Advent Fears & Some Firsts

I just got off the phone with someone I'll be co-leading Sunday school with tomorrow morning. B is a chaplain at a psychiatric facility--a sensitive, searching, deep man with a heart for brokenness. The topic for Sunday school is supposed to be "Holiday Blues" intended to address the depression that settles in for so many people at this time of year.

Together B and I have decided to expand the subject a bit, though I believe still addressing it in a very significant way. We are hoping to use the space in the sanctuary to help lead people through their experience of it. We've decided that I will begin the session speaking to the liturgical meanings of Advent as a season that, rooted in the darkening of the days, speaks to our terrors of a world dying. It is a season that invites us into those fears--precisely not a season that asks us to deny them in some manufactured sense of holiday joy.

Then B will lead us through a theory developed by a feminist psychotherapist around honoring our "dark" feelings. The stages as he went through them with me are beautifully intertwined with the movements of the Advent season.

After providing these containers, we will move as a class over to the worship space and allow people to walk through it, come up close to the creche, notice what is there, sit with it. After about ten minutes, we plan to go back to the class and lead folks through a discussion of their experience of it.

I feel positive about the plan. And I am glad to provide a structured way for folks to interact with the creche in an intentional manner.

In other news, I worked on the chair a bit last night. Managed to get the biggest splotches of paint off the seat with the boiled linseed oil. It looked fabulous at first. But now that the oil has dried, I can still see remnants of some of the paint. The site I saw recommends making a paste out of the linseed oil and rottenstone (what a name!) to get out the remnants. So, looks like I need to track down some rottenstone now. :)

I was freaked out last night about all the warnings of rags soaked in linseed oil spontaneously combusting! "No one knows the time or place!" The label warns, in effect. It tells you that even if you plan to set the rag aside for a moment, you need to immerse the rag in water! I have the rags I used (papertowels, really) in a closed container filled with water, as is recommended. But I haven't seen any advice for disposal of this container. Is it considered hazardous waste?

E and D are out playing hockey, E's latest passion. In about an hour we're heading to a local rink to take E ice skating for the first time. Gee, it'll be my first time skating in, hmmm, 16 years? I'm excited!

Oh, and we hung some Christmas lights on the bush outside our front window. Can't wait til nightfall now! It's the first time we've ever hung outside lights.

Guess that's it for me. Happy weekend.