A Meal of Leftovers Today

Last updated on: August 23, 2007 at 8:49 am By Cat Chapin-Bishop

My in-laws are thrifty people, who waste very little. One of the ways this gets reflected is in their careful use of leftovers–the one baked potato that didn’t get eaten gets saved, fried up with onions, and served all around, the quarter cup of pasta and seafood is set out on a plate next to the half a reuben sandwich left from the trip to the diner, and so on. I hate leftovers. With the exception of Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing,... Read more

Cat’s Spiritual Journey, Part VIII: Nora

Last updated on: July 11, 2014 at 12:03 pm By Cat Chapin-Bishop

All posts in this series: Part I: Getting (and Losing) That Old Time Religion Part II: Coming Home Part III: The Fool’s Journey Part IV: The Underworld Part V: Seven of Cups Part VI: A Letter and a Kiss Part VII: Morticia Loves Gomez Part VIII: Nora Part IX: Felicia Hardy and the Tower of Babel Part X: When Babel Fell Part XI: Community 2.0 Part XII: This Forgiveness Stuff Somewhere, buried in a file cabinet in this house, is... Read more

God Stuff and God Talk (Cat)

Last updated on: August 10, 2007 at 12:21 pm By Cat Chapin-Bishop

Not too long ago, I was visiting the home of a close Pagan friend of mine, and I made mention of “God” in a conversation which included Laura’s very bright and inquiring son. Laura stopped me, saying, “In this house, when someone says ‘God’ we always ask, ‘which one?'” And it’s true–adopting monotheistic language can make polytheist, panenthest, animist, and nontheist points of view invisible. Laura, of course, was politely insisting I not marginalize her son’s religion (and hers) in... Read more

Headbutting the Hornets’ Nest (Peter)

Last updated on: July 11, 2014 at 11:43 am By Peter Bishop

Cat and I spent a good chunk of this gathering participating in a three-day workshop on what it means to be a Quaker missionary. The woman running it, Eden Grace, is a field staff worker (a.k.a. “missionary”) in Kenya. She’s an FUM Quaker and an evangelical Christian. We signed up for this workshop specifically because it would be challenging, would push us to deepen our understanding of the current controversy over the FUM personnel policy that has been threatening to... Read more

Coming home to NEYM (Peter)

Last updated on: July 11, 2014 at 11:44 am By Peter Bishop

I arrived at my second New England Yearly Meeting (a Quaker gathering of about 600 people) right on the heels of my first MerryMeet. MerryMeet kind of sucked for me, though not through anyone’s fault. I was exhausted, and low blood sugar left me feeling cranky and cynical about Pagan politics. Very glad we took a day off before hopping in the car and driving down to Rhode Island. Very different Yearly Meeting from last year. Very different experience, at... Read more

Meanwhile, Back at the Quaker Ranch

Last updated on: August 6, 2007 at 12:13 pm By Cat Chapin-Bishop

There’s an immense line for lunch just now, so I’m going to grab a quick blog before trying to get myself fed–again. (Didn’t I just eat? Gotta learn not to take one of each as a strategy for dealing with this much food.) I had been feeling a bit flat, yesterday. Some of that may have been simple fatigue–it turned out that MerryMeet, whatever else it may have been, was ruddy exhausting, at least for me. I can’t even imagine... Read more

MerryMeet

Last updated on: August 4, 2007 at 5:58 pm By Cat Chapin-Bishop

I had actually never attended any part of a MerryMeet before this week. The last time one was held in New England was back around 1989 or 1990, and I didn’t know anyone in The Covenant of the Goddess back then. At this point, though, I know lots of people, though there were many I’d never met in person before. That, of course, added to the fun. Drake Spaeth and I both had the eerie sense that we had, in... Read more

A Little Lammas Message

Last updated on: July 30, 2007 at 9:01 am By Cat Chapin-Bishop

I found yesterday’s meeting for worship really satisfying. I had one message for the meeting that felt just great to deliver, and pretty much from the moment I sat down, I felt really carried along by something very strong and good. Both the message that was for the meeting for worship, and the one that was not (which I’m sharing here)had a theme of trusting in Spirit. The image that Liz Opp wrote about recently, of the difference between entering... Read more

The Maine Woods and Simplicity

Last updated on: July 25, 2007 at 8:54 am By Cat Chapin-Bishop

I’m in Maine for the rest of the week, and though the wonders of technology have made it as far as the beautiful lake where I’m visiting my folks, the only Internet access is dialup. Dialup which is so slow that I literally cannot use my web-based email–with patience, I can open an email and read it, but I believe I could paddle the length of the lake and back before I’d be able to get the “reply to” feature... Read more

Cat’s Spiritual Journey, Part VII: Morticia Loves Gomez

Last updated on: July 17, 2007 at 3:19 pm By Cat Chapin-Bishop

All posts in this series:Part I: Getting (and Losing) That Old Time ReligionPart II: Coming HomePart III: The Fool’s JourneyPart IV: The UnderworldPart V: Seven of CupsPart VI: A Letter and a KissPart VII: Morticia Loves GomezPart VIII: NoraPart IX: Felicia Hardy and the Tower of BabelPart X: When Babel FellPart XI: Community 2.0Part XII: This Forgiveness Stuff Are you married? Are you well married? If you are, perhaps you can understand what I’m not going to be able to... Read more