Two quizzes, five kinds of people

I was reading Richard Gibala's article, "Drawing Out, Leading Out" in the April-May 2007 edition of Pastoral Music and ran across two quizzes. It made me think of the people I'm most grateful for in my life. Here's the first.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world 
2. Name the five most recent winners of the Miss America contest  
3. Name the last five winners of the Nobel Peace Prize 
4. Name the last half-dozen winners of the Academy Award for best actor or best actress 
5. Name the past decade's winners of the World Series 

How'd you do (without clicking)? I didn't do well, but I don't mind.

Try this quiz instead.

1. Name the teachers who helped you most on your journey through school
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile
4. Name a few people who have made you feel appreciated or special
5. Name five people you enjoy spending time with

I'm doing better on this one. Getting every question right. And it's taking a long time, not because I have to wrack my brain for names but because each person I think of is taking me down a path worth walking slowly, and others are joining the journey as I think of each.

Thanksgiving is around the corner. There's so much to be grateful for. High on my list: the marvelous people who've challenged, helped, comforted, taught, appreciated, pushed, pulled, and never let go of me. And the ones who still do.

Grateful to God right now, and glad to share it.

Blessings and Peace.

Words of Institutionalism

I've been praying my way into the tension between the radical, real, challenging table "prepared before me in the presence of my enemies" (Psalm 23) and the temptation to force my enemies to the table on my terms. Which prayer do we pray: Words of Institution or Words of Institutionalism?

I don't know when

the non-conformist

Words of Institution—

spoken revolution

of a poet-prophet-

harbinger of God—

became the lockstep 

magic Words of

Institutionalism, 

the cross a tool of schism, 

Caesar's domination:

"Go and buy a sword." 

Coopted now, 

the counterculture

vision cataracted, 

purpose counteracted

flimflam shaman shimming 

up esprit de corps,

the whim of him

or her, but rarely

her, still patriarchal

(ugh), the high ideal 

of "freedom from" becomes

the rule of thumb, of war.

The mystery 

of hoc est corpus 

meum*  loses focus,

decays to hocus pocus,

insubstantial banter

pooling on the floor.

I wonder when

my Corporate Christ

will set the sword aside,

becoming Jesus' body:

extending broken bread 

to share and wine to pour.

*"This is my body," a parody of which some linguists suggest to be origin of the old magical phrase, hocus pocus.

(Photo shamelessly acquired from Lauren Shockey's Fork in the Road blog at The Village Voice, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/08/battle_of_the_baguettes.php)