Rest In Peace: Eartha Kitt

The one, the only...

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, etc....

There is snow up to the windows where I am, and more is falling heavily as I write this. The darkness is receding, the light is increasing, since the Solstice a week ago.

We will brave the weather to spend the evening with the dh's family tonight - all our children will be under our roof later tonight and tomorrow - on Boxing Day we will visit my mother. I'm grateful that my internship supervisor has no expectations of my participation in the Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, or this coming Sunday's service. I'm keenly aware this may be the last year I have the luxury of spending time just with my family for the holidays. But, for now, I will wrap presents, listen to holiday music, watch many movies, eat too much, and enjoy the presence of the people around me. There is much to be grateful for, there is reason for hope, and there is love.

Whatever holiday(s) you celebrate: I wish you peace, I wish you joy, and I wish you hope. Here is a holiday song for everyone...

When is "interfaith," not?

One of the interesting things I get to do right now is attend meetings of local clergy and interfaith groups. At my count, there are three such groups my supervisor and I attend regularly. One is an explicitly interfaith coalition which focuses on action in the community. One is a generic area clergy association. One is an association of urban religious communities. My supervisor is very active in all three groups.

There was recently a question as to whether one of the urban churches was still a member of that association – whether they intended to be members or not. In reply to a query, the minister of that church responded that the congregation had no interest in continuing to work with the group since it had “moved away from its original stated purpose.” He attached a copy of that purpose, adopted in 1977. Well. Yeah. I read it with dismay – language about the Love of Christ, making the gospel visible, and a unity that “finds its source in a common faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.” GULP!

My initial reaction – WTF??? And – How come they let us UUs be part of it, then? How can I continue to attend these meetings, knowing I don’t share a “faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” with most of the others?

Then I calmed down. I’ve gotten much better at handling God-talk, after three years at a Christian seminary. And I started thinking…

The group works together on liturgical events – interfaith services for significant holidays. It also cooperates in supporting and disseminating information for events like the Crop Walk, the AIDS Walk, and local charity efforts, including a food pantry.

What about these activities doesn’t make the gospel visible? What does this clergy person perceive the group to have become that doesn’t make visible the Love of Christ (as well as the wisdom of Buddha, etc.)? Is the real problem that the association has allowed in religious groups that aren’t explicitly Christian, or at least not his brand of Christian?

So I took my questions to my internship supervisor. He said, “Oh, back then we weren’t allowed in. But that was revised some time ago.” And he went to his files and found the update, adopted over a decade ago. The “love of Christ” was changed to Love of God; “churches” to religious communities; “clergyman” to clergyperson. Laypeople were included as members, too, in the update. The changes make it possible for a broader range of communities to participate, like us Unitarian Universalists. But now the question has been raised – does the group want to return to its original stated purpose and become, once again, an exclusively Christian organization? Or remain truly interfaith, not just interdenominational?

We'll see how this plays out...

Rest In Peace: Spot, 1996 - 2008

(Spot in June, 2006)

"To have reverence for life
you must have reverence for death.
The pets we love are not taken from us
but leave when summoned by the gods."

Adapted from Jim Harrison & Ted Kooser
(From "Braided Creek," a conversation in poetry)

Our eldest cat, our boon companion, was “summoned” this past Friday. He had been ill for some time, and for the past several months we knew he was really in “home hospice” with us. We wanted to keep him with us as long as he was eating, and drinking, managing to use the litter box and eager to cuddle and play. The past two weeks he became noticeably weaker, dragging his right rear leg (he had a cancerous tumor on his right rear hip), and did not want to come out of his cave under the DH’s footstool.

Everyone was home for Thanksgiving, so all the adult children got to see him and pet him one more time. DH, the daughters and I took him to the vet the next morning. The vet agreed it was time – an infection had set in, the muscles were involved, and Spot’s blood circulation was poor. R chose not to remain in the examining room. The DH, M*, and I stayed with Spot while the vet gave him the injections… We petted him and talked to him until we knew he was well into his last sleep.

I often said, if I’d known he was going to stay I’d have given him a prettier name. We met him on my in-laws’ farm, one of a tribe of kittens born in the spring. Most of them had been named by our nephews, but he hadn’t been. Nobody could think of a name for him. He seemed destined to be called “the white one with the black spot” forever. Even then he was a friendly kitten, happy to be held by anyone - and I was a sucker for his pretty green eyes. We took him home as a car companion for another kitten named Lucky, who was a pretty calico. We thought we would be keeping Lucky and bringing Spot back to the farm.

Well. Lucky hated being in a house. She was back on the farm within a week. Spot, however, loved being in a house. What’s not to love? He was fed, no need to hunt for food, and there was always fresh water. So, he had to put up with the hissing of the aged grande dame who was NOT amused that an interloper had been brought into her territory. He quickly learned to avoid or ignore her. The grande dame died a year later of old age. Soon after we brought Minnie home from the farm, and they were happy companions.

I know a cat is “just an animal.” But Spot was much more. We often teased him, accusing him of trying to live up to his name by acting like a dog. Yes, he drank out of the toilet on occasion. He was also an inveterate greeter, happy to answer the door with us to see who was visiting. And he was a big guy - one good friend, another big guy, remarked upon meeting Spot for the first time that he "wasn't a cat but a beast!" Ah, but he was a gentle beast...

Watching a bunny eat petunias through the screen door

But he was also an untrained, instinctive therapy cat. I say that based on an observation by a friend – who trains therapy dogs – that Spot would be a natural, if we ever wanted to have him trained to visit people in nursing homes. He had an unerring instinct for seeking out whoever needed him. His methods were simple and direct. He’d sit on the lap of the patient, lay his head on the patient’s chest, and purr. Sometimes he’d rub his head against the patient, to make sure s/he was paying attention. This was amazingly effective for stressed out parents, snarly adolescents in the grip of one angst or another, and even helpful with the clinically depressed. I don’t think all of us would still be alive without Spot’s gentle ministry.

Wait. Did I just say “ministry” referring to a cat? Yes, I did, for I learned a lot about “ministry of presence” from observing Spot with my teenagers. Without the question-asking skills, Spot’s methods are remarkably similar to what I was trained to do in my chaplain internship: Be there. Pay attention. Listen. Pay attention. Bear witness. Gentle touch means a lot. Make reassuring noises while the patient speaks. Pay Attention.

My prayer is that, if there is such a thing as an afterlife for cats, that Spot is playing with companions - free to run again - free to cuddle and groom - and at the end of the day, free to collapse and dream of doing it all again. And I pray that we all have a companion like Spot in our lives, sometime.

Another fluff post

What have you done in your life? -- A meme I found on a couple other blogs. I haven't done much, it seems. (What I've done is in bold.) To play, copy the following list. Bold the things you've done. Post on your own blog...

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars (assuming in a tent doesn't count)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (and never will again!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris (twice!)
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (well, sort of, the dh is the gardener)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when not ill (guess that secret's out)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (again, sort of, on bluffs really - no ropes involved)
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (unless for my daughters counts)
62. Gone whale watching (though I did see some, once)
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (I've been on one, just not speeding)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club (originated one, too)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

(I'll try to make my next post a non-fluffy one.)