{"id":711,"date":"2020-05-21T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=711"},"modified":"2020-05-27T20:59:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T03:59:51","slug":"freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=711","title":{"rendered":"Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Termite Tenting<br>The church is being fumigated for termites<br>Taking advantage of the church being closed<br>The process takes three days<br>We will have a security guard at the church throughout the process<br>Please stay away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Montesorri School<br>Making Plans to re-open June 1<br>Board authorized CU&amp;A to prepare agreement<br>Based on CDC guidelines for child care centers<br>As always the school is responsible for child safety and must carry liability insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Town Hall Council, May 28<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congregational Meeting, May 31<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Covenant between Rev. Lissa and myself<br>I have asked, and Lissa has agreed<br>That for the rest of this month and through June 30<br>When my interim ministry ends<br>That the primary focus should be on our making a good ending<br>To end the current year<br>To the interim ministry<br>And to make a pause before your attention turns to the new year<br>And the settled minister<br>Once we get to July<br>There will be time to make plans for August<br>And time, in August, once Lissa begins,<br>To make plans for September and the rest of the church year<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to keep the focus in June on making a good ending<br>Lissa and I agreed to follow the principle<br>Informed by not Involved<br>Feel free to share any minutes or documents<br>Add Lissa to your email distribution list<br>But Lissa should not attend meetings<br>And please don\u2019t invite her to join discussions<br>However, if there is some specific issue or question<br>Where you feel it\u2019s important to involve Lissa before June 30<br>Please speak to me and I can either get the answer you need<br>Or guide the interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After June 30, I will no longer be your minister<br>The agreement for that stage is that I will no longer<br>Have contact, or seek contact, with you all<br>For about one year<br>That will give you all time to bond with Lissa<br>And adjust to her leadership<br>After the one year<br>We could be in touch again<br>But I will let Lissa guide that process<br>And let her invite me to participate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The principle here is that churches have one minister at a time<br>So Lissa is giving space to me, from now until the end of June<br>And then I will give space to Lissa after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was thinking about space lately<br>And how our relationship to space has changed<br>Since the pandemic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spaces we can no longer be in<br>Like Wylder Hall<br>Or concert halls<br>Or restaurant dining rooms<br>Spaces we can be in but only with social distancing<br>Like we\u2019re all suddenly very aware of\u00a0<br>How crowded a space is<br>And how close we are to other people<br>So even outside there\u2019s a conscious sense of being enclosed<br>In our private space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of you know that my husband and I share a loft style apartment<br>So we have basically one large room now<br>For our entire lives<br>Our home and my work space and his work space<br>A church and a middle-school classroom<br>And a lot of Zooming<br>All in one shared room<br>And we\u2019re spending a lot more of our time at home now<br>Because we aren\u2019t going out to other spaces<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So there\u2019s a feeling sense of the world diminishing<br>The physical space<br>And the psychic\/spiritual space<br>That I occupy lately<br>Is much smaller than before<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m glad it\u2019s a comfortable space<br>And I continue to be aware that my apartment is much more than many people have<br>And technically I\u2019m free to go outside whenever I like<br>If I wear a mask<br>But I feel constrained<br>And my spirit feels constrained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But then I remind myself that I am still free<br>I am connected outside this room<br>through facebook and Zoom<br>I can watch TV.<br>I can read<br>Which takes me to other worlds<br>I have my memories<br>Concerts I\u2019ve been to<br>Places I\u2019ve visited<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My mind is always contained within my head<br>But my mind is also as free as my thoughts are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which reminds me of a song from our hymnal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">291, \u201cDie Gedanken Sind Frei\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Die Gedanken sind frei, my thoughts freely flower.\u00a0\u00a0<br>Die Gedanken sind frei, my thoughts give me power.\u00a0\u00a0<br>No scholar can map them, no hunter can trap them,\u00a0<br>no one can deny:\u00a0\u00a0Die Gedanken sind frei!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My thoughts are as free as wind o&#8217;er the ocean,\u00a0<br>and no one can see their form or their motion.\u00a0\u00a0<br>No hunter can find them, no trap ever bind them:\u00a0\u00a0<br>my lips may be still, but I think what I will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A glimmering fire the darkness will brighten;\u00a0<br>my soaring desire all troubles can lighten.\u00a0\u00a0<br>Though prison enfold me, its walls cannot hold me:\u00a0\u00a0<br>no captive I&#8217;ll be, for my spirit is free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See you tomorrow at 1pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Termite TentingThe church is being fumigated for termitesTaking advantage of the church being closedThe process takes three daysWe will have&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=711\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Freedom<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dailymessage","category-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}