posted Mar 10, 2009 10:54 AM by Rev Lucille
Anastasia got into the Minneapolis centers with Sister Danyel at about 9pm on Sunday. We joyfully received her and she has been settling in for the last two days. Today I showed her around the Uptown area where we live and brought her to a cool place called Midtown Market. which is a big indoor market with tons of vendors of all nationalities. There is almost every kind of ethnic food, desserts and goods that you can imagine. We had a delicious lunch (Sister Danyel has Mexican, I had middle eastern, and Anastasia and Jamaican) and talked. This afternoon Rev Joan will take her over to an job interview downtown. She is still very much in shock and likely feels that is on vacation but she will settle into the novice house sisterhood soon. All the sisters are happy to receive her and are looking forward to getting to know her.
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posted Mar 6, 2009 12:05 PM by Rev Lucille
Hello everyone,
I have not blogged in months. It has been a great fall and winter and the novices have grown so much personally and as a group. They have opened their hearts to each other and really become sisters. Now, we have the joy of adding Anastasia from Boston to our novice house. She will be arriving this Sunday and everyone is excited. In preparation we have move the rooms around to make space for her. I have moved up to the 3rd floor and Nadia and moved down to share a room with Anastasia.
We have also has some exciting changes in the house itself. Our basement is in the process of renovation and we are looking forward with great anticipation to having a new walls, carpet, and closet. It is going to be great place to have classes, watch movies, and exercise. I have a feeling our basement will become one of the most popular places in the house.
That is all there is for now, but I will try to get back soon. |
posted Sep 12, 2008 8:39 AM by Rev Lucille
I can’t remember what details I have given you all about our household here in Minneapolis so I will fill in some details for you. Rev. Joan and I started the Minneapolis center in 2005. We lived in a duplex in a part of Minneapolis called Uptown. The apartment had a huge living room and dining room two bedrooms an office and a tiny chapel. We lived there for three years and had grown out of the space so the Order bought us a house. We had two young women at our center (Carolyn and June) who were interested in being novices and they planned on moving in with us to start a Novice house. Okay- maybe I should explain what a novice house is.
A novice house is a place where a minister (or a few ministers) lives with students who desire a more intensive training. Novices take a one year vow of celibacy and agree to participate in daily communion, prayers, and community meals whenever possible. It is a lot like a modified monastic life. The novices work at their jobs in the world but spend a great deal of time in prayer, meditation, classes, and community. Their relationships with their sisters or bothers in the house are very intimate and honest. In our case, we have only women in the house and the novices are very dedicated not only to the spiritual work but also the relational work.
Okay- so back to the story. We were planning on moving into the huge house with only Carolyn and June but as the Master Teachers went around the country doing seminars they found that there were three other women who very much wanted to join our program. Christine from Oakland, Estelle from New Haven, and Anna from Atlanta all bravely moved from their cities and COLs and came to Minneapolis to make a nice big family. All seven of us live in the house and share meals, prayers, classes, and fun. Which brings me to the State Fair.
As all of you Minnesotans know, state fair is a big deal. People talk about state fair all summer and often go several times during its two week presence. The main attractions at fair are the variety of fried foods on a stick, animals and the rides. Rev Joan and I went in 2006 but after eating two kinds of fried food on a stick we were full and found the rest of the fair unexciting. But, we now had three novices who had never experienced State Fair so we had to initiate them into Minnesota culture. We drove to a near by transit point and took a special bus to the fair. By the time we got on the bus we were already having a great time. We arrived at the Fair in high sprits and set forth to try many varieties of fried food and food on sticks. Because there were so many of us we could taste many more foods. The list included fried pickles, a fried candy bar on a stick, fried mac and cheese on a stick, corn dogs, Australian fried potatoes, a fried onion, fried dough, steak on a stick and frozen grapes. Yeah, the frozen grapes broke the mold but were needed a break from the grease. We also road on some rides and especially loved the flying swing. I felt like I was a bird and felt an over-whelming love for all of God’s creation. I was swinging around and watching the sky and the light and the people and felt like there was nothing more perfect than that moment.
Everyone had a lot of fun but more importantly we bonded as a family. I was so impressed with the way everyone shared lovingly and unselfishly. There was a very loose turn taking with the purchases but no one got rigid or anxious. Everyone was joyfully generous with their money and food and it felt like the best kind of family experience. I felt and feels so grateful to be sharing this amazing spiritual community. |
posted Sep 12, 2008 8:20 AM by Rev Lucille
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updated Sep 12, 2008 8:38 AM
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I have been terribly neglectful of my blog. I have skipped the whole month of August- so here is the recap. I came home to a beautiful new house and my new novice family. Rev. Joan, Estelle, June, Anna, Carolyn, and Christine has already moved in but the house was still in a state of transition. I was so excited to be a part of the moving in process that when I came home after a 7 hour drive I went straight into furniture moving. Christine and Anna didn’t have jobs yet so they were home to help me. We set up and decorated the whole living room and part of the basement. It felt great to get the space ready for class that night. Since then it has been a lot of work and a lot of love. A few days after I got home we had a fina unpaking day. I set the goal that there would be no box unoppened and that we would be totally unpacked. The bovices were a little doubtful and apprehensive but by the end of the day we were totally unpacked- even the basement! Our chapel was totally set up and ready for communion and prayers, and the house was nearly completely decorated. The novices were amazed at how much we got done.
Since then we have corrected some of the over-guilded decorating of our predesessors and we have painted one of the basement rooms and decorated it warmly for Mother Clare’s visit to out Center. The transformation of the room was amazing and very gratifying. Then we set out to remove a ¾ inch piece of ugly wall paper trim from the living room. It came off easily but we discovered a whole other set of problems. The wall was a beige color but when we took off the trim there was green paint underneath. We found some paint in the garage that was labeled living room and tried to cover the green paint we had exposed. Unfortunately, the paint in the garage was mislabeled and it was a paint that was a few shades darker. Rev Joan and I looked at the situation and mediation and both saw that we should repaint the whole living room even though we had only three weekdays until Mother Clare’s visit and the Seminar weekend. I bought the paint and everyone chipped in. We finished the whole room in one evening and part of the next day. The room in now a creamy light yellow and it feels so good. The beige color was not terrible and we probably would not have bothered changing it but when the new color went up it felt so right. I felt how blessed we were to have been encouraged through mishap to have the room be perfect. |
posted Sep 12, 2008 8:15 AM by Rev Lucille
After the Adult retreat (2) Rev Monica and I spent time together relaxing and working. She was staying at the retreat center between retreats prepping for her marriage to Rev David. It was great to spend time with her and hear about the beauty of way their love unfolded and the amazing purity with which they were approaching their marriage. Being with Rev Monica in her marriage process made me think about the sadness of most marriages in the world. I worked as a banquet server for about a year and saw dozens of weddings and it almost always felt sad, like the couple was holding a romantic dream that they could not attain or that they had already resigned themselves to unfulfilling marriage. As unorthodox as our courting a marriage practices are, they actually carry the intensity of love and hope that is idealized but rarely attained in the world. I felt so lucky to be a part of this Order and to get to witness the unfolding of love and commitment between Rev Monica and Rev David.
As, Thursday approached I prepared to take care of Rev Isabelle and Rev William’s baby, Annaleah and the baby of Elizabeth and Clinton (students in Seattle’s) baby Nera. They are 4 month and six months old, so it was a handful. Lucky, I had the ever-helpful Gabrielle and Stephanie (my teen youth group helpers) to give me a lot of support. The babies were wonderful and it was heart warming to be with them. Then, on Friday night I looked at my dinner and had no interest in it. I started to feel very nauseous and was shortly after throwing up outside the cottages. This began 48 hours of a very cruel stomach bug. Rev. Monica stayed next to me and gave me comfort through eight straight hours of diarrhea and vomiting. I was feeling terrible and dehydrated and worn out. Rev David (who is also a MD), Rev Rachel (the nurse) and Rev Louise (the other nurse) descended upon me with an IV and saline solution that we had in our medical bag. Rev David used an Ipod cord as a turnicate and Rev Louise put in my IV. The IV bag was hung from a dining room chair while I lay on the living room floor wrapped in blankets and love. Rev Rachel pulled up a bed next to mine (which was placed strategically close to the bathroom) and stayed with me all night. I felt so loved and cared for my sisters and brothers that it broke my heart. The next day the virus had spread through the retreat and people will falling like flies. Rev Rachel and Rev David lovingly visited every room and tended to the sick. Lectures were half full and people came in and out according to the whims of their stomachs. The retreat appeared to be a disaster but God brought so much love and care through Rev Rachel and Rev David that many participants were blessed beyond their imaginations. Everyone received what they needed and once again, God had other plans- and God’s plan was bumpier than ours but also more perfect than we could ever have planned.
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posted Sep 12, 2008 8:14 AM by Rev Lucille
Okay, here we go- week two of the retreat epic. As soon as the kids left the children’s ministers fled to the hot springs. We spent very relaxing afternoon at the hot springs talking, laughing, floating, and relaxing. On Tuesday, in order to make some money during my long absence from paid work I helped make beds and set up rooms for the next retreat. It was surprising fun. My Virgo moon had a heyday with all the organizing and cleaning. On Thursday, Rev Gabrielle and I prepped group lists and last organizational details for the 2nd retreat. Soon, the people began to arrive and the fun and work of the retreat began. I functioned at a group leader and counselor and all the normal stuff for priests. It was a mellow but powerful retreat. I was sort of amazed at how much the students transformed with very little drama. It was subtle and intense. That’s all for now. |
posted Sep 12, 2008 8:10 AM by Rev Lucille
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updated Sep 12, 2008 8:13 AM
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I have been in Dolores at our retreat center for three weeks. When I left Minneapolis we still lived in an apartment/center but since I have been gone, three new novices moved to Minneapolis and our Center moved from our apartment to a brand new novice house. While my center was transforming I have been in the time warp of constant retreats. We started with the children’s retreat, which was a funny, hard, and amazing mess. It began with the news that we could not stay in one of the houses we planned to have the kids in. We set up tents, moved kids around and moved forward. Next was the great plague of the lice. As it turns out two separate families brought lice to the retreat and we spend hours upon hours checking children’s heads, treating kids with lice, and washing every piece of linen in both houses. In a particularly epic episode one of our teen helpers spent four straight hours picking nits from one of the kids. Rev Rachel was so patient and loving as the hours went on and on. Then the drama spread into the adult retreat as parents of the infected kids showed up for checks. After all was said and done, the whole retreat center was washed, sprayed, and de-liced. Next, as the children were happily rafting a hail storm swept through the area and pounded them with little pieces of ice. Pandemonium broke loose, screaming children, stunned rafting staff met calm priests. The ministers calmly lead he kids in prayer and songs as the staff brought the boats to shore. When I arrived to pick them up children were proudly telling their war stories and showing the red marks on their legs and arms. Rev Rachel and I had a lot of great plans for the kid retreat but God had bigger plans. We prayed and laughed our way through the changes and found that the kids were more blessed than we could have planned. They relaxed into the changes, found faith and strength in turmoil and felt our love for them and God’s love for them all through the weekend. And that was just the first of three weeks. Tune in for weeks two and three in my next entries. |
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