Blessed are those who mourn, and atom bombs

RantWoman, why do you keep mumbling “Jesus Christ on a Pizza Crust with kimchi and Goat Cheese”?

 

It’s the best seasonal exclamation RantWoman can muster right now.

 

Moments from Adult Religious Education, what does Christmas mean to you?

Oh Atom Bomb, composed by Madame Clerk and her brother, sung to Oh Tannenbaum and served with a mushroom cloud cake. 

O Atom Bomb, O Atom Bomb,

We trust in thy blast!

We know you'll blow the world to bits

To keep us safe from Communists!

O Atom Bomb, O Atom Bomb,

We trust in thy blast!

 

O Atom Bomb, O Atom Bomb,

We have no need to fear you!

All of your vengeance we can brave,

We'll just revert to life in caves!

O Atom Bomb, O Atom Bomb,

We have no need to fear you!

 

 

RantWoman was rolling on the floor with laughter, slightly dated lyrics or no.

 

RantWoman thanks Madam Clerk for retyping so RantWoman does not have to pull out her techno-contortions list to OCR the original image.

 

“Colonial Cooptation of pagan…. “ RantWoman is glad there was someone in the room to say this, but does not unite with the point of view.

 

SOMEONE (present in the room) one year took all the packages containing plastic models, opened them all and dumped the contents into one big pile. Guess how the children amused themselves.

 

In a big family, the anticipation game was trying to guess who was assigned to give presents to whom

 

More than one person spoke about a sense of being apart: because of growing up Quaker, because it’s a religious holiday dangit, not a commercial orgy, because pause and celebrate does not mean go to the mall.

 

Moments from Worship.

From Total Energy Vortex Friend, Friend, Friend who, how DOES she do it, ALWAYS manages to be about 12 times sunnier and more cheerful than RantWoman “Friends, I meant to tell you last week that I started chemo for multiple myeloma but…” Look, People, RantWoman is furious. Energy Vortex Friend is one of those behind the scenes total engines of the Meeting. RantWoman is mortified and RantWoman feels NO obligation to apologize on behalf of anyone else. If anything RantWoman feels a fit of further eldering coming on.

 

“RantWoman I am glad you are here today. I was not here last week but I am glad you are here today.”

 

“Blessed are those who mourn.” Okay good. RantWoman is sorry you are suffering. RantWoman does not even mind a sense of spiritual accompaniment about the evolution of the sufferings. Ya’ know, though,  after you spoke, RantWoman no longer needed to do something with meditations about always having communion on Christmas Eve at the Baptist Church. RantDad always found the practice morbid. RantWoman does not disagree, but part of the point of God in human form is all the crap that might befall this person after the birth in a stable thing wears off. Talk about magic challenged?

 

The other part of the “Blessed are those who mourn” message for RantWoman: RantWoman has been fretting about “ruining” others celebrations but RantWoman has decided the things making her head explode have some kind of holiday resonance in her Meeting and therefore RantWoman must continue to muddle forward.

 

By muddle forward, RantWoman this week needed a dose of all life a prayer and “whatever am I to wear?” RantWoman reported in worship: God told her to wear a T-shirt, covered with a jumper. The message on the T-shirt is exactly on point, but it is in language deliciously inappropriate for Meeting for Worship. Lord help us all.

 

If we are lucky, RantWoman will be able to corral her makes head explode twitches and muster words concisely as befits the tastes of people who persist in thinking either that people who have just been through traumatizing circumstances will automatically be able to write carefully sculpted and precisely edited emails or that emails should not arrive at all if one does not like the content.

 

RantWoman is both appreciating and mourning circumstances to do with RantBrother. Piquant details available upon request; RantWoman DOES mean to extract community meaning…

 

Postscript

Actual live in-person conversation with Not an Idiot Friend.

RantWoman APPLAUDS. Okay, after cancellation of a Saturday event RantWoman was aiming for a 20-minute phone call with maybe someone else on the line just to uphold the conversation. Not an Idiot Friend said he would try to set it up but that did not happen. Next Time RantWoman wants that, she will take responsibility for scheduling.

 

RantWoman to Not an Idiot friend, “Look, I did not intend to call you an idiot. I have been on both sides of the Idiot word or some equivalent in the workplace. Granted “idiot” in the workplace is not the best idea either, but really, is that the worst thing you have ever been called?

 

In return, Not an Idiot Friend asked RantWoman, that physical safety issue? Really?

Let’s see which pre-existing threads someone will have to hear AGAIN, on top of new stuff.

 

Questions Not Heard

RantWoman, what does your T-shirt say? The one God told you to wear, the one with a spot-on message in language completely inappropriate for Meeting for Worship.

 

RantWoman, would you care to say more about “Not Physically safe..” Either in this Instance or ups and downs over time?