Sunday, April 29, 2007

What Are They Thinking?!?

St. Anne's annual Youth Sunday was April 29. Youth participation followed a tried and true format. The preschoolers designed the bulletin cover; banners were carried by kindergarten, first and second graders. Second graders helped with the flowers. Third graders had spots on the altar guild and acolyte team. (The young acolytes were trained by our high school acolytes.) Fourth and fifth graders were ushers and lay readers. The confirmation class (sixth graders) wrote and led the Prayers of the People. The Rite 13 kids were chalice bearers. The sermon was delivered by our high school seniors.

Because I am one of the confirmation class teachers, the Prayers of the People are especially meaningful for me. The sixth graders are told to pray for things that are relavent to their lives. Indeed, they are told that it's their job to help the adults understand what kids are concerned about. These annual prayers are snapshots of current events. Below is the confirmation class' contribution for 2007.

Prayers of the People – Youth Sunday 2007

In peace, we pray to you, Lord God.

We pray for the church, here and around the world:
for Katharine, our presiding bishop; for Peter and David, our bishops; for Shannon, our coadjutor elect; for Father Jim during his sabbatical and for Mother Jackie and Rev. Shelby; for the success of all the missions; for help to make people feel important and feel love; and to let the news about God spread.

We pray for our country and all in authority:
for the president, especially for help to make good decisions; the vice president; for the safety of all our armed forces; for each of us and for freedom and justice.

We pray for the welfare of the world:
for places of war; for people who can’t go to school; for peace and prosperity; and we pray to keep the world safe and happy.

We pray for the earth:
for garbage disposal; for understanding global warming and that we will find an alternate fuel to use instead of our valuable fossil fuel and we pray that animals not be forced out of their habitats.

We pray for our community:
for the homeless; that no one gets hurt climbing trees or doing stunts to impress people; that we may live in peace with our fellow inhabitants.

We pray for those who suffer and those in any trouble:
for all the people with type one diabetes; for all the sick to feel better; for those troubled by homework - remove their sickness and guilt; for the blind and deaf; for those who suffer from cancer, M.S. and autism; for those affected by Hurricane Katrina and people who suffer from natural disasters; and we pray for the people hurt by the things that happened at Virginia Tech.

We pray for those who help other people:
for doctors and others who continue to find cures; for those who work to make life easier for the blind and deaf; for rebuilding efforts after hurricanes and earthquakes.

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.
The People may add their own thanksgivings.

We pray for those who have died:
that they may have a place reserved for them in heaven, especially for Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, Buttercup, George the guinea pig, Nonie, Smokie, Bob Demichelis, and Jack Allen; and we thank you for our brave ancestors and the contributions they made, may they always live in our hearts.

Amen and amen!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

The Circle Game is rotating, seasons are going round and round.
  • Hannah will be 3 months old tomorrow!
  • Next week is the final finals week for undergraduates Clare and Erin.
  • This year's crop of confirmands will be confirmed next Saturday.
  • Mother's Day is coming up and Megan will celebrate as a MOM!
  • We watched a neighborhood play today - what fun to see this new generation of neighbor kids.
  • Soon I'll be 52 - wife for 30 yrs, mom for 26 yrs, grandma for a few months, mom of 3 college graduates, beloved child of God for as long as I live.
  • Bleeding hearts, lily of the valley and azaleas are all blooming.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Also...

Here are some images from the past week or so.

April 14 & 15, 2007
St. Anne's Confirmation Class -
Annual Trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg.















Anemones in the garden of the Bruton Parish administrative buildings, Williamsburg.






April 18, 2007
Association of Zoos & Aquariums reception.
Meet Jack Hanna!
Cannon Caucus Room, Cannon House Office Building











April 18, 2007
Sean & Martha
Rotunda, Cannon House Office Building
It was especially fun to walk with Sean through the building. He really knows his way around the Hill!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

One Picture, 1000 Words?

Thanks, Margret, for sending this along!
Pray for those impacted by the tragic events at Virginia Tech
(While the images on this website cannot be reproduced without permission, permission is granted to send the above image for non-profit purposes to anyone that might be comforted by it under the condition that the image is not altered and credit is given to the creator. For other uses including media communications, please contact me at
benjaminlansing@yahoo.com )



Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Let's go, Hokies!

Today there was a "convocation." Cassell Coliseum was filled with dignitaries and students, suits and jeans, ties and Hokie gear. Governor Kaine spoke, President Bush spoke. Toward the end of the program, a small woman dressed in a dark pant suit with a glittering "HOKIES" pin made her way to the podium.

Nikki Giovanni said:
We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.


And then, the people said, "Let's go, HOKIES!" For the full effect of Nikki Giovanni's speech, click and select "We are Virginia Tech." For video of the whole convocation, go here.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Heavy Hearts

How ironic that my previous post was about living.
Today students died at Virginia Tech, victims of a gunman whose motive is not yet clear.

I'm the mom and mom-in-law of Virginia Tech grads and the mom of two more college students. My prayers today are for the families of the dead and for the students and staff of the campus. There are mothers who haven't heard from their children. My heart goes out to them while they wait. The desire to protect our children often conflicts with the desire to help them become independent. A mom worries! Sometimes with good reason.

Virginia Tech is a terrific school. The Blacksburg campus is beautiful and has a great reputation for academics. I'm so sorry that people will now remember the school for this killing spree rather than for the fine education so many have received.

Pray. Pray for the victims, their families, the people who work and live on the campus and the wide-reaching Virginia Tech family. And please, pray for the gunman and his family. Remember the powerful example of the Amish families just a few months ago.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Living

I think it was spring of 1998, or maybe 1997. It's been so long now that I can't remember exactly which year Gena was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Like many cases of ovarian cancer, it had set up housekeeping throughout Gena's abdomen. Her doctors did their best to remove the tumors and started her on an aggressive regimen of chemotherapy. Many of us composed our eulogies.

Now it's spring of 2007. The woman who has taught so many school children through the years (one of them, my own!) has taught a broad circle of us how to carry on, how to persevere, how to live. She just plain never stops!

Here is a photo from September, 2001. I had told Gena I was signing up for a floral design class at the community college. Whether she could actually use those credits toward her teaching recertification or not, I don't know, but she signed up to take the class with me. What a treat! I got to spend one evening a week with Gena, playing with flowers! In what has become an annual event, Gena had surgery in the spring and didn't attend the last classes of the second semester - she sent her daughter!

By the time we took the floral design class together, I'd told Gena all the stuff I would have said in a eulogy back in 1998 or so. Since that course, Gena has gone on to learn SCUBA diving and taken a couple dive trips to Sea Base w/ her sons' Boy Scout troop and a dive trip with her daughters. Last summer, after her spring surgery, Gena went to Space Academy in Huntsville. And all the while, she's taught classes full of sixth graders.

Gena is a woman of faith. She tries to get to mass daily. She feels the power of prayer. I am a liberal Episcopalian who loves to listen to the stories of my Catholic friend's walk with God. We are both certain that God's love surrounds us. Today, God worked through the hands of the medical staff at Walter Reed and once more removed tumors from Gena's abdomen. God cradled Gena while a heated chemotherapy solution steeped in her body. God will both guard and guide Gena's recovery.

There are a lot more Gena stories. I'm going to the kitchen in a minute to raise a glass in the sure knowledge that Gena will add to her stories. Then I'll pick up my Anglican rosary, give thanks for today and ask God for continued healing of the incredible Catholic woman who is my friend. My prayer is that her story, of living a full life with cancer, will inspire many to live full lives - no matter what.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Six Cousins and an Uncle

I'm back from a trip to Houston. Nope, I didn't go to the Johnson Space Center or Ima Hogg's house. Instead, I spent time with these folks! I regularly spend time with my cousin Ginny and I also get to see my Uncle Mel when he comes out from the state of Washington. The four guys across the back are another story, however.

From left to right are my cousins Henry, Mike, David and Steve. David is my age. The last time I had seen him was 27 years ago! It had been even longer since I'd seen the other three guys. Aren't they a handsome bunch? The fellows are the sons of my Aunt Amy and Uncle Gene who live in Houston. Ginny and I flew in from the Washington, DC area, Mel flew in from NW Washington state and we had a wonderful time sharing old family memories. (Aunt Amy and I shared a few beers, too!)