Beth and Traci: What’s a Bad Weave?
Saturday morning at Eastern Star, break it down
Break it down, Yeh
Women of the Word on the East Side of Indy
Two white lumps in a hot cup-a-joe
Men and women gracious hosts
Brother Robert, Sister Sherri, Sister Rita
Extending hands, sharing names with crashers
We all meet in the middle, pray in a circle holding hands
Brother prays, family thank the Father, the Giver
“Yes, Jesus, we thank you,†agreeing whispers,
for rice and beans, hash browns, sweet potatoes
Servants serve us breakfast, no meat, Lenten fast
Four days into the fast – “WOO!â€
We sit at one of four long tables, two strangers
Awkward
Silence, faces in our chinette
Talking in starts and stops
What are we doing here I wonder if they’re thinking
I reveal our mission, hole in the dyke
Words flow
How do they know God is real
Felicia, Veronica, Ethel tell
Traci and me how they know
He’s real.
I knew when I was a little girl that there is More.
I know because I know His word is true, they teach me here.
And the things I’ve been through, He’s real, sometimes he just plucks you out
I know because He delivered my family and me from The Flood
My deliverance from Big Easy So Hard
He provided people, money, work, a roof
Tears pour from shell-shocked eyes, stream down her worn, movie star face
of broken dreams, showing her shitty hand
Her mouth testifies to the Goodness of God.
But why did others die? My friend wonders why
And God - how do you know? How do I know?
You just have to ask, Traci, ask him to come into your heart
It’s that simple
“I have. Why hasn’t he?â€
“When was the last time you asked?†presses Katrina’s child,
“Eighteen.â€
“You’ve grown. Ask him again.â€
Exodus into the sanctuary where brothers, sisters reflect in prayer
Sweet baritone from a speaker fills the room with adoration
People sitting quietly, waiting
No singing
No singing?
Nope. Is this the whiteification of the Colorful Church
God please no, say it ain’t so, are my thoughts
The song is done, all rise to pray and hear God’s words spoken
Brothers and sisters stand in reverence
Show respect, Say “Amen†like they mean it
Announcements
Sedate intercession for the president, for the country, for the pastor
Bible teaching lite
Speaker one
Relationships matter to God
Even gentiles love those who love them
Pray for our enemies
Prayer goes both ways, not a monologue
The cross vertical good with God, horizontal good with others
Read “Boundaries†and “Safe Peopleâ€
Speaker two
What is love?
Batter on our spaghetti from an undone cake?
Submit to one another, husbands and wives
Men don’t be a knucklehead
Men submit to God
Women submit to men
Children submit to women
What is love, Carla’s poem
Caring, honesty, communication, caring for others more than ourselves
Phileo, Eros, Agape
Brotherly, Romantic, Unconditional Love
God’s love, God’s people love agape
Leave, Cleave, Weave
What’s a bad weave look like?
He’s not asking me, he’s not seriously approaching me with that microphone
Mike in my face.
Do I look like I know what a bad weave looks like
I know a good weave, I say, is seamless
“Then a bad weave is unseamless”
Like this poem.
Comment by: Helen
1 02/10/08 1:56 PM | Comment Link |Thanks for expressing your Saturday morning experience in poetry, Beth.
It sounds like the people of this church were friendly and welcoming.
I’m curious about the men - how many men were there? Were the leaders and speakers men or women? Is this the first time there have been men in the women’s meetings you and Traci have attended?
Comment by: Beth Bates
2 02/10/08 7:25 PM | Comment Link |The morning was poetry, Helen. In a way.
The people were warmer than warm, giving us hugs at the end and going out of their way for thanking us for coming and inviting us back.
I’d guess there were about, hm, I don’t know. Thirty men? And maybe forty women? They usually split up after breakfast and have women’s ministry and men’s ministry separately. The meeting we attended was an exception, I suppose since the topic was relationships.
First time men were present, yes. Except, of course, for the Kay Arthur video audience that included men and women.
Comment by: Helen
3 02/11/08 7:14 AM | Comment Link |Thanks Beth. I’m glad the people were so friendly.
I hope you’ll be writing about Kay Arthur soon. I’m curious to hear how that was. (Then I’ll ask why men were at that meeting too :))
A question for Traci: Traci, how did you feel when you were told to ask Jesus into your life again? Was that ok or uncomfortable (or neither of the above)?
Comment by: Traci
4 02/11/08 7:27 AM | Comment Link |Ah, shoot. I didn’t mind. All those ladies were lovely to tell me how they felt connected to God, so it was only fair that they ask me why I wasn’t.
I was intensely curious what she’d say when I told her that I had asked and had gotten no answer.
Ask again, of course. (When would you say when, I wonder.) The woman who told me to ask again later reiterated that suggestion and said, “You’re going to be okay.”
I think I’m okay as is, but I appreciate the sentiment.
Comment by: Helen
5 02/11/08 8:17 AM | Comment Link |Thanks Traci - I’m glad it wasn’t uncomfortable. It sounds like you had a very interesting conversation with them at the breakfast.
I suppose “Ask again” is exactly what I’d say if someone said to me “I asked and got no response” and my experience was that the person being asked DID respond.
Comment by: Justin McKean
6 02/11/08 12:33 PM | Comment Link |Totally love this project. I’m a subscriber to your blog. I like seeing anyone building bridges instead of walls.
Still…
“ask her again”
but she didn’t pick up before
the pint and the table
conspire to spill his beer
my friend:
just keep trying, you wuss
me: shaking
i don’t like rejection
her ringtone, twice more
“our gaaahhhhhd is an awesome god”
no response
no voice mail
cannot leave a message
she never calls me back
another approaches
she’s here
i can see her
she communicates with me
i can know this one empirically
and maybe more…
i delete the other number
i’ll not need it again
Comment by: Beth Bates
7 02/11/08 1:11 PM | Comment Link |Thanks, Justin. I’m a new fan of your blog too.
Nice poem.
Comment by: Justin McKean
8 02/11/08 1:41 PM | Comment Link |:)
I’m finding a lot of us who are atheists and a lot of (I’m making up a label here) New Christians are finding it’s much more fun to find ways we can work and play with each other rather than being evil.
I won’t tell anyone about St. John’s… DOH!
Comment by: Helen
9 02/11/08 2:44 PM | Comment Link |Justin wrote:
Definitely. Thanks for joining us here, Justin!
Comment by: Traci
10 02/12/08 10:32 AM | Comment Link |If I were going to write about our Eastern Star experience (and I will, one day, when the workload lightens), I think I’d be inclined to point to its practicalness as a selling point (and a differentiator). Everything under discussion that day was about applying Go[o]dliness to your life, about making smart choices and respecting your spouse and what-not. The bible came up, of course, but it wasn’t the focus.
So much more inspiring than sin talk or the heavy bible focus we’ve run into elsewhere.
It’s easier for me to see the benefits from attending a group like that. But I wonder whether other kinds of churchies look down on its light attention to the bible.
Comment by: Helen
11 02/12/08 12:36 PM | Comment Link |Traci wrote: I wonder whether other kinds of churchies look down on its light attention to the bible.
I expect so. I might even have looked down on it for that at one time in my life.
On the other hand if everything said was demonstrably from the Bible - even though the Bible was not explicitly quoted - then maybe it would have passed muster.
Comment by: Laurie
12 02/12/08 7:43 PM | Comment Link |I have read most of what Madeline L’engle wrote in the 70’s and 80’s.
I thinkthe “Wrinkle in Time” is the best of the best. I am fascinated by the challenge at the end with Charles Wallace and It….
I have found myself in situations with people who believe that, because of their past, that hate is much more powerful than love. I realize that Madeline L’engle is not the Cannon… but, the fight between good and evil mirrors what I have experienced.
OK, is there someone out there who has read Pullman’s trilogy? I have searched for someone(s) to talk to about that…
Comment by: Helen
13 02/12/08 8:05 PM | Comment Link |Have you read the trilogy, Laurie?
Comment by: Jody
14 02/13/08 6:39 AM | Comment Link |that was the best entry yet Beth! Makes me want to visit that church.
Comment by: Chris
15 02/15/08 2:25 PM | Comment Link |Beth and Traci,
Thanks so much to both of you for coming to visit, and I truly hope that will not be your last time! (I was the one who came to you with the microphone, and your “seamless” answer was right on point!)
Our church “motto” (for lack of a better word) is “Where Jesus is exalted and the Word is Explained.” The practical application of the Bible is one of the key foundations of how we operate. It’s one thing to say that 2 Corinthians 1:4-7 talks about God comforting us so we can comfort others, but it really hits home when someone in the group is willing to stand (in front of everyone, I might add) and share a very deep and personal testimony that puts that passage into practice.
Again, thank you all SO MUCH for not only attending but participating, and I hope to see you all again.
God Bless All Y’All!!!
Comment by: Helen
16 02/15/08 3:23 PM | Comment Link |Thanks for stopping by, Chris!
Comment by: Laurie
17 02/19/08 8:01 PM | Comment Link |Helen wrote: Have you read the trilogy, Laurie?
OK - will somebody tell me how to get a quote box in my response? I cannot figure it out…. L
Laurie: Yes, I did… probably about five years ago. So, alot of the details are fuzzy. I found Pullman’s worlds and ideas just plain interesting.
Lest you think I am a sci-fi/fantasy afficiando.. I’m not… I just try to read what my kids and their friends are reading.
Comment by: Helen
18 02/20/08 8:27 AM | Comment Link |Laurie, to add a quote box: once the words that go in it are typed,
1) Highlight them with the mouse
2) click the ‘bquote’ button above the comments box.
That should do it!
I found Pullman’s ideas interesting too. Is there something wrong with being a sci-fi/fantasy afficionado, by the way? :)