Aloha Jen

This blogging boondoggle is an odd thing – you sometimes seem to get pulled through your screen, transported through words on a page, connected to what brighter minds than I sometimes call imaginary friends. Thru posts on things mundane, profane and (what is another…dane word ?) – hell, people post the most intimate things about themselves, letting us into their souls and hearts just by hitting post.

Little did I know when I first followed the sunflower icon to Jen’s site that I was stumbling on a prophet. Our history is filled with female prophets – they don't often make the lectionary or even merit a book, but our story is as much her-story as it is his-story. I am relatively certain that if Sarah or Priscilla were around today, they’d likely blog. OK, maybe not blog, but they'd journal. Or maybe just talk with people around the. Unless they were called to hermits. Um... you get the point.

Well is these computer enabled prophets did blog, Jen Lemen would be on their IM buddy list, their blog-roll and in their debt. Jen tells stories – ones that comfort, others that challenge, all that house her very soul. This is a brave thing, in the midst of comformity (aka team playing, aka staying on message aka minding your place). Not only is it brave, but it is costly as hell – prophets have a helluva time getting jobs or references or even insurance. Too much risk, too much honesty, too much much.

Prophets are human like all of us – they sometimes need a break. Jen is about to take a break – for how long, who knows. As she performs her disappearing act, I wish her ALOHA. Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, compassion, mercy, among other sentiments of a similar nature. It is used especially in Hawai'i as a greeting meaning hello and goodbye.

Aloha, fellow traveler, prophet, friend, daughter, wife, mother ! In the wise word of a Fransican travel blessing:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may wish for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.