Cathy Harrington's Musings from People's Church

The Musings of Reverend Catherine Harrington
February 2010

Well, it finally happened. I was forced to admit that I may not be superwoman after all. I made the difficult decision to drop out of the class at Meadville Lombard last month. I was feeling like a failure until a friend of mine reminded me that it isn’t a “failure” to make necessary adjustments in our lives. That was a revelation! And, the decision gave me the time to help with meals for Hospitality INC, a real bonus as it turns out. It was a privilege to have time to meet the folks who found shelter at our church that week. Another lesson for me occurred during the bread class that I taught at Carol Marshall’s house. As usual, I tried to cram too much into one class and the abundant leftover loaves and fishes (smoked salmon to go with the homemade bagels) filled twelve baskets (well, maybe seven). The class voted to make the final dough into individual loaves for each of our homeless guests as a gift for their last night. However, the lesson I learned didn’t have anything to do with bread, it was envy. Yep, one of the deadly sins; ENVY. It was Carol’s kitchen. OMG, what an amazing kitchen! The irony is that Carol doesn’t cook, she reheats. I, on the other hand, cook, bake, and create like a fiend, and I make horrendous messes as I fantasize that I’m Julia Child in my tiny, inadequate, unfortunate kitchen. Envy is ugly. After unloading all of my supplies, I was standing in Carol’s wonder kitchen and worried out loud that I may not have brought enough flour. Being helpful, Carol beamed, “I have flour!” And she reached into her custom-designed, perfectly-organized cupboards and pulled out an old opened bag of bleached all-purpose flour of some obscure origin. The look on my face spoke volumes because she got defensive immediately. “What? It’s flour!” Then she looked at the expiration date. “The date is ...(silence),” as I waited to hear what I already suspected. She started to laugh which made words impossible and soon we were laughing hysterically. “What’s the date?” I cried. “June,” she howled, “June 2005!” We doubled over, wailing, but if that wasn’t enough she reached around and out of that Martha Stewart cabinet that pulled a faded, raggedy old sack of brown sugar which looked more like a pile of dirty rocks than brown sugar and we fell into convulsions again. Carol doesn’t bake. To prove it, she reached behind her and thrust a loaf of (generic) Wonder Bread high above her head as if to wound me and said, “Ha! I like this stuff!” I was rendered speechless. Where’s the justice? Needless to say, I had to do a little work on my “kitchen envy” problem and found myself going back to the wisdom of the Reverend Dr. Forrest Church who learned in his life and in his dying that there are three things that we can do to live a fulfilled life: Want what you have, do what you can, and be who you are. I love Carol for a million reasons, but mostly because she is who she is, Wonder Bread and all. She’s a true Wonder Woman, and so am I. We have different complementary gifts, which is why we make such a great team. And, she lets me play in her kitchen! Envy is no way to live.. I'm going to want what I have, and be who I am, and do what I can in Carol's kitchen every chance I get!

In faith and love, Cathy

P.S. I was greeted with the most wonderful surprise when I arrived at work last week. Carol Marshall and Richard Boulais had been hard at work transforming the old Army metal desk in my office! It seems that NOTHING is impossible when two uniquely talented and determined people join forces. Stop by and have a look, you will be amazed. Oh, but the catch, I'm told, is that the desk cannot return to the usual Cathy chaos. Herein lies the challenge… :)

February Travel:
February 22- March 7 I'm traveling to Geneva for the World Congress Against the Death Penalty and then on to London to participate with Amicus in a mock trial that places the U.S. Death Penalty on trial for fraud. I will be a witness for the prosecution.

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