Doing Church

 Let me help you with my version of what a church is. Church, in the original language, was ekkelesia, which has the meaning of a group of individuals called out to form a community. Over the years, politics and power made it an entity to control peoples behaviours and to collect money/taxes, as it dominated peoples lives from cradle to grave. Of course, the promise of heaven and the punishment of hell reinforces this idea. Since Enlightenment and eventual evolution of modern science, church felt threatened and laid even stricter rules of conduct and behaviours, particularly inthe area of human reproduction and roles of men and women, Church is shocked by modernity and at this time, reduces to four walls and hiding from the public, My branch of faith, called fundamentalism actively tried to turn back the tide and legislate their own branch of faith into public squares, finding as many political allies and supreme court justices and political action committees, all these efforts cannot hide the fact that it is dying,. and as it dies, more struggle it gives.

Kids raised today are devoid of miraculous and this beauty of faith - how people can do things for others, without asking anythingin return. This was how this country began, a small group of people came here to have their own way of life and conduct without being punished by the state, and locals helped them to get established, and they did so without asking anything , even in the end, this ushered in their own demise, Yes during a struggle to make this a nation, many others died and without asking anything in return. This religion, or church is called America, with her own ways of individualism and enterprises. 

A church is being formed out of the four walls of older church buildings, and I found that at our local farmers market. I find God in growing garlic and lettuce and raise chickens. and in that greeningof out Christianity, I see hope, a greener , gentler and kinder America who is now reduced to hiding behind our homes and being told to shelter in place. I see this as an opportunity to reach out and to help others and to assure them that we are still here, the church is still intact, and that after this covid 19, individuals can come together to bring about a better community, and do things for others that we each would also benefit from. A church, simply put is a community of good people, doing good and bring about goodness into the open and if Jesus helps you to do that, so be it, or for me a beautiful garlic, shining and covers in the glorious morning sun and dew. In that mist of mystery, I see humanity and God and Jesus and that frighten young unwed teenager girl Mary, and all those who preceded me, yes, I should have gone to seminary and become a minister, but here i am a minister on my own and in my garden. Church , ekklesia, is a group of people, called out, for a purpose and that call is still there, urgent as ever.

Make America Great

"Make America Great" and "MAG Again" Reflection

Repost from my other spot

"Sorry about the delays. More glues ordered, clamps ordered, but the need is too great out there for masks. Sewing endlessly these days, and the heroes for the day would be a Pakistani made scissors, an old American made Weiss scissors, old Singer machine and a young Made in China Singer 5542, lots of materials, Fabrics made else where, Made in China, Made in America baby wipes, and an old sewing skill acquired during 1987. 1987 was a bad year for me as an apprentice for sewing. Back then, it was a low paying job, sweat shop condition in Downsview, ONT.

I have been thinking a lot these days as I sew. I saw people with good fancy cars, and they have ordered their masks from China, but they have to wait, and no one seems to know how to sew. Mmmm.... fancy cars, good paying jobs and perhaps the good life, and SARS CoV-2 equalizes all those class differences. The only thing that stood in the way, was a low paying, manufacturing sewing machine operator that is missing. I was briefed by my late father that it was a survival thing for my family, so I learnt to sew. Most of us have better things to do, and this job was for those whom we called "FOB" (fresh off boat), and those who got here first, wanted them out because there are just too many of them, I read it yesterday in my friend's post. Here I thought, FOBs would save the day, make these masks, harvest (no able to now, walls are too high./Mexicans cannot work) produce and clean peoples houses. I have always known that I am a simple, lowly paid sewing machine operator. My skills make America Great and Great again

Indomitable "X"

true, I was raised in a generation of waiting for the end to come, so I learned patience and also played with toys I made. I lived through some real rough time as I moved to Vancouver, BC, and they gave me the "New England welcome" . Solitude was no problem, My imagination ran wild those days as I learned English as a second language. When I was old enough to go to college, being told no was normal because of my race and my grades (I was a mediocre), and so after I got enough rejection letters, I came to the states, in my earliest years here, I was in Lexington, KY. I was regularly stared at on the streets and occasionally got heckled, as they drove by. Some of my professors made up their minds about me, and in the end I reapplied and ended up here in this socialist - feminist-liberal Northeast.

Yes, all my life I have been prepared for extinction level events,. I mean, my religion prepared me (I was a end time fundamentalist - a holy roller), my social background prepared me, and my studies (I was an avid microbiology major - a bacteria - virus -loving folk), yeah, that dose of microbiology prepared me for a day like this. And something unfortunate happened during my junior year, I had to quite college to work for my dad who bought a tailor shop, that was a disaster, and harsh. Yeah, I ended up knowing how to sew. and it was a thankless job, one of the lowest in the pile. And of course, studying at this liberal ridden Harvard, and spent time in the libraries in the treasures of the books about ancient China, Silk Road and Syriac Christianity that thrived in China 1300 years ago, yea, those things prepared me.

X generation does not lack anything. We were made and fashioned for a day such as this. We will now go on making masks, face shields, PPE and sew a lot of them so that our front line soldiers will be protected in this fight. We dont surrender and we will keep going, that is us, the patient and indomitable "X".

Look out, Generation X is invincible, we even make our own coffins and urns to be buried in. Hahhaaa. and I laugh.

https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/generation-x-earns-respect-conronavirus-pandemic-stay-home/?fbclid=IwAR3UsJfkEQXzMMlJVnVraavXkwdJCoyV_eqm4dktUgoK_rrNets-lzk5CVo