HT to Brother Maynard … ’twas his post on translations of the Bible which began my convoluted path.

I have to say at the outset I’m not particularly particular about which Bible translation anyone uses. Long ago I came to the conclusion that if indeed I do believe that God is capable of creating the entire universe, then it’s just possible that S/He might not necessarily confine Herself to the pages of any one particular translation of a fifth generation copy of the transcription of the oral traditions of generations of stories written down in the non-native tongue. That God might just be capable of revealing Himself through more than one translation; indeed, She might use other books too. So I follow the suggestion of Thomas aKempis: “In things essential, unity; in doubtful, liberty; in all things, charity.”

I do, however, have a strong suggestion to make to the folks who are participating in the conversation known as the Emerging Church. Please, o please, extend your horizons past Guiness! Guiness is the Budwieser of stouts. It is a crass commercially over-produced beer that out-grew itself in the late ’80s. There are so very many good, fine stouts out there and ales too. If it takes a chick to raise this issue, then raise it I will.

I think my favorite stout is Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, although Young’s Double Chocolate is too close a second to call. I have used Young’s in my venison chili with fine results. They are both deep, rich and absorb light when you slowly pour them into a glass. They are best served luke warm (of course).

I have to say that my favorite beer category is India Pale Ales. I love them … all of them. If you ever get to Vermont, or a gourmet beer establishment be sure to try Magic Hat’s #9. It not only has that great citrus tang, but also has the zing of apricot for a fun surprise. Also from Vermont, Long Trail Brewery’s unfiltered India Pale Ale is fabulous. It fills your mouth and sticks to your ribs. Dominion Brewery here in Virginia has a Pale Ale with a fine grapefruit bite.

Here’s an ale that’s almost a stout and has been a favorite of mine for more than 20 years — Old Peculier. It’s a British beer and wonderful to behold. It’s rich and full and has a lot of texture. I discovered this ale during my misspent youth. A favorite haunt of LightHusband’s and mine was The BrickSkeller off of Dupont Circle in DC. They serve several hundred different kinds of beers. On our first date, LightHusband (in a vain effort to impress me) ordered a bottle of beer from Scotland which had been numbered by hand with a ballpoint pen!

The larger point I’d like to make here is this. From my vantage point, it seems that a strong value being expressed by the emerging conversation goes something along the lines of “think globally, act locally.” That is that while we see the larger issues and problems in the world, we see the solutions beginning with us and with our immediate communities. That we are able to influence and establish change there within our local circles. So, why, I have to wonder, are we not extending this argument to beer? Those engaging in the emerging conversation need to find their local microbrewery or pub and imbibe! Stop feeding the corporate, commercial machine. Raise a glass to your brother, the brewer and support him (or her)! For those of you across “the pond,” find the CAMRA pubs and support them. And, for heaven’s sake, expand your hoppy horizons. There’s a great big beery world out there … explore it!

It’s the last Sunday of the month. Ordinarily we’d be sleeping in and preparing for some sort of community service. My church sets aside the last Sunday of each month to reach out to our neighbors in service. It’s the pouring out of our gifts and talents in acts of service to those with less than we have. We’ve been doing this for about 2 years now. At first we were fairly rigid about doing it on Sunday. Then we eased up on the day. Now we’ve even eased up on the week. So last weekend (while we were still on vacation) the church helped a single mom move. So, today is a true Sabbath for me. There is no worship service to organize or teach in, and no service worship to participate in. I will rest. I will sew. Hooray!

Yesterday I attended the next to last meeting of the quilt guild board. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. It’s not the next last meeting. It is the next to last meeting that I am required to attend. I’ve been on the board for quite a long time now. Since 2000 I think … I can’t honestly remember. I was President of the guild in 2002. Since then I’ve been the editor of the newsletter, webmistress, I’m organizing the Block-of-the-Month activity for the second time now. Now I’m the custodian of the community service stash and my friend, SizzlingEwe, and I put together kits to make quilts for our community service project. LightHusband has been not-so-subtly suggesting that it’s time to let others in the guild step forward and let their talents shine, reluctant tho they may be. So it was a pleasant change of pace yesterday to hear my quilting sisters echo his refrain as they politely and firmly encouraged me to follow my own muse in the coming year. It’s time, they said, to take a rest. To have a Sabbath.

Many of them will be doing the same. We have all served the guild together for quite some time now. We began as quilters sharing tips and techniques. We have become friends sharing our lives together. We have children at different stages in their lives; one is about to become an untimely grandmother, another is coping with guiding her two teens through the morass of an out-of-control youth ministry, a third has one in college and one about to graduate from high school and her in-laws living with her, a fourth has both children gone and is recently retired from her job of 20+ years, and so on. We struggle together, laugh together, grieve together, cry together, and stitch our lives back together when they have become unraveled. We travel to quilt shows, eat meals, fondle fabric and memories, and through it all remember the timely advice of many quilters gone before us, “If it can pass the ‘man on the galloping horse’ test, we don’t need to worry about it.” This means any flaw, blemish or error that cannot be seen by a man on a galloping horse, is too small to worry about. I think I like that standard.