Progress of All Sorts

Portrait from a life in progress:  bread dough rising in my biggest bowl on the kitchen counter at the condo we're renting, and soon we will head back to the old house to do the last minute spiffing up for the open house that will be later today.  Tomorrow, the house goes on the market, but we hope it won't be for long, because we hope we will get offers today.

Will I be at the open house?  Oh my heavens, no!  We have a realtor, someone who is professionally trained to do these things.  I would say the wrong things if I was one of the hosts.

I do wonder if I should bring some bread dough over to bake as we do the spiffing up this morning.  Or would that smell class with the other smells that we've tried to infuse into the air?  I think that I will not risk it.  I'll bake the bread later today.

We spent much of yesterday at the same task--tidying, straightening, touch up painting, getting the old house ready for market.  It was a strange way to observe the September 11 anniversary, but in a way it felt appropriate.  Let us clean up our messes in the hopes that someone else can come along and appreciate what we've built/created.

In the middle of the day yesterday, I did a bit of driving, taking stuff back to the condo, getting us lunch from Taco Bell.  I listened to a radio special called Blind Spot, about various events that led up to September 11.  It's a condensation of a nine part podcast.  I thought about listening to the whole thing, but that would be quite a time commitment.  Besides, much of the information was not new to me.

Later in the day yesterday, I watched the livestream of the installation of the first transgender bishop, Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA.  Wow.  What a moving service, and the liturgy nerd in me appreciated how the service was constructed and how the elements worked together.

The beautiful thing about a livestream is that we can still access the service, even after it's over.  I may go back to watch parts of it again; if you'd like to do that too, go here and scroll down.

I was so happy to see Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, the bishop of the whole Lutheran church, presiding.  Lutheran church leadership has not always been leading the way when it comes to issues of inclusivity.  I am hopeful that change is on the way.

I am hopeful that this moment of inclusiveness will lead us all to dream bigger than we've been dreaming, that those who have been outcast and marginalized will have a powerful hope for the future, that we can all move forward to that future that will be welcoming, safer, and full of promise of what can be accomplished for us all.

But now, back to more mundane issues.  There is bread dough to be shaped into loaves, and a final straightening to be done.