Beauty Tips for Ministers

WHO Am I Kidding? A PeaceBang Update

Darlingest darlings,

PeaceBang is just plain drowning in writing projects that aren’t getting off the ground AT ALL. The fact is, I’m working on my Doctor of Ministry degree and that has to take priority over all else. The summer is slipping away and is actually quite full of writing and research responsibilities for my D.Min., so the BTFM book proposal that I had thought would just pop into being isn’t going to happen. Nor is any blogging on BTFM for awhile because quite frankly, haven’t I said it all, or most of it?

I love talking with you, presiding over the raucous cacophony of opinion we get going on here, exhorting you to be your most beautiful, vibrant selves, and damning the Crocs on your beloved feet (hey, I’m wearing them around, too, let’s be honest — there’s nothing better for walking the dog and doing quick, anonymous errands in towns far afield of my own). But right now, please understand that while I DO CARE, I cannot advise you individually by e-mail as I have been wont to do for the past two years. Nor am I blogging on ministerial image right now because switching into BTFM gear takes a kind of energy that God isn’t giving me right now. I am, however, blogging as usual at www.peacebang.com and welcome your visits there. I know, it’s just not as much fun, but it’s where I’m at.

Love to you, my pigeons. Now go and by lovely and fierce for the kingdom of God.

How To Dress For Dinner

And Miss Crawford looks elegant as well, doesn’t she?

xoxo PB

PeaceBang on Short Hiatus

Hi loveys,

Too much going on right now to blog about fashion tips. Stay cool until I come back.

Meanwhile, keep in touch at www.peacebang.com.

Kiss of peace, PB

Good Golly, Even My CAR Has To Look Good?

Pastors and pastors-to-be, we’ve never talked about this but it bears saying: you will very likely be driving your own wheels to the cemetery at some point in your ministry. I do like to go in the hearse, as most people think that’s a creepy place to be but I like to chat with the undertaker (our local guy has become a friend and has great stories) and to accompany the deceased to their final resting place. However, sometimes my schedule does not permit the leisurely drive to the cemetery and back to town, so I drive myself. And when I pull my Honda CR-V up behind the town car carrying the family, I’m SO glad it no longer sports a bumper sticker that says, “My Other Car Is A Broom” and that it isn’t splattered with faded peace signs, half-torn off Jerry Garcia stickers and other symbols of groovy liberalism. I do have a few flowers on the side of the car (pretty little magnets given me by a parishioner) and that’s it. I try to keep the car relatively clean, because don’t think that people don’t notice when their minister’s car is filthy inside and out. Likewise, they notice when we use our cars as moving billboards to express hostility toward a particular party/candidate/ideology, so consider what you’re saying with your vehicle, darlings.

Beauty Tips is Two Years Old Today!

My dear powder pigeons!

This blog is two years old today!!

It was born when SisterBang read a post on make-up tips for ministers at my original PeaceBang blog and suggested that I start a blog on that subject. I said, “Heavens, I think I’ve said pretty much all I have to say on the subject” and she said, “You HAVE NOT and you know it!!” She recalled to my mind the many times we had gnashed our teeth over the frumpy, drab or even downright unkempt appearance of otherwise wonderful male and female ministers, and how she herself had decided not to attend a certain church because the clergy photo on the church’s web site showed someone so dowdy and dated in appearance as to persuade my sister that this was a probably a very nice “old hippie” who clearly identified far more with a previous era than with this one.
SisterBang acknowledged that this might be an unfair and unkind judgment, but had visited enough UU churches to know that it might also very well be an accurate one. She said, “Start a blog. Talk about this issue. Make it funny. Someone really needs to say this stuff and it has to be a minister.”

Thus was born Beauty Tips for Ministers.com and the gabby, irreverent and “cheeky” alter ego of Victoria Weinstein when she writes as PeaceBang for it.

I’d like to thank SisterBang for the original inspiration, Scott Wells for being my invaluable and never impatient webmaster, and Suzyn Smith Webb for originally making a Christmas gift of the domain name. I’d like to thank YOU, my reverend punkins, for reading it and for contributing comments that have helped your sisters and brothers of the cloth to shine better as God’s All-Stars.

If you have appreciated this blog (especially if PeaceBang has taken time to advise you personally off-line), and if you would like to show your appreciation for BTFM and its author in a tangible way, please feel free to make a gift by clicking on the “Show PeaceBang Some Love” link above.

Kiss of peace, and go be beautiful,
PeaceBang

Easter You

Hello darlings,
It’s 12:35 and SweetieBang and I are still up — I just put finishing touches on my Easter Order of Service and he’s staring intently at the computer screen reading about dog obedience training. The cat is curled in a cat loaf on the arm of the couch. All is pretty well in our little world and I’m looking forward to attending Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services over the next days.

I said attending, and aren’t I the lucky one? It is not my congregation’s tradition to offer either of these services, so I get to be a worshiper this Holy Week before joining with my own dearly beloveds for Easter morning at my own congregation.

But I am thinking of those of you who will be very much on the run over the next few days and I simply want to say, please take care of your good selves. Please eat well, stay hydrated, wash your hands often, rest as much as you are able between public appearances, keep a fresh hankie on you at all times, be careful shaving (gents) and ladies, bring an extra pair of pantyhose for an emergency and a comfy pair of slippers to church to slip on in the privacy of your study.

Scrub under your nails every night, wash your face well and with care, don’t over-do the caffeine (let the Holy Spirit do more and you won’t need so much java), keep your hair clean and neat, and tuck a lip balm into your pocket. When you get a moment in the sacristy, sit up in a chair and take ten slow, deep breaths. Rub your hands together to warm them and cup them over your eyes. Take your vitamins. Shine your shoes. Check yourself in the mirror before you go out to wash feet tomorrow night. Even servant leaders don’t want to have spinach stuck between their teeth.

Remember that PeaceBang loves you, is praying for your strength and stamina during this very challenging week, and knows that you will bring the beauty and grace of God to all those you encounter.

You are the resurrection and the life! Hallelujah, pigeons!