many times I drive by the parish when I'm not going to church!!

Since the bicycle club and the charity hadn't responded, I didn't have to put up tables. I hadn't brought any refreshments, because (a) I had no clue how many people would show up, and (b) I wasn't lugging refreshments to church on my bike. So basically, I paced until Lois and Newlin arrived, followed shortly by Mom with Gabriel her teacup Shih Tzu in tow. We did the last little bits of prep work, I paced some more, and we greeted the photographer from the local paper who showed up a few minutes before the scheduled start of the service.

10:00 a.m., scheduled time, and this is how many bikes were there:

That would be my bike. Here's another view of the lone bike that I took simply because I found the play of the shadow on the grass intriguing:

We waited until a few minutes after 10, and then we blessed my bike. Lois decided to bless any vehicle that drove by the church. About 10:20 someone attending another meeting at the parish rode up on his bike. He'd ridden it today because he'd seen the sign. So we blessed his bike.

Lois continued to bless passing vehicles while Newlin and I took down the sign. Just as we'd folded it up, two more parishioners rode up. Here we are blessing the last two bikes of the day.

Was it a success? For the eight of us who participated, definitely. Are we going to do it again? Yes. In April.

I have a list, and this time when people say they're interested, I'll hand them an assignment!

Peace,
Jeffri

A Blast From The Past

Thursday evening I met my friend Amy for dinner at the Dry Dock Cafe in Norwalk. It had been a while since we'd spent some time together, and we figured it was time. When we sat at the table, the first thing Amy did, after giving me a big hug, was hand me a picture. She found it amongst the collection of a friend whose estate she is handling, and she wanted me to have it.

"That's not Tom Haydock, is it?" I asked, trying to remember if Tom and I had ever been involved in anything at the Wilton Playshop together and realizing at the same time that it wasn't Tom.

"No, it's Guy Allred." She replied.

"Oh, wow. This must be twenty years or so ago. I have hair, a mustache and about 100 fewer pounds."

"I found another picture from my wedding of Quentin with Guy, X, and Y. Only _____ is still alive."

Cancer claimed Quentin, Amy's ex husband, a year or so ago. AIDS took Guy and X from us long before that.

But it was not a sad occasion. The picture brought back lots of good memories. It was taken during the cast party after a show at the Wilton Playshop that I no longer remember--I occasionally helped out as stage crew. Guy and I are sitting (well, leaning against some piece of furniture) and smiling for the whoever took the picture. I was very attracted to Guy, even though blonds are not usually my "type." Not to mention that Brian and I were a couple at that point in time, and I would not even have considered getting involved with Guy, nor he with me.

Brian, now ex, is nowhere in evidence in the picture. That often happened at parties we went to. One of my fellow Connecticut Choraliers once remarked, "You know, whenever we have a party, if one of you comes into a room, the other one leaves." It was never intentional, and neither of us realized that happened. We simply both mingled with the people we knew at these parties, and we never felt the need to constantly be at each other's side. Of course, looking back, one wonders...

From there, our conversation moved on to other people we had both known at the Playshop and in the Choraliers and then on to catching up with recent events in our lives.

Amy's small gift evokes happy memories of a time when my life was different and of friends who have gone on. And I suppose that it is not a coincidence that this year's theme for our Education for Ministry spiritual autobiographies is "Pictures."

Peace,
Jeffri

Finally, It's Done!

My friend Rob was ordained to the priesthood on December 16, 2006. It has taken me nearly two years, but I finally finished his ordination gift. I just don't watch as much television as I used to.

The entire stole is done in double crochet stitch, with a single crochet edging:

Here are close ups of the individual panels.

The center panel with Rob's initials and ordination date:

Cross Botonnee:

Jerusalem Cross:

Celtic Cross:

Crosslet:

Calvary Cross:

St. Andrew's Cross:

Roman Cross:

Peace,
Jeffri

It IS Important Work

Recently I was involved in a small group discussion that, in part, involved the church--specifically, the Episcopal Church. One of the members of the group said that she felt we--the church--needed to get past the unimportant arguing and get on with the important work of feeding the hungry, etc.

This was not the first time I have heard this sentiment expressed, nor will it be the last. But this time I stopped the discussion. I said to the member who made the comment, and the whole group: Until my sisters and brothers are no longer being beaten, imprisoned, and killed, many in the same places where there are issues of hunger, health care, and poverty, the work of justice for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people IS IMPORTANT WORK. As important as feeding the hungry, providing health care for everyone, and eradicating poverty.

The person who made the comment apologized immediately. In no way was their comment meant to imply that those things weren't happening and should be eradicated. It was simply that they felt the issues around sexuality were a not issue for them and most of their circles. They had moved on, and the church needed to move on, too.

The church, and society, do need to move on, but until they do, justice for those who are persecuted because of their sexuality is an issue we need to work on, do education about, and much more. I will no longer let comments about "doing the important work of the church" pass. Justice for my lbgtq sisters and brothers IS important work of the church.

Peace,
Jeffri