TheBanyanTree: Writing

[Monique Colver]

Just keep writing Jana -- I have tried to give it up but not very
successfully. Offensive and/or boring? I think not!




Monique Colver
An Uncommon Friendship: a memoir of love, mental illness, and friendship
Now available at
Amazon<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Monique+Colver>
and
at www.AnUncommonFriendship.com <http://anuncommonfriendship.com/>
www.ColverPress.com
monique.colver at gmail.com
(425) 772-6218



On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 9:05 PM, Indiglow <indiglow at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

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> It's been so long since this mostly lurker wrote a story.  Was beginning
> to wonder if I'm a writer at all (other than poetry - which has been
> missing for a year or so...)  Am so inspired by so many writers here who
> are finally completing/publishing books - a life's dream.  I remember back
> in the late 80s, when I went to work for the University (of La Verne) and
> discovered the internet, and got hooked up with a group called Nerdnosh.
> So many memories, people, places, travels, meetings, couplings,
> re-groupings, changes, and most sadly, deaths of some wonderful people I'm
> blessed to have known/met/broken bread with (I love you, Terry, Youngblood,
> Dee, LD [a long lurker on all permutations of the list, but a dear and
> beloved friend])
>   Still, deep within me, there is a need to write.  Has anyone seen the Ed
> Harris movie, "It's What I Am?".  That's how it feels.  I'm a writer.
> That's who I am.
>   For a couple years, I've felt a calling, a compulsion - "I *should*
> write a..." but the writing hasn't happened.
>   Then things changed.  I found myself involved with an amazing church.  A
> small community here in Oregon - population 20,000.  We (the church) made
> the risky decision to use the entire Easter offering to go toward hunger -
> percentages to a local food bank, and to the Meru/Ruiri well project in
> Kenya - a community where children, instead of going to school, commonly
> spent their days trekking to critter-infested rivers to haul water for
> survival.  Building wells would provide water, allow the children to attend
> schools etc.  One well would serve a community of 10,000 people.
> Detractors said the (elderly, impoverished) church would suffer if they
> sacrificed the Easter offering (one of the biggest of the year) but there
> were those who said, "I believe in a God of abundance."  We tried for a
> media presence - local newspaper articles, radio time (don't believe any
> materialized), web presence, FB site - whatever it took to invite the
> community and the
>  world to join in "taking a bite out of hunger."  We put "decorated"
> coffee cans in local businesses.  Those didn't collect much...  One can
> contained 37c.  Another had a bit more than $15. - but it was amost all in
> nickels and pennies.  How many people were aware of and wanted to make a
> difference about world hunger?  Some who contributed a few pennies at a
> time.  At the end of the day, end of the month, how did it fare?  We raised
> over $20,000.00!  Enough went to Kenya to build 2 wells - sufficient to
> provide water for 20,000 people.  That number 20,000 begins to take on a
> "woo-woo" aspect.  A community of 20,000 raises $20,000.00 which provides
> water for 20,000 in Kenya, Africa, and additionally provides 20,000 meals
> for those who depend on the local food bank.  Serendipity?  Doesn't sound
> possible to me. (BTW, for the curious - the church did not suffer at all -
> the month's offerings withouth the Easter offering were the highest of the
>  year.)
>   So what does this have to do with writing?  Ah, me...  it's a long
> story,  We found the church after "retiring" to Oregon.  It had a senior
> pastor, and an associate pastor.  Senior pastor had led and participated in
> several annual trips to Kenya to work on projects amidst the abject
> poverty, and therefore brought the well projects to the forefront.
> Associate pastor had somehow become a particular friend, with much in
> common, and dearly beloved by me.  It was she (Joyce) who pitched the
> "Hunger Bites" campaign.  When the subject went to church counsel to vote,
> mine was one of two dissenting.  The other felt the church would suffer by
> such generosity.  I voted "nay" (until it was decided where the money would
> go) because it was not giving enough.  Side note - the senior pastor, a few
> years earlier (just when we arrived here) took his retirement, and agreed
> to another appointment at the church sans salary in order to free the
> monies for the
>  missions of the church.  So...  turned out that Senior pastor, Jim, was
> offered a volunteer position at the Methodist hospital in Kenya,
> coordinating volunteers etc., and accepted it...  which meant that we would
> once again need to pay a pastor's salary.  And since way leads on to way,
> that meant probably not being able to afford an associate pastor to focus
> on missional/congregational projects/needs.  So, in June, we said goodbye
> to pastor Jim, and in July, to associate pastor, Joyce.
>   Pastor Joyce was the leader of our adult Sunday School, known as "The
> Forum".  It is a small group - maybe 6 - 12 participants, mostly seniors to
> quite elderly.  (Oh, yes, I am a senior now!)   She was the one who
> generally selected the curriculum, lead the discussions etc.  On rare
> occasions when she would not be there on Sunday, she'd asked me to fill in
> for her.  I was perfectly willing.
>   When we knew she'd be leaving, the question went to the group as to what
> to do about Forum.  The general consensus was "Why doesn't Jana take over -
> she does such a good job!!"  Huh???
>   Then, there was the timing of all that...  My mother had had a stroke.
> Bob and I had spent a month in CA caring for her, helping her in the
> recovery process.  We were exhausted, with most often as little as 3 hours
> sleep on any night, and 24/7 presence.  When we finally left, our urgency
> was returning back to Oregon before pastor Jim's last day.  To accomplish
> this, although Bob had surgery scheduled on Friday, we left late afternoon
> that day to complete the drive.  Wildfires added hours/miles, and after a
> midnight stopover, then a wee-M. continuation, we arrived home darn close
> to midnight in order to be at church in the morning.  Tough stuff.
> And that morning the entire group said I could lead the class until the
> new pastor decided what should be done with it.  Whatever.
>   I had the catalog from the publisher, as we'd near finished the
> curriculum we were working on at the time.  I ordered 3 possibilities for
> the next set of lessons/discussions, and ended up selecting one called
> "Instant Small Group" designed to be week-by week, rather than a book
> participants must keep up with.  Seemed perfect as Summer attendance is
> traditionally spottier due to vacation/travel etc.  52 weeks of lessons.
> Folks love them, and loved the way I put them together!  (One week we baked
> a pie; we've played with play-dough, drawn, colored, done fortunes for
> fortune cookies etc.!)  My theory is get people engaged and talking -
> that's how I can learn.  Somewhere in the process (grandkids birthdays,
> other events, general messiness) the book was lost.  Aiiiiiieeeeeee!  Here
> is was Friday night, and I had no discussion guide for Sunday.  Bob and I
> searched everywhere.  No book.  I ordered a replacement.  It's not to this
> date arrived -
>  some 3 weeks later.  Huh?  So, having given up on the search, I faked
> it.  I wrote my own.
>   Slam dunk!  The discussion was so animated it required we stretch the
> discussion to an extra week.  Folks loved it so much they got excited about
> it - and started spreading the word to others to come.  Pastor had so far
> not had any input at all, other than a "it's going great - carry on."
> Huh?  This was a temporary commitment.
>   Whatever...  seems this is where I am, and that I'm writing again...
> but what I'm writing is study guidelines for small groups for the Christian
> left - groups that are willing to take faith and beliefs to a deeper level
> and question what it really all means.
>   I'd share my writing, but think many would find it offensive, and many
> would find it boring.  I'll leave that up to all of you.  But...  the
> bottom line is, after years of drought, and years of should/could/would, I
> am writing again.
>
> Peace & blessings,
> Jana
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