Fridays at Our House

My first post! Finally...It's Friday. Since Peacemeal was born last fall, Fridays have a rhythm at our house. It's 10 a.m. now and the house is a bit of a wreck, but already our little boys have asked if people are coming over. They love Friday nights. Maybe it's just that they love the sweet snacks, and going up to our room to watch movies during the meeting. But I think it's more than that. They love the Friday night people... Jillian, who always has a hug for our cuddly middle son ... Dan, whose job it seems to be now to help our 6 yr. old honey bear pour out a glass of caffeine free Pepsi... Josh, who patiently pulls the baby off of the stairs when the gate is left off. I have memories of Eric oohing and ahhing over a makeshift birthday card created for him by one of the boys, and of Pat coming early to help when the baby was small, holding him while I bustled around, bustling around for me when I needed to hold him. I've seen Clare cuddled up on the couch singing to our four year old and Christina being goofy with them in response to their corny jokes. Kelli always speaks directly to the baby in big people words, but with a friendly-to-little-people-voice -- she's expanding his vocabulary weekly, I think.

Bit by bit through the day -- or sometimes all at once in the last half hour before people arrive (and then often there is hollering involved) -- the house gets picked up. Some nights it's even clean. Some nights there is time to light candles and put on a CD with interesting music. Once in awhile I wonder where I will get the energy to carry me through until the gathering is over and I can rest. But every night, every single week, when our sisters and brothers walk through the door, the Spirit blows in too. At least once each night - without fail -- I find myself thinking how blessed we are that God has given us Peacemeal, that we are surrounded by such amazing people in a common life of faith.Since our community meal I've noticed a new energy, a new buzz in the midst of the collective "us" on friday nights. This is the joy that comes in looking for and finding Jesus among the poor. I wrote a bit about our first community meal in a sermon I delivered at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a few weeks ago. Here is a link to that sermon: http://nativitycathedral.blogspot.com/2006/04/second-sunday-of-easter-faithful.html

Peace to all from Peacemeal!

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