Hope for Overwhelmed Moms

I am excited about the new MOPS group that will provide support and fellowship for mothers of children up through 6th grade. This group is open to the entire community, not only All Saints folks, and the first meeting is featuring a wonderful speaker.

Karen Hossink, an Okemos author, has written a book about her struggles with parenting and her growing awareness that the challenge of child-rearing is making her the woman God believes her to be. The book is called "Confessions of an Irritable Mother: Hope for Overwhelmed Moms."

As one who has walked the long path (and continues to walk it ... they're never really done, are they?) of parenting, I appreciate her honesty about the challenges and her graceful ability to see God's hand in even the more unattractive moments of motherhood.

I hope you will invite your mothering friends and neighbors to join us this Friday evening. Potluck at 6 p.m. and Karen Hossink will speak at 6:30 p.m. Pass the word along!

+ Kit

Pancakes, Paczki and King Cake

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), a day to eat and eat and eat, prior to the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, when, of course, we will all fast all day long ... right?

Many cultures have ways of celebrating this last moment before six weeks of fasting and abstinence. In Brazil and the Caribbean, there is Carnival, with parades and partying in a very serious fashion. Mardi Gras in New Orleans also taps the party spirit with its parades, and multicolored King Cake (with a variety of small charms baked inside to bring the finders an assortment of luck in the years ahead).

But for those of us from Northern European cultures, the key element of Fat Tuesday seems to be fried food ... paczki, a deep-fried jelly donut from Poland ... faschnacht, a deep-fried donut from Germany ... or pancakes.

The tradition was to use up all the fat, butter and sugar in the home prior to the fast of Lent. Apparently, all these cold-weather cultures decided donuts and pancakes was the most efficient way to do that. This has led to strange manifestations in our culture ... National Pancake Day at IHOP tomorrow, and the appearance of paczki in all our local groceries.

But the most important cultural manifestation from our perspective is the annual Church Pancake Supper. We will celebrate our Fat Tuesday tradition at All Saints at 6 p.m. tomorrow in the undercroft with more pancakes than you can cram into your face ... also activities for the children and the burning of last year's palm branches to make this year's ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Come and pig out with us tomorrow. And don't eat too many paczki, or you won't have room for pancakes!

+ Kit

More Reporting on Day of the Dead

The State News, MSU's student paper, is expanding into multimedia reporting. Here is a great video report on last weekend's Day of the Dead celebration, where you can see the dancing, hear the mariachis, and catch Nico Gisholt and Dori Helm talking about our celebration and how awesome the Episcopal Church is!

Collecting Your Clutter

The basement of the church is now receiving your items for our fall rummage sale (this coming Friday evening and Saturday day). This is a good time for you to go through your closets and cull out those things you no longer need or want and bring them by for the sale.

But may I suggest that you make this a spiritual practice? You can do this in several ways.

1) As you clean out the clutter, think about what clutter in your mind or life you need to remove to make more room for God. What's filling up your thoughts and energies that you might lay aside?

2) As you sort, you will invariably come across things that once had meaning for you, that once were fresh and new, that once amused you (or simply that once FIT you!). As these items pass through your hands, say a prayer of thanksgiving for the time they were useful. Or ask for healing for a time that was not pleasant. Or pray for the strength to diet back into that size pants again. But use the objects as a way to open up conversation with God.

3) Pray for the people who will purchase your items. Pray for their health and happiness, their future and their security.

And Rebecca McKee would want me to add -- if your spirituality finds its meaning in action, she could use your help sorting, selling and cleaning up!

+ Kit

Come to the Campfire

This Saturday, it's time for some singin' and some eatin' and some marshmallow toastin' and some hayridin' and some checkin' out of some cool old cars ...

At the second annual Campfire Coffeehouse at the farm of Dan and Gail Shaefer-Crane. We'll have hayrides and a chance to check out their collection of antique cars from 5 to 6 p.m., then dinner at 6 (bring a salad or side dish to share, the hot dogs and drinks are on us), followed by s'mores and singing around the campfire.

It's at 3447 W. Stoll Road in Lansing, out by the airport.
Here's a map, if you need one.

Peace,

+Kit

Neither Rain Nor Heat, Nor ...

Any kind of weather can stop All Saints folks from getting out to have some fun. There was a great turnout yesterday for the annual Lugnuts outing at Oldsmobile Park. Even though the game started an hour and a half late because of a rain delay, we ate hot dogs, drank beer, chatted and laughed and enjoyed the occasional shower.

Tamara Hicks-Syron finally kicked it all off at 3:30 when she stepped out onto the field to sing the National Anthem. It was great to have one of our own start the proceedings.

And the Lugnuts won! So what could be better, really?

Food, Fun and Fellowship -- A Spiritual Practice

The "Three F's" we used to call them, teasing our youth minister, who always promoted Food, Fun and Fellowship as the "bait" for any youth group gatherings. And his youth group meetings were fun, and there was food, and the youth found themselves making friends with other teens from at least six different high schools, because of the fellowship.

He was on to something, and the something he was onto was community. We live in a culture starving for community, where people chat and text and Facebook and email, but rarely sit face to face, even around a family dinner table. Luis Coehlo's piece in today's Episcopal Cafe essay reminded me again of how important community gathered around a common meal -- whether it's the Eucharist, coffee hour, a potluck, or the church picnic -- can be.

Coehlo writes, "In churches, similar events also happened. From “dinners on the grounds” to Shrove Tuesday pancake suppers, food, community and conversations have always been part of our Church life. The rich noise of children running around the parish hall and vivid conversations between parishioners of different sorts still can be heard in many of our Churches across the world. In many places, however, this community life centered around food and conversation is dying, often substituted by an innovative “consumer Gospel”, which produces short term growth, but in the long run has increasingly contributed to empty houses of worship."

All Saints knows the gift of the common meal, the gift of the "Three F's." This is a place where people do gather to eat and chat at leisure, building bonds of community that sustain us in the rest of our lives throughout the week. We'll be eating again tomorrow at Patriarche Park, rain or shine, in the picnic pavilion. Service at 10, food, fun and fellowship directly after.

+ Kit

The Official Church of Major League Baseball

As you break out your gloves and warm up for the softball game that will be part of our parish picnic this Sunday, I thought you might like this April Fool's article from Episcopal Cafe. It purports to name the Episcopal Church as the official denomination of Major League Baseball.

It's a lovely thought, even if it's a joke. Our church and baseball do seem to have an affinity for one another. The made-up quote from Bud Selig puts it well: "Selig said that Episcopalians bring the right mix of arcane tradition, an appreciation of minutiae and a tolerance for long stretches of relative inaction that make them 'a good fit for us. We believe that Episcopalians understand the nuances of the game and won't meddle with our traditions too much.'"

And two opportunities to go to the Lansing Lugnuts are coming up. You can go with the Diocese of Michigan on Sunday, July 6 at 2 p.m. Bishop Gibbs will throw out the first pitch. Cost of $22 per person includes a buffet lunch. Contact Sue McCune in the diocesan office (smccune@edomi.org) for more info. Also, All Saints will make our annual trek to the ball park on Sunday, August 10. Tickets are $8 and you can sign up on the sheet that will be passed around at the picnic this week.

+ Kit

Next Week -- Picnic!

Next Sunday is our annual Parish Picnic, plus the 10 a.m. service will be held in the pavilion at Patriarche Park (Saginaw and Alston in East Lansing).

If you plan to attend church next week, please note that the 8 a.m. service will be held as usual in the lovely, air-conditioned chapel at All Saints.

But the 10 a.m. service will be at Patriarche Park in the picnic pavilion. We'll sing, praise God, share Eucharist, then expand our feast to the business at hand ... the picnic.

The parish will supply drinks and hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. You are asked to bring a dish to share. If your last name begins with A-N, bring a salad/side dish. If your last name begins with M-Z, bring a dessert.

If you want to play softball, bring your glove!