The Week For Forgetting

In weeklong meditation and in the midst of familiar sights and sounds the conversations reaffirm the past like dreams recalled fondly.

Almost as if commas periods and spaces losetheirsignificance

Refrains.

Chorus.

Codas.

The same points assigned to goals and touchdowns.

As an adult I am left to choose which subcultural myths and legends to pass on magically and mystically.

Which ones to create from a blender of tales swirled together.

Miracles.

Wonders.

Heroes.

After all, what is the truth that makes sense to youth growing up out of pure ignorance?

Must life be bigger than life just because a child wants to know more than we do?

How do we keep traditions and let our children learn the secrets behind myths that contain mistakes that kicked off a subculture's perpetual traditiontelling?

Ask one to be one?

Or be happy in our ignornce (trusting in one's faith)?

I have no children so in my meditation I stay, not required to reveal myths or keep the flame of faith alive.

That is what the holiday meditation has taught me this year: not to interfere with happiness of others, no matter what they believe or talk about, because they have found the thought set based on a unique state of energy mix that works best for their environmental conditions.

May I find the humbleness to keep quiet in 2011 and focus on my lifelong journey toward death in a healthier body, reducing my consumption of food I don't need and goods I don't want.

I have communicated to anonymous readers the filtered thoughts that've found their way onto "paper" like this through the years.

The older I get, the more frequent does life break down into its component parts to me. Let the world have its myths, legends, religions, literary/sports heroes...

In a dream or vision, I saw us as our states of energy landing on an unidentifiable planetoid leaving our legacy in the form of a stowaway bacterial lifeform that survived after we perished, representing us to other lifeforms passing by on the way to what we imagine is another universe [thousands or millions of years later than today?].

Hardly a high-volume, marketable product, is it?

Now you know why I seek to silence my voice in the future.

There is nothing more I can add to our multicultural global socioeconomopolitical entity we call our species in this solar system.

I wanted more knowledge about what will become of us and got what I asked for. Early happy Christmas to me, huh?

In this season when we find our own way to celebrate the renewal of life as seen from the Northern Hemisphere, I bid you good day.

My time with you here has come to a close. The Committee of 7.5 is looking for a new spokesperson, if you're interested in an impossible job to perform (it comes with no description, no pay, no perks/bonuses and very picky bosses to satisfy (as well as seven billion customers with seven billion different needs!) but it's a lot of fun as long as you want to keep the job).

...as waters cover the sea

While I meditate, I enjoy the gift of service that others freely, joyously, unselfishly share with me this time of year:

Patricia Rhoton, Pastor White, Afton Stewart, Rebecca George, Rex Ennis, David White, Andrea White, Madison Price, Bill Phillips, Earline Price, William Phillips, Mary Ellen Elkins, Sarah Klepper LeRoy, Tammy Lyons, Terry George, Chad Hill, Chancel Choir, St. Andrew's Choir, Higher Sounds Handbells, ushers and Sue Livesay.

The Joy Gift Service of Nine Lessons and Carols.

Flutes like angels singing in the balcony. Violin and piano duet like a heavenly stream or waterfall. Rearranged hymns. Solos that go so low and so high, I'm flushed with envy.

Raising money for the Christmas Joy Offering, 50 percent which goes to the Presbyterian Board of Pensions and 50 percent which goes to the Presbyterian racial ethnic schools and colleges (per the General Assembly Mission Council handout).

Teaching traditions.

Christmas versus/and other family-based holidays.

Sometimes, caught up in the noise and haste of modern life, I forget that family and friends are all that matters.

That's why these moments of meditation are important.

Otherwise, I'd get lost in the international games we play, that move millions and billions around like faceless chips on a gambling table.

We can still do that, but let's get to know each other before we take risks with our neighbours' lives.

Let us pray...

Borrowed Words

A couple of stories I've saved until after the elections (maintaining my belief in separation of church and state, so to speak) - used kindly without permission, of course:

1. RABBIT HABIT

My barber, George Houser, was laughing the other day about how a student at Johnson Bible College put a stop to so much rabbit on the dormitory table.

Students had eaten rabbit after rabbit after rabbit most every meal until they were tired of it.  They had fried rabbit, boiled rabbit, baked rabbit.  The boys complained, but it didn't do any good.

Finally, one student said he would stop it.  He said just wait until he was called on to say grace at the table again.  Well, the chance came.  He bowed his head over his plate and began,

"Oh Lord, we've had rabbit hot and rabbit cold;
Rabbit young and rabbit old,
rabbit tender and rabbit tough;
I think, O Lord, we've had rabbit enough.
A-men!"

[from "The Best Stories of Bert Vincent, " (c) 1968]

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2. Subject: an update from Alison

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya! 

This is my first newsletter to write and send from Kenya.  I’ll be returning to Tanzania later this week. 

You might enjoy seeing a few videos from the recent literacy workshops.  I’ve posted four on my Youtube site:

www.youtube.com/joyfulringer

1.        Simbiti praise song.  Even before Wycliffe began translating Scripture, Simbiti Christians began to sing to their Heavenly Father in their own language and style.  This is one such song dating back many years among the Simbiti believers.

2.       Cow song.  This is a traditional Kuria song that young men would sing as they returned to their village after rescuing their cows that had been stolen from them.  As this song was heard from a distance, women and children would run out to receive them and welcome them home.  

3.       Ugali and fish lunch.  Ugali is a staple food of Tanzania; fresh fish is a main source of protein here by Lake Victoria.  Both are eaten by hand.  This is a brief clip of our closing lunch at the first workshop.

4.       Egiruuta.  This is a traditional Kwaya song that was sung when receiving men back from war.  About 30 seconds into it, the group really gets into dancing!

So thankful for you all!

Alison

Alison Compton

Literacy Specialist

October 2010 Update, Text-Only Version

“Now I can understand the New Testament!”

 That one simple testimony alone was my highlight — it made all the recent illness and struggles worth it. I would gladly do it all over again!  The Kuria people number over half a million with a New Testament in their language, but very few know how to read it.  My purpose in this recent workshop was to teach the writing system of the Kuria language so the participants (who are pastors and evangelists) could read the Scriptures. And by the end, they could!  They left with a new understanding of the Scripture in their language and purchased several New Testaments to take back to their village areas.  Please pray for these men and women as they go back with new skills to read Kuria Scripture!

 From East Tennessee to East Africa

 I find that one of the hardest parts about being a missionary is that I don’t have a shared history (or a shared culture or language) with anyone — at least not as close as I did in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee where I lived and worked with people I knew even from childhood.  Yes, I do work with other missionaries who speak English — but as we are an international team, I’ve had to learn that jelly to my New Zealand friends is not what you spread on a sandwich, tea might really indicate a meal if I’m with my British friends, and what relief to realize a torch does not involve fire but just batteries! 

So it is a real treat to be in East Africa with Prince and Chipo Makaya.  They came to study as international students at Johnson Bible College, my alma mater, when I worked in Admissions.  When I see them here on the other side of the world, I find myself relaxing in their presence.  Ahhh, I’m with somebody who knows exactly where Kimberlin Heights actually is, who actually knew me in my “former life” before becoming a missionary.  We’ve walked the same beautiful campus and sat in the same classrooms; we have several friends in common; and there are many of you who give so sacrificially supporting BOTH myself and the Makaya family!

The Makayas live and minister in Nairobi, Kenya.  I’m a 10-hour bus ride away in Musoma, Tanzania.  I come to Nairobi from time to time for business meetings (the head office for Wycliffe in Africa is in Nairobi) or for medical care. 

I’m writing this newsletter from Nairobi just after visiting with the Makayas in their home, at the giraffe park with their kids, and in their places of ministry.  This is the first time I’ve been in Nairobi long enough to personally visit their ministries (Good News Productions where Prince is the Regional Director, and Huruma Library where Chipo ministers to kids in the slums).  Prince showed me around the production studio where I had fun posing behind the camera and on the set.  And Chipo invited me to Huruma Library to teach about the life of Joseph with the kids.  I enjoyed acting out the part where Joseph is put in charge of all of Egypt and is dressed up in a special robe, necklace, and ring.  Everywhere he goes, people bow down to show respect for him.  (If you would like to see photos, email and I’ll happily send them to you!)

So this born-and-raised East Tennessee girl is very thankful for the Kimberlin Heights connection with the Makayas all the way over on this side of the world!

Praise God for:

· Quality medical care in Nairobi. 

· A fun time connecting with the Makayas.

Please pray for:

· Sorting out logistics for shoulder surgery.  Turns out there is a tear in the rotator cuff and a defect in the shoulder joint.  All caused by the force of the ocean when I got caught in a wave in July!

· Bible Sunday, October 24: we will be promoting our work in local churches on this day.  Many people don’t know we’re translating the Bible into their language!

Field Address:

Alison Compton

Box 1235

Musoma

Tanzania

East Africa

www.alisoncompton.com

Wycliffe USA:

Wycliffe Bible Translators

PO Box 628200

Orlando, FL 32862-8200

1-800-WYCLIFFE

www.wycliffe.org

[from: Alison Compton via forwarded email, 20 Oct 2010]

Batteries of the Same Kind

More books:

1. Bulletin Catalog Issue 1980-82 Undergraduate, Tennessee Tech University
2. Memoir for Mrs. Sullivan by Bryna Ivens Untermeyer, Simon and Schuster (c) 1966, "Janeil Berry/ Best wishes to Janeil and Allan Berry - Christmas 1968 - The Beals"
3. Tennessee Genealogical Records & Abstracts, Volume I: 1787-1839 by Sherida K. Eddlemon, Heritage Books, Inc. (c) 1998
4. Counties of Tennessee, A Reference of Historical and Statistical Facts for Each of Tennessee's Counties by Austin P. Foster, A.M., The Overmountain Press (c) 1923
5. Blount County, Tennessee Marriages 1795-1865 by Will E. Parham, Southern Historical Press (c) 1982
6. In The Tennessee Mountains by Charles Egbert Craddock, pseud. [Mary N. Murfree], Thirteenth Edition, Houghton, Mifflin and Company (c) 1886
7. The Ancient World of the Celts by Peter Berresford Ellis, Barnes & Noble Books (c) 1998
8. Executive Orders by Tom Clancy, G. P. Putnam's Sons (c) 1996
9. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times by James Finn Garner, MacMillan Publishing Company (c) 1994
10. The Cat and the Curmudgeon by Cleveland Amory, Little, Brown and Company (c) 1990
11. Simon & Schuster's Guide to Cats (c) 1983
12. Mysterious Cat Stories, edited by John Richard Stephens & Kim Smith, Galahad Books (c) 1993
13. Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee and Fain's Index, The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century comprising its settlement, as The Watauga Association, from 1769 to 1777; A Part of North-Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; The State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788; A Part of North-Carolina, from 1788 to 1790; The Territory of the U. States, South of the Ohio, from 1790 to 1796; The State of Tennessee, from 1796 to 1800. By J.G.M. Ramsey, A.M., M.D., Kingsport Press, reprint 1926
14. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Chicago: M.A. Donohue & Co., " Eliz To William/not taken from Eliz/ William Harmon, Rogersville, Tennessee, Elizabeth Harmon, William Harmon, Rober Smith"
15. 1995 Directory, Covenant Presbyterian Church, 301 Drake Avenue SE, Huntsville, AL 35802
16. An Irish Century, 1845-1945, From the Famine to World War II by Stephen Small, Barnes & Noble Books (c)1998
17. Reader's Digest See the USA the Easy Way: 136 Loop Tours to 1200 Great Places, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (c) 1996
18. The Hymnbook, Rogersville Presbyterian Church, Published by Presbyterian Church in the United States / The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. / Reformed Church in America, (c) MCMLV by John Ribble, Seventh Printing, "This Hymn Book has been placed in the Rogersville Presbyterian Church in Memory of Rev. Robt. Dabney Carson, D.D. and Mrs. Julia Kyle Carson by Mr. and Mrs. R.D. Carson, Jr."
19. Life and Service Hymns, compiled by R. E. Magill, published by Onward Press, Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. (c) 1917
20. The Hymnal, Published in 1895 and Revised in 1911 by Authority of The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Philadelphia, The Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1917, "Property of the Rogersville Presbyterian Church / Do not carry away from the Church"

I'd Rather Be Wrong Than Dead

Watching the Titans win tonight with only a minor slate of injuries reported, basking in Munster's victory this weekend, and wondering about the upsets in top 25 college football, I pause to consider Jupiter and the Moon.

No special reason.  Just 'cause I can.

See what I'm saying?

I don't have to be right.  I only want to learn from you, my fellow members of what we call our species, what we consider worth considering.

If you say you're practicing the commandments and following the tenets of a religion, I'll believe you and will want to read the primary documents that teach you what you're supposed to be doing when you practice and follow.

I can't read your mind.  I'm a behaviourist at heart - I read your intent through your actions, including the emotions you express that you say you feel.

We're one big family so I react according to family-style training - respect the learned opinions of your elders, support the sick, and teach the young.

In the meantime, I'm composing the story that tells the history of this planet, all our civilisations a tiny dot along the timeline, the mere start of the Anthrocene (or Anthropocene) period.

How do you tell an Earth-sized story without using the communication method, the language, of a newcomer species?

How do you explain religion in terms that universally speaks to all living, feeling beings?

It's twisting my poor ol' brain into a pretzel, that's what all this rewriting of the act of communicating is doing to me.

And I'm supposed to compose five of these epic tales?

Glad I have the assistance of all seven billion of us.

Like this opinion about morals without an omniscient head of religion.  Is fairness universal?  Is it coded in our combination of states of energy?  Why do some animals care for their young?  Why do any creatures reproduce?

Je ne sais pas.  Je ne connais pas.

I will complete at least one of my books about this small part of the solar system, even if it depletes my whole thinking/feeling process to do so, knowing that the act of communicating itself is not universal, let alone the style/format.

Look at the known states of what we call the universe and tell me if knowledge is more important than action.  Now tell me how I'm supposed to express your opinion universally.

See what I'm saying?