The Mosher Pit

Someone said to me the other day that I picked a good summer to be pregnant. It’s true. I don’t have air conditioning and to tell the truth I’ve only missed it on a couple of days when it’s gotten really miserable. But for it to be late July in NW Virginia and under 70 degrees at night is kind of amazing! And it’s really been like this all summer long, one of the mildest I can remember, honestly.

I guess sometimes I take for granted how beautiful it is where I live. I don’t always remember to notice it, living right in the middle of town. D’s parents live on several acres about 10 miles south of here, outside of town and right underneath the mountains. We spent the day there, along with my son, and my stepdaughter, who brought a friend along. After a cookout and lots of frisbee time for the guys, D took the kids down to the creek to build a campfire, where they made S’mores.

I mostly sat by and watched, augmenting my recipe collection from various magazines that have been piling up, when suddenly I was ready to keel over and nap. Wasn’t really up for the campfire anyway; the smoke is overwhelming for me even when I’m not pregnant. But it really was campfire weather–as I slept and the sun went down, the air actually took on a chill.

The kids woke me up around 10 pm. You lose track of time out there–I have no idea what time I conked out, but when a passel of tweens and teens come charging through the house demanding ice cream (the S’mores, it turned out, had not gone so well–the chocolate had turned out to be of the unsweetened baker’s variety). After some time relaxing in the living room, with D curled up next to me, murmuring silly things to my thumping belly, Elder Son on and I got ready to go–hubby and his daughter were sleeping over.

As we walked out to the car, an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. I looked up in the sky and thousands of stars… THOUSANDS! were scattered across the sky in patterns that came back to my memory easily. I said something to Elder Son about it, pointing out the Big Dipper, and he said, “Wow, you’re right, I’ve never seen it so clearly.” Coming across the sky, I pointed out Cassiopeia, and Perseus. Elder Son asked about the bright star dead center overhead, and I said, “That’s Vega. It’s a star in the swan.” “Cygnus?” he said. Yep. (except I’m wrong: it’s actually in the lyre, right next to the swan. but not bad for dredging up information I hadn’t looked at since Elder Son was about 9.)

Then I pointed out the swath of mist in the sky behind these summer constellations, explaining that it was the Milky Way, and not a cloud at all. That it’s full of stars, stars so finely grained and clustered that they look like a thin wisp of atmosphere, stretched in a ribbon from one side of the sky to the other.

I’ve long said that one of the joys of parenthood is transmitting a sense of wonder at the world and the universe. We had one of those moments tonight, and it’s so rare with a teenager that I’m pondering on it tonight. We’ll have many of those moments with Bunky, after so many missed with Elder Son and Lil’D, my stepdaughter, because of custody stuff. But each of those moments that we share with our children is a gift, one that will carry them into adulthood, as they get in touch with their own sense of wonder and transmit it to their own children some day.

Posted in Family, Life, Reflections by: Helen
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I hadn’t seen that this had been released, which I find a bit disconcerting because I expected to get an email at least when it was. But since I’ve found it, let me point you to Andrea Useem’s excellent “The Networked Congregation: Embracing the Spirit of Experimentation, “ a guide from CongregationalResources.org on Web 2.0 in the faith world. I was one of her sources, having attended a focus group at the Alban Institute shortly after starting helenmosher.com–and I know it was soon after because the invitation was one of the first emails I ever got at the helenmosher gmail address.

It’s interesting because I’ve been asked to start coordinating the acolyte schedule and training-type things at church, so revisiting some of the comments I made over a year ago when I was much more active in the church-2.0 conversation was kind of funny. One of the things I said (from here):

Mosher pointed out that if a congregation doesn’t set up a Facebook group, someone else will probably do it on his or her own. While someone taking such an initiative is great, it’s a potential negative if the effort is unsupported by the congregational leadership and may duplicate or even muddle other communication efforts.

The positive approach is to actively engage congregational members who are proficient at new technologies. This can be a new form of ministry. “If a college kid in your parish can set up a Facebook group, then that’s their version of hosting coffee hour,” said Mosher. “It’s good for church staff members to engage people like that and recognize their knowledge as a ministry and say, ‘We can collaborate on this.’”

And just as a shout-out to Christ and Grace, the church of my youth, this quote here reminds me that much of church, especially for young people, is community:

Helen Thompson Mosher faced a challenge in her teenage years that involved not time but geographic constraints. “When I was fifteen years old, my parents changed churches, and I lost all my friends,” she recalled. “Shortly thereafter, I stopped going to church—for about fifteen years.” Mosher imagined what could have happened had the online tools that exist today been available to her then. “I might have been able to continue to interact with those friends and stay connected to my church community, and I might not have vanished off on this fifteen-year detour.” Mosher has since reconnected with her childhood church, reading its newsletter online. “I’ve realized this is the church of my heart in many, many ways.”

Wow, I’m so vain, I think this post is about me. Ha! Read the whole thing (this link will take you to a PDF version if you find the navigation confusing), because there are a lot of good quotes from a lot of neat people–including my Episcopal Cafe colleague the Rev. Ann Fontaine and my former RevGalBlogPal colleague the Rev. Jan Edmiston.

Posted in Faith, Networking, New Media, Religion, Social Media by: Helen
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Couple of quick notes that readers who follow me in other social media spaces are probably already aware of:

1. My son turned 16 at the beginning of the month. Here we are celebrating it in Philly the weekend before:

2. I got an A in my organizational theory and behavior class. Can’t say I expected it, because I felt like my final project could have been stronger, but being my first time back in school in several years and in a completely different program than my undergrad prepared me for, I’m pleased. Next semester, I’m vacillating over whether to take nonprofit management or association management, as well as taking my intro to public admin class that I wasn’t able to get into this semester.

3. I’m on hiatus from active duty at the Episcopal Cafe for the foreseeable future. It was getting more and more difficult for me to stay abreast of news in the church what with all the other things on my plate these days, plus I want to become more active in my parish with the intent that I will stop being treated like a new person. I do continue to moderate its facebook and twitter spaces, however.

4. My big christmas project is called “housecleaning.” I know most people do it in the spring but I’m rolling out a new household management system in honor of what you might call a new year’s resolution.

5. Plus I’m down a total of 13 pounds, I’m happy to say, since October.

Posted in Faith, Getting Organized, Life, Weight Loss by: Helen
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Today at church, it actually was someone who goes to the 8 a.m. service that came up to me and introduced herself. She asked if I was single, and I mentioned I was newly married, the second time around, and that we have two kids, mine being 16 and his being 10. She looked aghast. “I thought you were in your 20s.”

The tooth-whitening, weight-loss and new moisturizing regime are doing wonders, methinks.

(For more on the “You Go to the Other Service” phenomenon, click here.)

Posted in Faith, LOLZ!, Life, Wellness by: Helen
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This has happened to me at every church I’ve attended semi-regularly as an adult: When I go to an event, the people at the event, when introduced to me, ask, “Oh, do you go to the 8 o’clock service?” At churches where there are more than two services, I get “So which service do you go to?” There is, I guess, an underlying assumption that in order to be a part of of church community, one must attend ONE of the services a church offers, and since they don’t see me there, I must go to the other one.

It has happened so regularly that I’m beginning to think there’s something to this, in spite of the fact that I have yet to actually meet a new person (i.e. be introduced to a strike up a conversation with someone, not just shake their hand at the Peace) within a church service.

Now, for the baggage part of that: I don’t go to the 8 a.m. service, and I sometimes feel like there’s something judgmental inherent in the assumption that if I don’t go to one, I go to the other. There’s a big part of me that feels like I got so much church service between the ages of roughly 3 and 15 that now, when I go, it’s a recitation. That’s not to say there’s not comfort in it: there is, it’s like meditation, it’s like practice, a regrounding of oneself in the pray, listen, reflect, repent, commune cycle of the Anglican liturgy.

But I really don’t go every week, at least not to one, single church. Sometimes I’m traveling and visit other churches. Sometimes I go to church in Second Life. Sometimes I flip open my prayer book right here in my office and discover something new in it. Sometimes I’m out hiking and it’s just enough to know that presence within the cricket and bird song, the rustling leaves, and the laughter of a partner who loves you pushing you along.

Truth is, I have trouble imposing structure on my life — structure tends to impose itself on me, and the results can be painful. But on the other hand, I find that I’m always in a place of discovery and delight. I think it’s part of my ENFP wiring, that I like the unpredictability of “church where you are,” and thrive on it.

So what service do I attend? The one in my heart. I’m still trying to figure out how that works in community, but I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with why I have so many Episcopal priests among my Facebook friends.

Posted in Episcopal Church, Faith, Reflections by: Helen
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Periodically I run across the most amusing descriptions of Episcopalians while combing the ‘net for links on the Cafe. Today, this gem from horror ‘zine Fangoria. Kevin Sorbo apparently plays an Episcopal priest in a new horror flick called “Something Beneath.” And it’s a good thing the hunky former Hercules star is an Episcopal priest, they write, because… well:

In SOMETHING BENEATH (making its DVDebut September 9 from Genius Products, following airings on the Sci Fi Channel), Sorbo swaps Dylan Hunt’s space outfits for a collar in the role of Father Douglas Middleton, an ecologically aware Episcopalian priest (note to budding screenwriters: Episcopalian priests are handy because they’re allowed to have love interests). Attending an eco conference in a brand new hotel, Father Middleton finds himself caught up in a series of bizarre and horrific deaths. The building, it seems, has disturbed a sentient ooze which creates terrifying, fatal hallucinations in the minds of its staff and guests.

Posted in Episcopal Church, Faith, LOLZ! by: Helen
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(As of yesterday, says Dean, there is one less Helen Thompson in the world.)

The marriage of Miss Helen Heath Thompson, daughter of Wayne C. and Emily Heath Thompson of Colonial Heights, Va., to Dean Alan Mosher, son of Dennis D. and Diane Mosher of Front Royal, Va., took place on Sept. 1, 2008, in a private ceremony at Trinity Episcopal Church in Manassas, Va. The Rev. Vinnie Lainson officiated.

Jennifer Vatza of Philadelphia was the maid of honor, and the bride was also attended by her son, Kieran Shaw of Rockville, Md., and her brother, Richard Chittick Thompson of Richmond, Va. The groom was attended by his daughter, Darcy Park, of Fairfax.

Two receptions for the bride and groom are planned; one will take place in Philadelphia during October and another will take place in Front Royal in the spring.

The bride is a graduate of Colonial Heights High School, Lord Fairfax Community College and Temple University. She is employed by AFCEA International as a social media strategist and online editor and is a graduate student at George Mason University. The groom is a graduate of George Marshall High School and Northern Virginia Community College. He is employed by Capital Hospice as an information specialist in its development office.

The couple will live in Front Royal, Va.

More pictures are available here.

Posted in Faith, Wedding by: Helen
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Today marks my last post for Ask the Matriarch, a column the RevGals started two years ago that made me, as Gallycat, part of a weird A-list of bloggers that cause a room full of women priests to smile knowingly when they hear that name, even though phonetically it’s more commonly associated with a top publishing blog.

In this capacity I’ve been fielding questions from priests and passing them along to a panel of women pastors and priests with a tremendous amount of experience under their belts. And advice, dispensed with love, has flowed from them through me to a point that ever so briefly, I’ve been kind of an advice columnist in my own right.

It’s time for me to turn the reins over, however. I took a brief respite last summer during which time Listing Straight was kind enough to cover for me while I juggled a new house, a job transition, and summer with the kid at home. This year, it’s become harder and harder to keep up with the responsibilities I already had when I bit something else off: I’m starting graduate school in the fall–er, next week.

I’ll be getting my master’s degree in Public Administration, specializing in nonprofit management, and continuing to dedicate myself to helping organizations, including church organizations and faith-oriented progressive causes, understand and leverage web 2.0 technologies like blogging, social networks and new media.

And, in less than three weeks, I’m marrying my darling future husband, Dean, on the occasion of our fourth dating anniversary in a private ceremony in Northern Virginia. (FINALLY.)

Ann Fontaine of What the Tide Brings In and a colleague of mine at the Cafe, and the blogger RevHoney, both themselves matriarchs, are taking over management of the column for the foreseeable future. I will remain available to them as they take it over, and I do hope the column continues to be as much a success and as valuable a resource for you as it has been.

I really want to thank the RevGals for the opportunity, as it lead to other wonderful things for me, including my role at the Episcopal Cafe, my first published spiritual reflection, my present job, and my emergence as a social media strategist who’s “internet-famous” among a really amazing, creative, thoughtful group of people. I’m not as reflective these days, more intent on being a humorist and tapping my DJ roots, but perhaps this will free up just enough time to get back to weekly meditations.

I also want to thank the Matriarchs for their insights. I’ve learned a lot from all of you. And for all the RevGalBlogPals for participating each week, cheering us on, and being an amazing community of diverse viewpoints and experience.

May blessings run over for you all!

Posted in Faith by: Helen
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Pick up a copy of the September issue of Good Housekeeping. Flip to page 128 and see a familiar face.

The whole article is worth a read–it’s how to avoid and handle burning out as a volunteer. That in itself is worth an Ask the Matriarch column!!!

But it also ties back to a column I wrote for the Episcopal Cafe last year–worth revisiting in light of the fact that Good Housekeeping felt my career evolution worth a spotlight. So any of you who google me based on my appearance in the magazine, have a look at it here:

From Transparency to Enlightenment: On taking the step of putting my volunteer “church” work on my resume.

Posted in Career, Faith, Yay! by: Helen
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Ruth Gledhill, reporting on yesterday’s developments at Lambeth, links the Anglican Faith and Order Commission to–well–fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to, um, the Archbishop (at least, I think that’s what she’s saying), and nice purple uniforms.

Bishops are urging the setting up of an Anglican Faith and Order Commission to give “guidance” on controversial issues such as same-sex blessings and gay ordinations.

The commission was put forward as a proposal this week to the 650 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference as a way of preserving the future unity of the Anglican Communion. Insiders compared it with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body formerly headed by the present Pope as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and previously known as the Holy Office or Inquisition.

…

The proposals are a sign of how the Anglican Communion is centralising its authority in an attempt to prevent further schismatic events such as the consecration of a gay bishop.

Although he will resist describing himself as such, the effect of all these measures, if they are successfully implemented, will be to turn the Archbishop of Canterbury into a de facto Anglican Pope.

Seems like the press is all out of whack over this, but as my colleagues at the Episcopal Cafe point out, this is a HUGE leap, so say the least, so, uhhh — really. Don’t expect the English Inquisition.

Less snarky post on the Lead later.

Posted in Anglicanism, Faith by: Helen
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