Zooming...

I am zooming in on the ending of my time of rest and renewal.  For almost seven weeks I have been able to focus on myself, my family, my connection to God as I was exposed to various cultures on multiple levels.  As I reflect on my time, I am grateful.  Grateful for the rest, grateful for a church family who has carried on with grace and wisdom in the face of the “Lenten Quarantine”.  I am grateful to God for the unique opportunities I have had to learn about life in the Dominican Republic, Kenya and Ghana.
I am zooming in on the time when I will be back in the midst of my community, ready to re-connect and excited t learn of what my church family has been doing over these seven weeks.  I lok forward to sharing my experiences and to trying out new ways to be more of an intercultural congregation and not simply multicultural.
I am zooming in on the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, which we will all recognize differently this year.  But Easter is not cancelled!  It remains the central gift of hope from God.  No matter where we are n Sunday, we can proclaim, “He is risen!”
I am zooming in on signs of hope all around me:
...Dan is walking cane-free some of the time!

....families in Wuhan, China are able to hug one another and visit their friends again!  After 11 weeks. We too will come out on the other side.
...Spring is still blooming all around us. Since most of us are not enjoying the beautiful cherry trees in the church yard, I wanted to share a photo taken today.  Also note that the young trees planted by the city along the Winan’s Way corner are blooming for the first time!  Who knew they would be like little sisters to  the large cherry trees!

.....contact with friends and family often separated by the pace of our busy lives has been a joy.  

....all kinds of projects on “to do” lists are being tackled.

...a shifting culture of greater concern for the welfare of our closest neighbors

...and the best source of hope.....God is bigger than all of this.  Christ is risen.  Alleluia!

We are connected

Now the protective face mask is a symbol of a united front in the shared human experience, no matter the geographic, economic, or cultural location.  Coronavirus does not discriminate.  We are all in this together!  Our masks are made from old blue jeans!

What message would you like to give to your neighbors?

We watched an inspirational documentary about the life and mission of Emmanuel Ofoso Yeboah, a young man born in Koforidua, Ghana with a deformed leg.  He is determined to change the playing field in Ghana for the ‘disabled’, or better said, ‘differently abled’.  Check it out:  Emmanuel’s Gift, narrated by Oprah Winfrey.  A great option while staying at home!  

As we watched, we ate a Ghanaian light soup made with chicken and spices.  Delicious!  I have not mastered the art of making fufu yet, used as an accompaniment with stews and soups much like the “side of mashed potatoes” I grew up eating. I tried corn fufu with corn meal (tasty but dry) and yam/plantain fufu (tasty, but too moist and lumpy).  The Ghanaian fufu seeems related to the mangu in the Dominican Republic and the mukimo in Kenya.  Different, creative ways to serve starches with vegetables and spices, all bringing nourishment and strength.  

Thanks be to God for chefs around the world!

Living Waters

“Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.
Put on my yoke, and learn from me.
I am gentle and humble.
You will find rest for yourselves.
My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”     —-Jesus.
 (found in Matthew 11:28-30, CEB)

What a gift to spend 24 hours at Living Waters Retreat in Delmar, MD!  The waters of Leonard Pond lap lightly at the edge of the yard, a piece of art looks like the Holy Spirit on the move, and there is a quiet nourishment in the calling of the birds and the sun glinting on the water.  Being gifted a time away during the Lenten Quarantine made us both feel a little guilty, as we know not everyone can have the same respite.  We are grateful for the rest and reprieve, even though our time was cut short by the governor’s new requirement to stay home.

Biked 12 miles through the DE-MD countryside!

  

Leonard Pond

Freedom

Freedom means different things in different settings.  We live in a country where normally we are free to go and come as we desire.  With mandatory “stay at home” orders from our governor, our freedom to move about is limited in order to better care for one another in the face of the current pandemic.  We can get angry about losing our freedom, or we can find that suddenly we have a new-found freedom to do things that we normally don’t make time for.

Araminta Ross chose her free name, Harriet Tubman, separating herself from the time in her life when she was a “Tasked”, as Ta-Nehisi Coates describes enslaved persons in his novel, The Water Dancer.  She was committed to freeing as many of the “Tasked” as she could, stealing them out from under the noses of the “Quality”, those who felt they had the power to “own” another human being.  Harriet risked her life multiple times, returning again and again to Dorchester County, Maryland to collect more and more family members and neighbors, guiding them to freedom in Philadelphia.  They had to pass through fields, forests and marshy areas without being caught by slave catchers.

Blackwater Refuge, Dorchester County, MD

They risked everything to reach a place where they no longer lived as the “Tasked”, but could make their own decisions about where to go and what to do. I am inspired by the courage and commitment exhibited by those who insisted that people do not own people.  Period.  

Jesus talks about freedom too....freedom which comes from the truth.  His listeners didn’t think they needed freeing, but they were mistaken.  (See John 8:31-41).  We all need to be freed from something.  Perhaps it is a negative attitude, or self-importance, or self-deprecation, or fears, or being a slave to our calendars, or ..... We all need to listen for the truth.  

In Awe

I am in awe of the skilled hands of Mojoko W. as she forms perfectly ROUND puff puffs.  I tried my hand at frying the delicious African dough today.  Mine did not come out very round, but have many little side “legs” and “arms”.  Flavor is still good and met with approval here at home!

My other project has been to alter a beautiful Nigerian dress gifted to me by a church member.  I am in awe of the gifted seamstress who originally made this dress.  With long distance help from my mom, I took it in and even learned how to tie a simple head wrap!  Woo 

hoo!

A Lenten Quarantine

As we learned in our family trivia game (thanks to Zoom) last night, the Latin root of the word “quarantine” comes from the idea of being kept isolated from others for 40 days.   Sound familiar?Lent is a 40 day period of preparation for celebrating the resurrection, often marked by fasting (separating yourself from something—food, chocolate, social media, maybe even other people!), prayer and study.

The idea of social distancing was used widely in Europe in the late 1300’s during the bubonic plague.  A 30 day period was practiced, and within about a century the isolation practice became a quarantino (Italian for 40 days).

2020 marks the year of the Lenten quarantine... a time when we all are forced to separate ourselves physically from one another to stop the spread of the coronavirus.  Unlike our ancestors in the 1400’s, we actually have multiple ways to continue to communicate and interact with those we love.  We have chosen to write and call friends and family we have not seen or talked to for awhile.  Some have taken the days to clean, organize or de-clutter (reminds me of our church-wide focus on Lent 2019—maybe we need to make that an annual task!).

In the midst of scary news around the world, a rush on basic necessities like toilet paper, loss of income and livelihoods for many, and interruption of educational and all other “normal” activity, we continue our journey through the Lenten quarantine.  Perhaps God is speaking to us all:  learn to cooperate, pay attention to the most vulnerable, spend your time on people you love, learn to walk without fear, but trust in the Lord for all things.

In these days we are getting a taste of what others in our world experience on a daily basis and we don’t like it!  Perhaps the experience of empty shelves in the grocery stores, the shortages of medical supplies for hospitals, etc. can give us a greater empathy for our brothers and sisters in nations like Cuba, where one never knows when a particular product may be available, where ingenuity and a “make do” attitude is a must due to ongoing scarcity of resources.  Perhaps when we find that “developed” and “less developed” nations alike are being brought to their knees, we see more clearly the commonalities among all of God’s children who share this globe.

The Jollof Debate

Jollof rice is a mainstay food of multiple African cultures, and there is ongoing discussion about where it originated.  Nigerians, Ghanaians and Senegalese all want to claim it!   Perhaps it’s roots are in the Senegambia region of West Africa (you guessed it, the area including Senegal, Gambia and parts of several other nations) with the Wolof people.  There are regional variations in Nigeria, Ghana and even in East Africa, in Kenya.  It is a delightful mix of tomato, onion and pepper with spices, and the grains of rice soak up the flavor as they cook.  It has similar characteristics to Cajun jambalaya.  Jollof rice can be adapted in many ways—keep it vegetarian, add meat or chicken or fish, serve it with plantains or veggies.  I could feel at home in Ghanaian, Kenyan or Cameroonian kitchens with my Jollof rice recipe. Delicious!