Foxes have nests, and birds have their dens...
Looks like this is turning into a weekly blog; evidently a quiet hotel somewhere along Rte 20 is more conducive to writting than settled life with all its wonderful business. And what great, complicated, things are going on! The housing search, the upcoming get-together of our two families, the realization that this sermon writing is going to be a weekly event for the
So how's the housing search going, you ask? Great -- and difficult. We've found the perfect house and the perfect location. Unfortunately, not in the same place. We've seen a lot of, well, interesting places in our price range. Here is 'za and Kathe, our amazing buyer broker (www.buyerbrokeragerealty.com) inspecting an old telephone wired into the wall in a great basement rec room complete with wood panelling, linoliumm tiles (probalby with asbestos underneath) and...a bar.
.
Kathe has directed us to some beautiful homes, and has helped us to understand the real estate process. The great thing about a buyer broker is that she only represents us -- never the seller. So we can talk honestly with her about what we want, what we can afford, and how we want to negotiate this. Of course, the problem with liking older houses is that some of these places are, well, fixer-uppers. Here's a sample foundation in that category:
It helps that 'za and I are both religious fanatics We hand this over to God, trying not to get attatched to houses too strongly. Insha'allah, we'll live where and how God intends for us. Even when we get rusty in our prayer life, we've been remarkably unstressed about home buying. Or perhaps it just seems small beans in relation to the stress about her family and mine. [Hi Mom, hi family! I know you're reading this... :) ]. 'za is already out West to meet them, and I head out Sunday night. Monday we have our big talk, and hopefully Tuesday head up to see Mom and Gary. Prayers are very very welcome, for everybody, from everybody.
One of the least stressful things has been Messiah. Last Sunday, though without bagpipers, was as wonderful for me as the first Sunday. These folks can really pray! It's incredible to be there as presider -- the quiet strength of prayer at Messiah may lead to my rethinking where I stand when I sing the collect for purity and the collect of the day. An arcane detail, perhaps, but there's a real sense of a community communicating with God; as presider, collecting those prayers at the start of the service and offering them up to God, you feel that energy flowing. The modern stance, facing the congregation, doesn't quite match the intention. But the other option, facing with the congregation, also looks like turning one's back on people... The liturgy is a little like a dance at Messiah (though without any liturgical dance!). Our energy ebbs and flows, moves back and forth between pew and pulpit, font and altar, icon and window, many voices and one voice.
As is relationship. Perhaps negotiation is an image for everything this summer -- negotiating a house, negotiating a new relationship with 'za 's family, negotiating a new relationship with a parish, negotiating new geographic distances from friends and family. Negotiation is a nice rorschach test word, as well. Depending on our experiences as children and as adults, negotiation might mean "giving up something important to me" or "defusing something explosive." Today, what I mean by negotiation might be, in its own sesquipadilian fashion, be "creating right-relationship through intentional communication." And if that phrase doesn't give away the fact that I went to EDS, I don't know what does!
Meanwhile, time to start looking at the readings for the next two Sundays. I have a sermon to give in 5 days, after all, and some hymns to pick out with Bic!
So how's the housing search going, you ask? Great -- and difficult. We've found the perfect house and the perfect location. Unfortunately, not in the same place. We've seen a lot of, well, interesting places in our price range. Here is 'za and Kathe, our amazing buyer broker (www.buyerbrokeragerealty.com) inspecting an old telephone wired into the wall in a great basement rec room complete with wood panelling, linoliumm tiles (probalby with asbestos underneath) and...a bar.
. Kathe has directed us to some beautiful homes, and has helped us to understand the real estate process. The great thing about a buyer broker is that she only represents us -- never the seller. So we can talk honestly with her about what we want, what we can afford, and how we want to negotiate this. Of course, the problem with liking older houses is that some of these places are, well, fixer-uppers. Here's a sample foundation in that category:
It helps that 'za and I are both religious fanatics We hand this over to God, trying not to get attatched to houses too strongly. Insha'allah, we'll live where and how God intends for us. Even when we get rusty in our prayer life, we've been remarkably unstressed about home buying. Or perhaps it just seems small beans in relation to the stress about her family and mine. [Hi Mom, hi family! I know you're reading this... :) ]. 'za is already out West to meet them, and I head out Sunday night. Monday we have our big talk, and hopefully Tuesday head up to see Mom and Gary. Prayers are very very welcome, for everybody, from everybody.
One of the least stressful things has been Messiah. Last Sunday, though without bagpipers, was as wonderful for me as the first Sunday. These folks can really pray! It's incredible to be there as presider -- the quiet strength of prayer at Messiah may lead to my rethinking where I stand when I sing the collect for purity and the collect of the day. An arcane detail, perhaps, but there's a real sense of a community communicating with God; as presider, collecting those prayers at the start of the service and offering them up to God, you feel that energy flowing. The modern stance, facing the congregation, doesn't quite match the intention. But the other option, facing with the congregation, also looks like turning one's back on people... The liturgy is a little like a dance at Messiah (though without any liturgical dance!). Our energy ebbs and flows, moves back and forth between pew and pulpit, font and altar, icon and window, many voices and one voice.
As is relationship. Perhaps negotiation is an image for everything this summer -- negotiating a house, negotiating a new relationship with 'za 's family, negotiating a new relationship with a parish, negotiating new geographic distances from friends and family. Negotiation is a nice rorschach test word, as well. Depending on our experiences as children and as adults, negotiation might mean "giving up something important to me" or "defusing something explosive." Today, what I mean by negotiation might be, in its own sesquipadilian fashion, be "creating right-relationship through intentional communication." And if that phrase doesn't give away the fact that I went to EDS, I don't know what does!
Meanwhile, time to start looking at the readings for the next two Sundays. I have a sermon to give in 5 days, after all, and some hymns to pick out with Bic!
posted by tetracontadigon at 7/19/2005
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