Last Sunday marked an anniversary for Joan and me. On July 23, 1993, we moved into our dream home.
It wasn’t actually finished yet. But the builder assured us we could move in on July 23. He likes to keep his promises. So he had the inside of the house ready for us. Dust and sawdust swept out. Appliances installed. Walls painted. Carpet laid.
We had driven across the country from Toronto in a little Honda Accord for five days. The car’s trunk was stuffed full of suitcases. The back seat bristled with houseplants.
And with two traumatized cats. Who weren’t used to car travel. Especially not for eight hours a day. They spent the first day squawking incessantly. Cats can put quite an irritating tone into their voices when they want to.
After the first day, however, they went – pardon the pun – catatonic. Minds and metabolisms shut down. They ate and drank next to nothing. One of them preferred to travel with her head buried in my armpit.
The car became their cave, their security blanket, their safe place. On one occasion, we thought they might like to get out in a little park. They leaped right back into the car.
They were quite relieved to have solid floors underfoot that didn’t jiggle and vibrate.
Unfinished business
But there was still work to be done outside.
The first night in our new house, the skies opened. Like Genesis, we had waters above and waters below. Our house had no downspouts yet. Rain sluiced off the roof all night. Right outside our bedroom window. Our bladders responded sympathetically.
As a result, we were up early the next dawn. Which was just as well, because the construction crew arrived to start work about 7:00 a.m., to take advantage of the cool air and early sunlight. We got to know them quite well over the next weeks. Especially since our windows didn’t have blinds yet.
We’ve spent the next 24 years – the longest we have ever lived in the same place -- making gradual improvements, inside and outside. We’ve replaced appliances that broke down. We’ve upgraded carpets to hardwood. We planted trees and flowers.
I expect we will continue making improvements, as long as we can.
Parallels with personality
A dream therapist told me once that when I dream about a house, I’m dreaming about myself. Maybe so. Certainly houses and personalities have parallels.
When I was born, I moved into an unfinished house. I’ve been building it ever since.
When I got my first job, when I got married, when we had children, we needed to add rooms to match our new responsibilities.
When I retired, I closed off several rooms of my “house.”
Now, as I draw closer to my final years, I’m comfortable with my life-house. But it still needs occasional work. Some of the original fixtures don’t work as well as they once did. (Thank God for eyeglasses and hearing aids!)
Over the years to come, I may have to remove some personal walls. Or to open some doorways. I’ll have some new ideas to plant, some old weeds to pull.
I’m not prepared to let “this ole house” slide into disrepair yet.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Last week’s column, inspired by humourist Garrison Keillor, was rather satirical. And irreverent. No one seemed to mind much.
Except for Steve Roney: “Why did Christians vote for Trump? As you point out, Trump is really nobody’s idea of a good Christian, personally. But that matters, if it matters at all in the face of policy positions, only if he is running against a better Christian. You did not examine his opponent.”
But Anne McRae wrote, “Wonderful, wonderful, one of the best of all really good columns.”
Allan Baker thought I might need some reassurance: “You are not alone, as we say in the UCC creed.”
He included a photo of a placard which read, “Alt-Jesus. Fear everyone. Expel the stranger. Blame the poor. Ignore the sick. Feed the rich. Love only thyself. Truset only Caesar. Throw lots of stones.”
Tom Watson suggested three more Alt-Jesus beatitudes:
· Blessed are those who promise non-existent jobs for it keeps the unemployed under control.
· Blessed are those who drain the swamp for otherwise the rich would run out of ways to get richer.
· Blessed are those who provide alternative facts for otherwise people would be unaware that truth doesn't matter.
John Martin had a criticism: “Far too many syllables in some of the words you put into the Great Tweeter's tweets.”
Alex McGillvery: “I have been saying for years that the prophets called a country to righteousness and justice, not an artificial purity.”
Alex added, “I'm surprised you still quote the Matthew Beatitudes. To my mind, the version in Luke is stronger, and he gives the other side, just to make things clear.”
I chose Matthew’s version deliberately, on the assumption that evangelicals (especially American evangelicals) are more likely to quote it than Luke’s.
Bob Rollwagen: “Jesus got it right. He, like the Twit, got recorded by many men with a little of their own bias intermingled in the text. Unlike Jesus, the Twit is echoed by many that have no idea how self-serving his tweets are. Jesus got it right because he was trying to lead the human condition to a higher level. The Twit thinks he is at the top and only those that can pay their own way should be able to join him.”
Laurna Tallman had some thoughts about the transmission of Jesus’ message: “People in Jesus's day had better memories. Some people could and did write and took that privileged responsibility much more seriously than people tend to do now when virtually everyone can provide backup documents for their less dependable memories. A relatively few people have phenomenal memories, but they also tend to be unstable…
“I forget which of the ancient Greeks deplored the development of libraries that would reduce the need for the memories of those sages and scribes who were pillars of history for their cultures. He was correct. Libraries can be destroyed by fire or other means. Only when the tenets of a culture are carried in the memories of its members and taught assiduously to the younger generations can the truths embedded in historical memory be transmitted through future time.
“The Internet is, if anything, more fragile than libraries. The entire edifice could come down like a house of cards. And those of ill-will among nations are developing means of cyber-attack for that very purpose. They can undermine infrastructures that very foolishly have been computerized.”
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
Sometimes, flying across the country on an overnight flight, you can see the light of dawn from the east spreading across the darkened lands below. That experience inspired this paraphrase of Psalm 105:1-11.
1 The still earth stirs to the touch of God;
Give thanks, give thanks to God.
Fresh light spills across the resting lands.
2 Waken the sleepers to share in the wonder;
Sing praises to the creator, all you people.
3 The glory of dawn rises over the horizon; Our hearts rise in response.
4 Look, see how the wonders extend to the edge of the world;
Everywhere, the glory of God bursts into being.
5 Years may come, years may go, But each new day is a miracle.
God watches over the world, from the east to the west,
and banishes the fears of darkness.
6 Yet this same God chooses to watch over us;
God has chosen us to watch over.
7 This is the wonder of the Lord our God:
The creator of the universe, the life of the lands--
8 this God cares about us,
And about our children, and our children's children.
9 This God cared about our ancestors,
and our ancestors' ancestors,
long before we ever existed,
before we were even aware of existence,
10 God made promises to us:
God will keep those promises.
11 God said, "I will give you this land.
Pass it on to your children,
and to your children's children."
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…
· Ralph Milton’s most recent project, Sing Hallelujah -- the world’s first video hymnal -- consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
· Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
· Wayne Irwin's "Churchweb Canada," an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
· Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
· Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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