What do I say?

Grief is such a difficult thing. Not only are we afraid of it in ourselves, but we are afraid, perhaps more so, of others' grief.  We look for something to say that will make things better, when in reality, we cannot make things better.  We CAN make things worse, however.  What do we say to someone who has just experienced a major loss in life?  As an intern pastor in the Lutheran church, I hear the whole range of responses, from the healthy ones to the most destructive comments and "answers". 

Why do we need to have answers for everything?  For some things there just are no answers.  We don't know why bad things happen.  We don't know why a young man walked into a Connecticut school yesterday with guns. 

This morning, I came across an article that I think everyone needs to read, listen to, and remember.

Dealing With Grief: Five Things NOT to Say and Five Things to Say In a Trauma Involving Children

These things apply to any situation of pain, suffering, and loss.  The words apply to situations involving children and adults.

Please read the article.  To these 5 thing NOT to say, I will add, "God has a plan." Sure, God has a plan, but this plan is for all people to love one another and to love God.  God's plan does not include pain and suffering.  New things can come out of loss and suffering, new ways of seeing the world or one's life can come out of pain, but these things are not caused by God to teach us something

May God's peace be with all who suffer, all who comfort, and us who remember the saints, young and old, clinging to God's promise of new life in Christ.

Zoe Dung Oatmeal

Ok, so I can't help but posting this. As I'm procrastinating on sermon writing on Saturday evening, I came across...

Elephant dung coffee.

Yup, that's right.  In the news article, it explains how the coffee cherries are fed to elephants and the process of digestion breaks down the proteins that give coffee a bitter taste.  "Think of the elephant as the animal kingdom's equivalent of a slow cooker. It takes between 15-30 hours to digest the beans, which stew together with bananas, sugar cane and other ingredients in the elephant's vegetarian diet to infuse unique earthy and fruity flavors," the article reads.  It goes on, "That fermentation imparts flavors you wouldn't get from other coffees." 

The elephant rescue organization, "Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, gets a whole 8% of the proceeds, which it puts toward taking care of the elephants.  No elephant harm done.  Would you try it?  I sure would.  That is, if I had the dough to sip a tiny cup of elephant dung coffee at $50 per serving.

Then I had this great idea.  Horses don't always fully chew or digest parts of their feed, especially those that wolf down their grain.  What if I picked out the oats that remain in tact from Zoe's pasture, roll them and sell Zoe Dung Oatmeal?  Shiney Granola?  Of course there would be the flavoring of alfalfa, corn, apples, and carrots from the vegetarian diet of my horses.  Shiney Granola would also have a special, most likely seasonal pear option. If I'm doing the math correctly, I could sell it for about 1/4 of the price of elephant dung coffee.

In case you want to check it out, and the great pictures: Elephant Dung Coffee

Pax.