Question the Second: C has heard us discussing the election a good bit. We have been talking to her about the various candidates, and she knows that Hillary Clinton is running against Barack Obama for the chance to compete against John McCain to be President.

Got me thinking: Do you think it is better (whatever “better” means) to tell a young child about the historic nature of Clinton’s and Obama’s candidacies? Or is it better to treat them as no big deal? On the one hand, it’s important to know where we’ve been and how far we’ve come; on the other hand, there’s something powerful about the idea of women presidential candidates and black presidential candidates just being the normal part of things.

Discuss.

Turns out it was an earthquake, about a 1.5 on the Richter scale.

—-

The other day I was driving home from church with both girls in the backseat. We had the windows open and the girls each had baby dolls they were playing with. Suddenly M said, “My Ellie!”

I turned around and her arms were empty. I said, “Where is Ellie?!”

M cried, “She went up into the sky!”

I made a U-turn and called R, who was a couple of stoplights behind us. I told him to be on the lookout. I drove by as R was leaning out of the car to pick up the doll, who was in the middle of Big County Parkway.

She is fine, but M’s exclamation still cracks me up. Do you suppose Jesus tried to rapture up the doll and then went, “Nah…”

We always try to leave events right when the kids are at the crest of Fun Mountain. It’s silly to leave way too soon just so they won’t melt down, but you can’t stay too long either. Quit while you’re ahead. Leave ‘em wanting more. Etc.

This is much harder with three. And one of them is still a baby!

On the upside, I won the bubble gum blowing contest, and R won the sack race. So I guess we are worthy to be crowned Mr. and Mrs. Company Picnic.

———–

Special Bonus Conversation
in the car yesterday evening, after I took C (and J) to the Cathedral for a festival and a bit of walking around

C: Hey M, I got to see a moon rock today.
M: Oh!*
C: They brought the rock down from the moon, then put it in a stained glass window that they put in the Cathedral.
M: Oh!
C: It was so pretty.
M: Did it have nail polish on?
[pause]
C: I talk a lot when I’m tired.

*There is no way to do this “Oh!” justice with just words. She says it in a way that suggests she’s thoroughly delighted by whatever’s been said. Her voice goes up in the middle: oOOOohhh…

——

This is not the age of information.
This is not the age of information.

Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.

This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.

People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.

–David Whyte

I have had a cold the last couple of days. I seem to be past the worst of it. But I was beat.

SBJ was also sleeping poorly… Again? Still? But last night we pulled out all the stops. Gave him a bath, put a little hydrocortisone on his itchy patches, gave him preemptive Tylenol in case his teeth were bothering him, ran a humidifier in his room, and changed out his blanket. Aside from a brief stirring in the middle of the night, he slept until 6:30.

So you bet your buttons we did *exactly* the same thing as last night. I NEED SLEEP.

Have I mentioned that he’s started solids? He LOVES it. I have never seen a baby take to it so fast.

C is now at the point where she can buckle her own seatbelt. She says, “I’m practicing for when I’m in college.” Mmm-kay.

She has also developed this thing where she goes into the living room if she wants to have a talk with Mommy. It’s very sweet.

Is the e-mail notification working for this blog? I realize that is sort of like saying, “If you’re not present, please raise your hand.” For those of you who are signed up and are seeing this, are you getting messages when this blog is updated? Thanks.

And that’s all!

Option A:
Assess the candidate’s fitness for public service by his record:
- what he’s said
- what he’s done
- how he’s campaigned
- what he plans to do in office.
- whom he’s brought to the table.

But that’s not very much fun, is it? So…

Option B:
1. Get the Hillary/McCain campaign to subpoena the church’s attendance records to determine how often Obama was present in worship.
2. Divide that by the number of the pew he sat in, since the further up front you sit, the more you agree with the pastor.
3. Multiply that by the median number of times Obama yawned during each service.
4. Divide that result by the square root of the number of hours that Obama has spent in the presence of white people, who are, after all, sane.
5. Presto.

We should also perform a similar calculus on Hillary, provided her pastor has said anything remotely controversial, which he probably hasn’t*, since let’s be honest, most of us white Christians like our gospel with the social justice edges sanded down real smooth.

* Oh! with the exception of defending Jeremiah Wright.

SBJ and I had a good week in Midwestern City in Two States. He slept poorly (extremely poorly) at night, but was sunny and easygoing during the day—which is better than the converse, I suppose. He put up with being passed from person to person, sleeping in the carseat under the table while we discussed lectionary texts for hours at a time. And we were in the “carriage house” of the B&B where we all stayed, which means I never had to worry about his late-night caterwauling keeping anyone awake. Except me.

On the home front, R did a great job, as I knew he would, because he always does when I travel… (can you feel the conjunction?) BUT! They did seem to fall apart a bit as the week went on. Poor dears. First the divine miss m got the same pukey stomach bug that little she-who-is had gotten, requiring him to stay home with her for two days. Then he hurt his back, which slowed him down a lot too. And as for little she, well, she had things falling out of her head! Just look!

I was SO sad to miss this Big Event. On the other hand, the Tooth Fairy came through with a Sacagawea dollar. C’s response? “This is a dream come true.”

And BTW, she is already trying to figure out the Tooth Fairy. Gotta love those nascent critical-thinking skills.

So, the clergy group still to be named. I realized how rarely I read the Bible outside of preparing a sermon. So even though at most* 25% of these papers will be useful to me in the coming year (seeing as how I preach monthly) I got a lot out of the group. We ate a lot, laughed a LOT. The morning worship was simple but meaningful. The hospitality of the host church was first-rate. A winner!

*I say “at most” because I actually left this experience questioning the utility of the lectionary even more than I have before. I’m just not sure it serves the people like it once did. But hey, Matthew 21 is Matthew 21 regardless of when it’s preached. Nothing is wasted.

It’s good to be home.