Before Christmas is over...

"I know many things."

I really think you should take 30 minutes to learn about the proper time to put up Christmas decorations from the noted jurist John "PC" Hodgman.

Wait...you know it's still Christmas, right?

Teaser Tuesday, January 4

Hands down, the best present I got this Christmas was 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective. Nine pounds, seven ounces of Doonesbury goodness, including some background and insights into each of the main characters. To wit:

Zonker took his name from a proto-hippie named Steve "Zonker" Lambrecht, one of the Merry Pranksters immortalized in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. But his earliest antecedent was probably TV's Maynard G. Krebs, Dobie Gillis's beatnik sidekick whose voice cracked whenever he said the word "work."

It is a fabulous collection. Fascinating to see how these characters developed, and sometimes surreal when you know what they--and the whole country--are going to experience.

Tuesday Teaser is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading where you can find all the details.

Africa update

I've mostly been reporting on Cote d'Ivoire, as you know, but there are a number of events worth noting and putting in your prayers.

Sadly, there were bombings both in Nigeria and Egypt, both targeting churches. There were further bombs near a market in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

As many of you know, there's the referendum coming up in Sudan on this coming Sunday which may or may not split the country in two. General opinion has it that the South will secede. Neither route sounds particularly clear or easy. I'm just praying that the vote itself isn't marked by violence; one step at a time.

And in Cote d'Ivoire, Gbagbo is still hanging on despite various carrots and sticks. The latest carrot: "Incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo could be offered refuge in the US as a means to end the country's political crisis, US officials say." Specifically, Georgia where he has relatives. Wouldn't that be something? God bless all diplomats.

Monday Morning Preacher: Saying goodbye

Yesterday was my last Sunday at All Saints, San Leandro as the sabbatical interim. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from that brief stint. I gained a huge new appreciation for solo clergy and how very hard it is to preach week in and week out--whew! Believe me, that's a lot harder than it looks.

I felt like it was a good and healthy farewell, which makes things so much easier. Not a lot of baggage after three months, of course, which helps. But still, it was long enough to make saying goodbye important.

Not long ago, I heard this story about a really nasty final sermon where the bishop took a hammer to a chalice he had been given when he first arrived. So ungracious, to say the least. I understand about unhappy leave-takings, but there's a difference between shaking the dust off your sandals and kicking sand in people's faces.

Good-bye, of course, is a contraction of "God be with ye," and it seems to me that's what any good final sermon will say in one way or another. You don't have to like one another to say "The Lord be with you."

I think one of the worst things a preacher can do is leave people hanging, either by not acknowledging there's any change happening, or by venting without any chance for two-way communication. It's like having someone hang up on you. There's something so terrible about not having closure. It keeps wounds open for such an unnecessarily long time.

What do you think allows for good good-byes?

Sunday Funnies

by Dave Walker at the Cartoon Church Blog

Year-end Obit Round-up 2010

I have it, now. If you're a woman and your goal in life is to be included in the Notable Deaths, become an actor. Singing's good too. Especially opera.

Women and people of color continue not to die, according to the NY Times obituaries. There are 162 obituaries deemed notable; of those only 27 are of women (of these, 13--almost half--were either singers or actors), and an astonishing 18 are people of color--and I'm double-dipping, here, since Lena Horne, Shirley Varrett, Dorothy Height, and Abbey Lincoln make up a good chunk of both groups. There is one--one--Asian person included out of 162; and one Hispanic. That's just abysmal.

You would think the representation would begin to improve, but it's actually worse than last year. And, no, the obits are not a democracy; no, there is no affirmative action for famous dead people.

And, yes, the Times Magazine's The Lives They Lived feature is a) a more representative mix of men, women, and different races; and b) in their own words, unabashedly "idiosyncratic."

But the Notables list found room for the guy who founded Century 21, but not for the woman who made higher education accessible to a wider audience? Come on. This is ridiculous.

Happy New Year!

I had all sorts of plans for various end of year posts: Best Of lists and summaries and such. But the window for that has passed, so I will just note a few things I'm grateful for from 2010.

I'm grateful for my home. I'm grateful for not moving in 2010, and the prospect of not moving in 2011. I am grateful for my neighborhood and its neighborliness.

I am intensely grateful for continued good health, both for myself and those I love.

I am grateful for the challenges I have faced this past year, for the things I've learned and for the work I still have to do. I am grateful for the struggle: to find meaningful permanent employment, to express myself honestly, and to become more fully alive.

I am grateful for the living things I've been allowed to tend, both animal and vegetable. They have given me so much pleasure.

I am grateful for the many faith communities where I have been allowed to preach.

I am grateful for the many writers, online and in print, who have opened my mind to new thoughts and ideas. I am grateful for the lives of those remembered in obituaries this year who have made my world larger through their experiences.

I am grateful to have more than my basic needs met, and for the everyday luxuries I enjoy. I am grateful for Bakesale Betty's, turkey tacos, and sofrito. I'm grateful for Golden Yunnan tea. And I'm grateful for the Giants winning the World Series.

I'm getting into the weeds here, aren't I? I could go on and on. It was a good year, 2010. Not easy, but good. I think 2011 is going to be better. Well, we'll see.

Wishing you many blessings. There's more to come, God willing.

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last. Amen.