Time with Aunt Ruth

One of the first weddings I remember attending was in the old church building on Jefferson Street, and wondering how my dorky ol’ Uncle Charlie got such a fine lady to bring into our family.
One of the highlights of my trip back to the old homeplace was spending time with my Aunt Ruth.  She is the relative who lives just up the road from my mom’s house, and they check in on each other, and feed the critters when the other is busy.

Mom and Aunt Ruth and I had quite a day together on Memorial Day.  No major plans for backyard bar-b-Q, other relatives were going to make it quiet and easy.
So the three of us ended up at Wal*Mart, then lunch at Denny*s, then off to the cemetery.

at my Dad’s grave

new flowers for Uncle Charlie’s resting place

Our conversation during lunch was about church events.
I grew up in that congregation, but have never been all that interested in church politics.  For me, church is a social occasion, a place where I catch up with friends.

Aunt Ruth, tho, she likes the background notes.
Being a female in that congregation, she can’t be part of the Board.
The Elders take this Bible verse quite literally:

Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.  I Corinthians 11:3 (New International Version)

She did mention something that seems to me to be a conflict of interests.
Aunt Ruth says that the congregation employs three pastors.  The Lead Pastor is about my age, his wife and I attended church camp at the same time.  The other two, both men, are maybe a decade younger.

For all three men, their spouses have a job outside the home.  Granted, their children are pretty much grown and have activities of their own.
But, the congregation does not provide health insurance for the pastors.  Health Insurance for each of the ministers comes through the job of the wife, and this is what my husband referred to in comments of the previous post.
For a congregation to talk so much about a woman’s place in church, it doesn’t seem to mind that these women provide very important support on the homefront.

This is part of a much bigger problem in the whole USA, the need for basic healthcare which does not depend on age (our youngest son’s last birthday puts him too old to be on his dad’s insurance) or a job (when I worked at the county home kitchen, family health insurance took half of every paycheck).

Aunt Ruth’s concern is that so much money goes to mission work and bus maintenance, but there doesn’t seem to be enough financial resources to provide well for the pastors and their families.

Some more time I had with Aunt Ruth in the evening, I was giving a crochet lesson on how to make the potholders.  She already knows how to crochet, I have a high school graduation gift shawl in my cedar chest.

She thinks that working potholders will be good, it’s a small project done in an afternoon, and anybody with a kitchen would like potholders.  Although I told her that a few I made are hanging on walls as artwork.

Our conversation then was about Barack Obama.  I told her I voted for him to become a senator from Illinois, so I do trust him as a government official, and I think he could adapt enough to become a fine President.

My Aunt Ruth is a wise lady, and now I have her phone number in my cell phone Contacts.
I have a feeling we will be chatting more often.

In the time since Primaries are done, and Hillary stepped back, I remember something my own pastor said during a sermon way back on a really cold Sunday in January.  He said the quote was not original with him, but came from a woman during a meeting.

Let us please remember that we are voting for our country’s president for a 4-year term, not a Saviour for all time.
Jesus already holds that spot.

~~love and Huggs, Diane