Western Plains District Conference

I haven't written much on my blog this summer. But it is one my favorite things to do. I am going to try to do more of my favorite things!

I am in Kansas. I traveled here for the Western Plains District Conference. I don't usually go to other District Conferences but the Moderator asked me to bring the Sunday morning message. The theme was Until Christ is Formed in Us. The worship center was a picture of a laughing Jesus. If you looked closely enough you can see that it is made up of over 70 faces. It was incredible.

I left very early Friday morning so that I could land in Wichita by 2 p.m. My goal was to get to McPherson in time to take my father to the Ministers' Dinner. I made it. Then we went to evening worship. A hymn sing before worship was accompanied by accordion and guitar. It was fabulous. The Moderator, Bob Dell preached. He did a good job laying out the theme he had chosen for the weekend.

Saturday I didn't go to the Conference. I spent the evening with my sister and some of her family. I love being with family.

I find the sunsets in Kansas so amazing. I think it is the clouds and the wide open horizons. This picture was taken on my sister's farm.

Today is Sunday and I preached at the McPherson Church of the Brethren on Transformational Kinship. My sermon was inspired by Father Greg Boyle's sermon at ULV Baccalaureate this year. In his book Tattoos on the Heart, Boyle writes: "Serving others is good. It’s a start. But it is just the hallway that leads to the Grand Ballroom. Kinship—not serving the other, but being one with the other." I think the Brethren often get caught in the hallway of service. If we truly understood ourselves as kin we wouldn't have to talk about inclusion because there would be no "them."

After the sermon I found my father and told him I was proud to be his daughter. He said, "I am proud to be your father." Coming from a man that usually can only say the words yes, no and I don't know I felt overwhelmed to hear his words.

Peace is Possible!

I just got home from another successful Peace Camp. I love the whole week but the last night is always my favorite. After the children spend their last time at the global village their parents and grandparents come for a program. Tonight our children stood on the steps of the church and sang "Building a Better World" with sign language. Then they taught the song and signs to their family members. We had ice cream and then we moved into the Fellowship Hall to watch the Peace Camp 2011 movie.

But a movie can never capture the magic that is Peace Camp. Watching the adults of our church become henna tattoo artists or teach children to make candles, Zen gardens, beads out of bread, airplanes, birdhouses, peace rocks or play the djembe makes me smile. Seeing children line up to write a thank you card or build a rainbow of words about how they plan to build a better world is priceless. Hearing a child say to a parent, "Come here I want you to meet someone I really, really like" and watch as he introduces his parent to one of the adults of our church.

Dawna announced tonight that the theme for next year's Peace Camp is "Passport to Peace." One child wanted to know if that meant we were going to travel around the world next year. On the suggestion pages one child wrote that they want glass blowing to be a craft. Peace Camp is such an amazing event that the children believe anything is possible....even peace!

Building a Better World

I haven't written on this blog for over two weeks. I came back from Annual Conference exhausted, disappointed, disillusioned, and disgruntled. I simply haven't felt like writing. Then tonight Peace Camp began. About 80 children showed up to "Build a Better World." When parents dropped off their children they were invited to join me for a reception in the Fireside Room to hear more about the church and why we do Peace Camp. Two parents from the church came to the reception to share what they love about this church. We had about eight Peace Camp parents come to the reception. It was an excellent idea that grew out of the Summer Series.

I was so proud to talk about what makes the La Verne Church of the Brethren special. I had excellent conversations with parents who trust us with their children. Now that the reception is over I keep thinking of things I wish I would have said. They should know we are going solar. They should know about the Celebration of the Arts. But most of all I wish I could convey to them how the people of this church make it so amazing.

Annual Conference

This past Tuesday night after a most distressing day at Annual Conference I got back to my room around midnight. I called Bryan because I needed to vent and cry. When I told him all that had transpired that day he said, "I am speechless." That is where I am. I can't find adequate language to share what Annual Conference was like this year. I can't square what happened there with what I tell people about the Church of the Brethren I love.

Some of the things about Conference were recognizable. The beautiful downtown setting:

The time with family and friends:

The large worship setting and a logo that called us to be loving:

But there was so much that was unrecognizable this year. There were several times in the business meetings that I felt that I had inadvertently walked into a Tea Party convention by mistake. We sang songs like "All Are Welcome Here," shortly after we had voted on upholding the 1983 paper on Human Sexuality that says that same sex covenantal relationships are unacceptable. One man came prepared with a different colored T-shirt for every day. On the front of the shirts was embroidered the word "Satan." He stood near the Womaen's Caucus booth embodying Satan, for some reason I never quite understood. When we talked about the paper on "Proper Decorum" a woman compared the rainbow scarves to wearing gang colors. During the conversation on Climate Change I found myself wanting to get up to the mike and simply say, "Seriously?" In the election for a moderator-elect two women were on the ballot. A man was nominated from the floor and won. On the rest of the ballot, all women who ran against men lost. On Tuesday night it was announced that a credible death threat had been made against a gay person at the conference. We sat and cried. What has become of us? What happens when we participate in something that is so counter to what we believe God requires of us? What has happened to the soul of the Church of the Brethren?

Since I have returned I have found myself in many conversations and email exchanges with people who did not attend conference. The prevailing question is: "How will we respond?" I am hoping that over the next several months we spend plenty of time in discussion, prayer and discernment. Unlike our denomination I hope we listen most intently to the voices of our lgbt members and the youth and young adults we so value.

Adventures in Southern California

Monday was an "Adventure Monday"....at least that is what I call it. Bryan is off on Mondays every other week. On some of those Mondays we go on an adventure. That is the wonder and joy of living in Southern California. Bryan suggested the Maritime Museum in San Diego. He said he had always wanted to go there. I did some of my growing up in San Diego and I never went there. There are six boats you can explore. The sail ships, especially the Star of India, are beautiful.

But the submarines were the most challenging to explore. The Russian sub had five hatches we had to go through. It would have been a comical experience if we were watching someone else do it.

Brett demonstrated what it would have been like to sleep in the small bunks.

One of my absolute favorite things to do in San Diego is to go to the merry-go-round at Balboa Park and try for the brass ring. Bryan doesn't like to participate but we had Brett along. I bought several tickets. We watched and waited for the merry-go-round to stop. A young boy got the brass ring and I trashed talked with Brett how I was going to be the next recipient of the ring. When the merry-go-round stopped Brett and I ran for the two giraffes. They are the tallest rides and each of us wanted to win. Well, just in case you ever find yourself at the merry-go-round at Balboa Park you can't try for the brass ring after 5 p.m. This is important information for you to have if you get on the merry-go-round at 5:01 p.m.....like we did.

Bryan and Angie Hostetler share a birthday, so today we went to Laguna Beach to celebrate.

After a delicious breakfast we went for a hike on the beach.

On the way home, on a whim, we decided we wanted to see the Crystal Cathedral. I have seen it from the freeway, but I have never gone there. Bryan remembers attending church there back when it was the Garden Grove Community Church and you could sit in your car and attend worship. It has changed a bit since then.

Quite a Week

This has been quite a week. Pentecost worship was a fabulous, blow-out service. Sunday night the Sanctuary Choir gave an incredible concert made up of their favorite pieces. The concert ended with the premier of Shawn's choral version of "I'll Be on My Way." There were over 250 people there, more than were in worship for Pentecost Sunday. I am guessing that over half of them were guests. Our choir inspires us, soothes us and makes us proud!

On Monday night, Brett returned from England. He did his senior year at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. When Brett landed at LAX he didn't have a cell phone that worked in the United States and his lap top had been damaged. It is amazing to me that we used to live our lives without either of these conveniences. We finally connected with Brett when he borrowed a stranger's cell phone to let us know where he was. I made Brett and Bryan pose under the men's restroom sign. Can you tell how much Bryan enjoyed having his picture taken?

I made Brett some cookies with fair trade chocolate but the thing he wanted most was a grilled cheese with grilled onions at In & Out! We stopped on the way home.

Loren Bowman died this week. Loren was one of my heroes. I would say he served as a model for me but I am not sure I could ever emulate his quiet patience and his profound brilliance. When I was the youth director of the La Verne Church of the Brethren, back in 1981, Loren was the interim pastor. His efficient administration, soft-spoken leadership, open-minded search for knowledge and unwavering commitment to the church impressed me as I made my decision to go to seminary.

Today I went to a 50th wedding anniversary party. Our West African drumming group played at the party. I love to play with this group but I am always a bit nervous in front of others. Since I am always playing, I never get to take a picture but I asked someone to do the honors today.

It is good to have Brett home. He is positive, witty and a great cook. I haven't cooked all week. Occasionally he will let me put on an apron and cut some tomatoes but mostly he prefers to just take care of meals and clean-up. I could get used to this kind of treatment.

On Anacapa

Today I got one of my wishes. Bryan and I went to Channel Islands. I have wanted to go here ever since I realized that it was where the girl from Island of the Blue Dolphins lived. My mother made me read that book when I was in elementary school. I made both my boys read it as well. I wonder if some day they will make somebody they love read it.

Bryan and I took off from Oxnard this morning for Anacapa Island, the closest of the islands. Anacapa comes from the Chumash Indians and it means mirage. The island is made up of three islets: east, middle, west. It is five miles long with steep cliffs. We had to climb 153 stairs to get to the top of the island.

There were several things we didn't know about this trip before we left. For example, when we arrived this morning the woman said, "Did anyone tell you that you would be sharing the boat with 40 fifth graders on a field trip?" The other thing we didn't know is that thousands of seagulls were hatching their baby chicks. The chicks are spotted.

So are the eggs.

I felt like I was in a scene from Hitchcock's The Birds. All these seagulls, trying desperately to protect their chicks and eggs, let us know that we were not wanted. We got dive bombed several times. At several points, it was all we could do not to run screaming.

We hiked out to Inspiration Point. It was inspirational but they were too many people there for us to find a quiet place to eat our lunch. There are a limited number of benches on the island and all of them are covered with bird poop....and I mean covered.

We hiked back to the other side of the island and ate lunch with a view of the lighthouse.

Then we hurried back down the stairs for a "live dive." They had divers in the kelp beds below us. There was a cameraman diving, as well. The divers were linked with us above them and with the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center in Ventura. It was very cool. Back on the boat we headed down to see Arch Rock.

Wave good-bye to the sea lions.

On the way back, I told Bryan that karma dictated that if you spent your day on a field trip with 40 fifth graders you didn't know, then surely a humpback whale would be sighted on the way home. Sure enough! It was a fabulous day!