Posts Tagged ‘Complaint’
Stumbling and Grumbling Towards Love – Br. Jack Crowley
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Br. Jack Crowley
Our readings this morning had a lot of complaining. We heard the saga of the ancient Israelites complaining to Moses and Aaron about their hunger in the wilderness (Exodus 16:2-15). We heard the parable of the workers in the vineyard complaining about their coworkers getting equal pay for less work (Matthew 20:1-16). Food, money, and coworkers – I’m guessing everyone here has complained about these things at some point in their lives, maybe even this morning.
When I was a child, I had a golden retriever named Bailey. We got Bailey the summer I was going into fifth grade, buying her from a firefighter in Keene, New Hampshire. Bailey lived from the time I was in fifth grade all the way through my early twenties.
Now if anyone ever tells you that dogs can’t tell time, that means they’ve never owned a dog before. We fed Bailey her supper promptly at 4:30 p.m. every day. At about 4:15 every day, Bailey would inevitably shuffle into the kitchen and stand there, making eye contact with whoever was in there. By 4:25, Bailey would start exhaling loudly and making little grumbles, barks, and whines. Read More
Road Food – Br. Luke Ditewig
Br. Luke Ditewig
One of my favorite places is a camp on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles.[i] After seminary, I was on staff for over a year. During that time there was a major wildfire on Catalina. We quickly evacuated our guests and ourselves by boat to Catalina’s town. We left the island with the eerie sight of flames in the night near our home.
To our great relief camp was saved, only singed around the edges. We returned to power and telephone down, plastic water lines melted, and ashes everywhere. Portable generators gave limited power for essentials for a few weeks. With no cell reception in camp, leaders occasionally drove a boat out to make calls.
Soon stress rose and tempers quickened. We complained about what we lost. We complained about what we had, especially what we had to eat. Days had passed before we got the generators. Lots of meat from the walk-in freezer was fine to eat if it was cooked soon. So as some staff cleaned off ashes and others laid plastic water pipe over the hill, our cook barbequed. We ate BBQ chicken and more BBQ chicken and yet more BBQ chicken. Most of us got very tired of BBQ chicken, but we kept eating it. Read More