Sermon Number One For the Day

Worship at Un-named Children’s Hospital (Like you all don’t know where I am…)

Greeting

Lighting of the Candles by the children (all of them, blow a couple of them out if there isn’t enough -- We circulate with the candles and the candlelighter so that the kids in wheelchairs can participate) and sing “This Little Light of Mine”

Worship Sequence number 61 in the Celebration Hymnal, litany based on Nehemiah 9:5-6, “Blessed be the Lord God Almighty” then “All Creatures of Our God and King”

Sermon -- Ask, Search, Knock – Matthew 7:7-11

Introduce the Decision bag: Green velvet bag that has stuff inside. How do you make decisions? One of my friends lent me her decision bag – Let’s see what’s inside.

Piece of paper labeled with a big One. So first, it says “make no decision at all.” Illustration: Paper or Plastic – Making no decision is really making a decision or sometime the decision is obvious – should I get gas? Let’s eat at Chick-Fil-A on Sunday….

Piece of paper labeled with a big Two: Look! A Quarter – flip a coin. Illustration: where are we going to lunch today? Heads for Mexican, tails for Italian – ah, heads! How about best two out of three. Some times we have the decision already made.

Piece of paper Labeled with a big Three taped to a Magic 8 Ball. Hey, look a Magic 8 ball! Let’s ask some questions. Should we go to lunch right now or wait until after worship? Should I hug Kelly? Sorta like the coin, huh?

Piece of paper labeled with a big four taped on my cell phone: Call a friend. Huh, she’s not at home. Oh yeah, she's at church. Well, I can call my interior decorator to see where we need to go to lunch. Wait – she can tell me what color to paint my walls, but she doesn’t know what I need for lunch. Maybe not a good idea.

Piece of paper with number five: taped to a key chain that says “Ask, Seek, Knock” Matthew 7:7-11

7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Hmmm… I think she told me once that for the big decisions, I should pray to God.

(OK, at this point I’ll either a) wrap it up or b) talk about how asking is first, seeking is getting active about it and knocking is persistence. Ask – if you can’t get your answer, seek the answers in the scriptures, in others around you, in their prayer life and faith and knock on God’s door until you get an answer. It may not be the answer we want – But God gives good things to those who are faithful.)

Hymn of Response – Seek Ye First – Celebration Hymnal #713

Prayers of the People

Closing Sequence – Celebration Hymnal #703 – 705 – Litany based on Psalm 34:408, “God will Make a Way”, “It is Well with My Soul”

Benediction

RevGal Friday Five -- Hot

OK, I'm not the best at doing the question thing.

So here's a picture with a thermal camera. I've discovered that I'm pretty cool.....



and a self portrait



I'm having fun with the little isight camera on the MacBook.

Jimmy C who I met in RLP's chatroom last night has an interesting posting pointing to this article.

Now, about 3 months ago, I would have been just as outraged as Jimmy. However, I have a new perspective.

We all assume that people are just like us. That OF COURSE that this person is going to think XYZ just like us. But it's not exactly true. Some people get so tied into grief that they can't think. Some people really don't have the best interest of the child at heart. Some people let their own psycological garbage take over. *

This article doesn't give enough information to really understand all the dynamics in the story. WHY did the kid and the parents choose alternative medicine? Are there other adults involved in the medical decision making like biological parents or grandparents? Was the alternative medicine being effective? What did the kid really want -- did he make this decision truly informed?

So, I would say that I just don't have enough information to judge what these parents are doing and this judge is doing. I'd like to hear more of the story.

*OK, now in a not so diplomatic ways -- some people are greedy/stupid/self centered/hopped up on drug themselves/limited in understanding or education/tied up in divorce and trying to hurt the other party -- who knows what's going on? I trust the Judge on this one. Also, who knows if these parents haven't been investigated by DFACS for a long time?

And I will conceed that it could be a violation of privacy. But I'm not going to assume it on the basis of this article.

An Argument for Chocolate

Chocolate is good for you. Yes, health food, even.

1)Chocolate helps your memory. At Wheeling Jesuit University Professor Bryan Raudenbush led a study "Effects of Chocolate Consumption Finds That Chocolate Consumption Enhances Cognitive Performance on Enhancing Cognative Performance" and determined that chocolate can improve your brain activity. I have not read the study, but I find it facinating.

2)Chocolate makes you feel good. Other research shows that some of the ingredients seem to affect the brain's neurotrasmitters. One is Tryptophan (which can also make you sleepy) but is utilized by the body to make seratonin, which is a neurotransmitter that releaves some of the symptoms of depression. Another is phenylethylamine which works by stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain.
A third is anandamide, which is a neurotransmitter that acts like THC, the active ingredient in cannabis (pot, mary jane).

3)Chocolate may prevent tooth decay, or at least according to scientists at Japan's Osaka University. The cocoa beans which are the raw chocolate product contain an antibacterial agent that fights plaque.

4)Chocolate contains called flavinoids, which thin the blood, helping to prevent clotting. Flavinoids are also anti-oxidents. They help prevent heart disease.


5) Chocolate helps you live longer. At Harvard, research shows that people who eat chocolate as rarely as three times a month live approximately a year longer than those who do not eat chocolate at all. However, only for very dark chocolate, as the fat and sugar in milk chocolate will counteract the benefit.

6) Chocolate is being researched to see if it can help the immune system. The chemical polyphenol CMP, which is contained by chocolate, may inhibit the rheumatic response (arthritis) and inhibits IgE which worsens atopic dematitis and asthma.

Thus, I argue that one MUST eat at least one square of dark Lindt Chocolate or it's chocolatey equivalent at least once a day.

Submitted, July 25, 2006 to those who would prevent Chocolate purchases at my house by the Reverend Mommy.

And now for something completely different

That turned out surprisingly good.

Do you know this scene? I haven't been to the store in a while. Family is hungry. Time to "invent." This invention was actually pretty good.

1 package of frozen ravioli (cheese)
1 stick butter
1/2 a head of broccoli
1/4 of an onion
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup marble cheddar
can of broth
4 oz of sour cream

That's what was on hand. My mission? To combine the ingredients into something passable.

So...
I started by melting the butter and making a white sauce. OK, no milk, so I used flour (about 1/4 cup) and broth. Then I put in some cheese and sour cream, salt and pepper. I cut up all the vegetables, dumped the ravioli into a baking dish with the veggies, poured the sauce on top, topped with cheese and baked for 1/2 hour on 350.

It was very nice with a salad and a glass of wine.

Now for tomorrow’s dinner – what can I do with a can of pumpkin pie filler, a can of stewed tomatoes and a can of tuna?

Answer? Go to the store.

An Afternoon at the Koi Pond

Actually, it was just lunch.

RevGal Friday 5

Edited because I have mush for brains right now. I left people out of my "Want to meet list."

1) What is your first memory of the RevGalBlogPals? Hmmm.... I remember more than a year ago feeling isolated. I had blogged a couple of years before that and dropped the blog. I restarted my blog in November of 2004 (?). I blogged for a while, coasting around looking for like-minded people. I found St. Casserole. I started commenting. I found Reverend Mother, Songbird, Emily and Jane Ellen. I commented more. I discovered a Polar Bear. I kept a blogroll and started sorting it according to "nice people" and "fellow clergypeople." When Reverend Mother started the Cafe-Press store, I started a webpage and a webring. Songbird and I managed it for a long time -- I'm now in CPE, so Songbird is doing it more or less by herself. I promise I will pick it up again in the Fall.

2) Have you met any of the other ring members in real life? Yep. You wanna list? First, Cheesehead. Then Lydia, Stacey, Songbird, Reverend Mother, Not-Shy, The Casserole, Rev Abi, Gavin (who has great hair) and someone else, but I can't remember b/c my brains are oatmeal.
I'm meeting Teri (Clever Title Here) on Monday....

3) Of those you haven't met, name a few you would love to know in person. PPB, for sure. Cathy Knits, Lorna, Bad Alice, Church Lady (she's going to be my sec. one day....), Wills Mama, Helen, Pink Shoes, QG, Mibi, Jane Ellen, Emily, Mary Beth, Mindy and Rach (like, who WOULDN'T like to me that pair!), PureChristianIThink, Caroline of the Alabaster Jar, SingingOwl, the LutheranChik, James, Jeff, Church Nerd (aka Mark), Susan, Inner Dorothy, Haevy Revvies, Juniper68 and how could I not meet Gord and Tripp and OF COURSE Kathryn, whose Parts are Very Very Good and Sally and do I have to do this? Repeat Oatmeal comment.
I actually would like to meet you all... After all, I'm a smidge extroverted.

4) What has Ring Membership added to your life? Wow. Lots. A sense of "I'm not alone in all this." A touchstone for my day. Wonderful friendships, real and virtual.

5) Describe a hope for the future of the WebRing. I'm listening. I want a conference and more F2F meet up IRL. I would LOVE to do more books.

Duty calls... later.

Hard Week

It's been a hard week for the chaplaincy office. Two deaths in the NICU and perhaps as many as three more last night. Everyone looks tired.

The heat is also exhausting. When RM teased about 100 degree, uphill walks -- it really wasn't much of a tease. I'm drinking lots of water.

I have maybe 20 days left? I'm losing count. School starts for the girls on the 14th, and I'm not finished until the next week. I'll take a break at that point and determine what's next. At this point, I'm still trying to discern my path.

Ah, Discerment. Nice word, eh? Easy to say/plan, hard to actually do.

Donne for the Day

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
That this is my south-west discovery,
Per fretum febris, by these straits to die ;

I joy, that in these straits I see my west ;
For, though those currents yield return to none,
What shall my west hurt me ? As west and east
In all flat maps—and I am one—are one,
So death doth touch the resurrection.

John Donne, "Hymne to God my God in my sicknesse"

Random

1) I want those little Segway things the security people ride around this hospital. I'd be a Chaplain on wheels.
2) I want to thank the six to ten of you who are still reading.
3) I've been a victim of identity theft via ebay. Someone hijacked my account and put some unauthorized listings on. It's been a real pain to deal with. Moral of the story -- Always Change Your Passwords. Every two weeks -- every month -- whatever. I hadn't done it in a while. Who knows how the slimebag got my password. Just Change it.

1 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
Let Israel now say
2 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
5 Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.

6 Blessed be the LORD,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
--Psalm 124

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm on call at the hospital. I have many things floating around in my head. First and foremost, I wonder about the theology of being overwhelmed. This experience has been about being overwhelmed. There is just too much. Too much driving, too much laundry, too much hospital food, too much suffering and pain. I am overcome with it all -- it is overpowering. I know that this is just a sign of the tiredness-- the exhaustion that come from long hours, little rest, the long drive and so very much to do at home. But.

I wonder if being overwhelmed by all this prepares me in a very concrete way for an overwhelming by God, We depend so much on our own understanding -- we depend on our intellect and science, but what has intellect and science to do with coping with pain and suffering? The Psalmist here is overwhelmed by the wild and raging waters -- and swollen waters threatened to swallow him whole -- and yet God gave escape. His soul flew as a bird.

This morning I was overwhelmed by the welcome I was given by the children and families in this hospital. They were open and gracious to me -- and I was blessed by them. I was overwhelmed by their generous and loving spirits. It was a beautiful thing to see.

Peace, y'all.

More pictures of Great Egret and Snowy Egret
Click on the picture for more detail.

Oxford College

or rather, Emory at Oxford
Seney Hall


The Chapel


Seney Hall

More Photos

Why we don't skinny dip behind the beach house


Great Egret


Snowy Egret


Young Snowy


Tri-Color Heron


Seashell

One of my favorite things

to do is to take pictures. So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures.

First, Old Church in Oxford, Georgia.

From Harbor Island, SC some seashells:

Great Egret

Tri-color Heron, Breeding Plumage


Beaufort National Cemetery

pet peeves

OK, the RevGal Friday Five is about pet peeves. I have a couple.
First, snakes are VENOMOUS not poisonous. Only things YOU eat can be poisonous.
The thing in your car that makes it go is an engine, not a motor. Engines run off chemical energy, motors off electrical energy. Or at least they do in my universe.

I could post about liturgical boo-boos, but really, they don't bother me THAT much.

Heh.

An Afternoon Prayer

O Light of the world,
You are the pure brightness of the ever-living God,
You are our God, holy and blest!
We come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes fall upon the dwindling light,
We see your Glory and beauty and
We are moved to sing your praises.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O God, O Giver of life,
Praised by happy voices and glorified throughout the world.

Lord God, Maker and King of the universe,
We give to you all honor, glory, praise, and worship;
We praise you in all things, in all places and in all circumstances because we know that you love us. We know that you are in control over all things, including the things we cannot understand and those things that cause us pain and suffering.

God, we try to give thanks for trials and hardships but at times it is so very hard. We understand that life is a test, that you only give a hard test to a good student, that you never trip up a slow student with an impossibly difficult test, but God it is difficult.

Grant us wisdom and insight to find the little bright moments in these hardships. Help us find meaning in our suffering.

Lord, when you hung upon the cross, you experienced the most piercing form of loneliness and abandonment ever experienced by any human being. Have mercy on us, remember us in our loneliness. Lord, our hearts aches for fellowship. We grow discouraged, because there are few to share with. Grant us others to stand with us. Help us to take that help, even though it can hurt our pride.

Send your Spirit to fill us, to guide and strengthen us, to protect us from our own weaknesses; send your holy angels to counsel and defend us. Send us into the world to do your will.

Lord, we do not understand the things that trouble us now. Therefore we thank you for this adversity, because it has brought things into sharp focus, it has to power to bring us closer to each other and closer to you. We ask for your grace to persevere in faith as long as this trial shall last.

duh

I was on call last night, after a full day and then worked a full day today. A Day filled with CPE fun. My brain cells are gone. I don't know where they are, but someone has replaced them with chewed bubble gum. I feel numb/dumb. That's a 32 hour shift. And now I can't sleep. What's up with that?

Morning Prayer

At your feet, O Christ, we lay
your own gift of this new day;
Doubt of what it holds in store
Makes us crave your aid the more;
Even in a time of loss,
Mark, it Savior, with your Cross.

--Words: William Bright (19thC) adapted

I love you, O LORD my strength,
O LORD my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.
My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, *
my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge;
you are worthy of praise.
I will call upon the LORD, *
and so shall I be saved from my enemies.

-- Psalm 18:1-3


Good and Gracious God,
from you comes every good and perfect gift:
Send down your Spirit down upon our people, our ministers, our clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their care
Send your healthful Spirit of grace upon them
and pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing.
Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator.

Good and Gracious God,
You are the Good Shepherd of your sheep
you gather the lambs in your arms and carry them in your bosom
I commend to your loving care all the children under this roof.
Relieve their pain, guard them from all danger, restore to them your gifts of gladness and strength,
and raise them up to a life full of your grace and glory.
for your dear Name's sake. Amen.

A Wesleyan Take on Visiting the Sick

I believe that there is a "a marrow of truth" that stretches across humankind that can be expressed in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.

• Truth is grounded in Scripture
• Truth is illumined by tradition and history
• Truth is colored by experience (or made vivid)
• Truth is confirmed by reason

My understanding of truth is grounded in these things – starting with the Bible. I take the Bible very seriously, not just literally and believe that the wisdom of these writings should always be considered but I also believe that each and every person maintains the right to rethink and rework their own personal theology throughout their lifetime. I believe in pure and true worship even though that may take on many forms and believe that the highest purpose of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy God’s presence forever. This is the reason we are created.

I am very sacramental and believe that the sacraments are not merely symbolic, but that something real and substanative occurs in the life of the partaker. I am involved in and impassioned by true social justice -- that which is grounded in the righteousness of God; in particular I feel that there is special concern for the poor and the oppressed expressed by all the prophet, by Jesus and by God. I believe that in each and every human interaction there is room for the Grace of God – prevenient, justifying and sanctifying and that as an expression of the Grace that we have received, we become the hands and feet of that Grace for others. This demands personal and corporate acts of mercy and acts of piety.

Acts of Piety can be both corporate and individual, in fact they have to be both. Balance is essential. They include: Prayer, Study of the Scripture, Holy Communion, Fasting, Fellowship in Christian Community and Healthy Living. Acts of Mercy also are corporate and individual, always considering what is right, correct and moral: Visiting the Sick and Visiting those Imprisoned, Feeding and Clothing those without, Earning, Saving and Giving all that one can, Opposition to Oppression in all the forms that it takes, being a Good Steward of all that God has made.

Therefore, as I act as a minister, I am God’s hands and feet. I act, not out of obligation or duty, but from an outpouring of the bounty that I am given and my grateful attitude. I can be a Grace-bearer for God and a conduit of God’s undeserved and unconditional love. By visiting the sick, Grace is given to both the patient and also to me in a real and concrete way. How does this work? It’s a mystery because it is essential and foremost God's inital action -- mine are just an outpouring of what God has already done. As with my beliefs about Eucharist, it’s not up to me, or about me nor do I have to understand it. It is a holy and sacred moment and visiting the sick has overtures of being sacramental.

In a sacrament, God uses tangible, material things as vehicles or instruments of grace. Wesley defines a sacrament, in accord with his Anglican tradition, as "an outward sign of inward grace, and a means whereby we receive the same. Sacraments are sign-acts, which include words, actions, and physical elements. They both express and convey the gracious love of God. They make God's love both visible and effective in a new and exciting way. This is what is done in the visiting of the sick. As I continue to visit, I am being shaped into the image of Christ – sometimes it is a blessing and sometimes it is a very painful experience.

So, this is what I've been thinking about.

Today I Celebrate the Freedom to Vote

With snippets of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's final speech.

The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul; our Protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and judgment—our republican idea, individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Crusoe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness.
...
And yet, there is a solitude, which each and every one of us has always carried with him, more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being, which we call ourself, no eye nor touch of man or angel has ever pierced. It is more hidden than the caves of the gnome; the sacred adytum of the oracle; the hidden chamber of eleusinian mystery, for to it only omniscience is permitted to enter. Such is individual life. Who, I ask you, can take, dare take, on himself the rights, the duties, the responsibilities of another human soul?

Updates

I'm still alive -- but my computer is not. The laptop has given up the ghost. After 12 hours of continual use daily for 2 and a half years, after dropping it several times (once from a hight of 4 feet while running onto a stone floor), the laptop is ill. We are trying to see if a new motherboard/disk drive will save it, but only time will tell.

Chaos went to music camp at Oxford College this last week and we had the concert at Old Church. It's a beautiful building, full of history and ghosts.


Old Church was built in 1841 as the first Chapel of Emory University. It never was a part of the university, but the leaders of the University also were the leaders of the church. Much later (1910), the congregation moved to a newer building now known as Allen Memorial UMC. Old Church served as an infirmary during the Civil War and was the site of many Annual Conferences. It is where in 1844 the slavewoman Kitty ownership was debated -- and the place where the Methodist church split in two over her. Kitty's Cottage is at the side/back of the church and is open as a museum. Kitty’s Cottage was the home built for her after she was freed by Bishop O. Andrews, who lived next door to Old Church. Even though Kitty was free, she did not want to leave the Bishop’s family, therefore they built the cottage for her and she lived there until her death, as a free woman.


The interior of the church at the rededication in 1999.


Kitty's Cottage

So many events, so much history. The chapel is a quiet, restful place. I wonder at it. The kids at camp sang two African/American spirituals directly under the balconies built for the slaves of the wealthy -- "Sometimes I fell like a motherless child" and "Wade in the Water." I reflect on how far we have come and how far left we have to go.

CPE has been tiring, part because it is CPE and part because of the very long commute. I've been collecting information about the history of Scottish Rite Hospital. I've been reflecting on history. More later.

A little about the CPE

Where to start?
My group is small -- we have 5 students, on Supervisor in Training and one Supervisor. For those who don't know how CPE is run, we have lots of meetings -- a staff meeting for the Chaplaincy program, a Didactic meeting (teaching us something useful to know), a Verbatim meeting where two people present per week and the Interpersonal Relationship meeting where we talk together unstructured. Each meeting last 2 to 2 and a half hours. That's about 8 to 10 hours of meetings a week, depending. Then there is time spent on the floor -- I have the first floor, Teri. We also have some time for writing reflection papers and doing charting and paperwork.
My group is rather diverse. Two of us are from Children's and three are from St. Joe's across the street. It is very interesting to hear the ways our experiences are the same and different and to compare the differences in the hospital culture.
Children's is very nurturing -- but a death here is very intense. They don't occur that often, to be quite honest, but they pack a real punch.
OK short of time.
Best part this week?
I've made friends with Dr. Pucci from here.

ugh.

too much hospital food has given me a tummy ache.
I'm up and wandering around b/c of said tummy ache.
Ugh.

I'm bringing "groceries" to the hospital next week -- Healthy Choices and yogurt. It's GOT to be better than the hospital food.

Also, I'm going to tone the clothing down. Or rather brighten it up. I didn't realize how much black clothing I own. I already feel like the "Angel of Death" (thanks for the term RevAbi) -- the nurses on the units see me and say "who is it??" Well, there are days/nights when I'm just on a walk-about. Just because I'm there doesn't mean that someone is doing badly .... I think that all the black adds to that "undertaker" feeling.

So, I'm wearing Lime Green, Steel Blue and Peach next week. Not all together, though, that would be painful for the eyes.

I've started counting the days left -- is that a bad thing? (14 down with 3 overnights - exactly 40 with 7 overnighters left to go. 26.56% done.)

Now to finish preparing for the Communion service....

Wednesday Again

And I'm on-call.

I'm learning the routine. Like:
1) if you have a $5.00 voucher for dinner and you don't use it up -- buy some fruit or a pop-tart for later.
2) hospital cafeteria food = boring after a while.
3) the ice cream machine is good.
4) get your sheets/blankets/towels BEFORE nightfall and especially before 3:00 am. That is, if you WANT sheets/blankets/towels. Last week I ended up with two flat sheets and 6 washclothes.
5) change your shoes after 24 hours.
6) take care of your feet. Your feet are your friends.
7) pace yourself.
8) don't sweat the prayer service.
9) lonely kids like the company.
10) I'm no good at Battleship anymore.
11) sleep when it offers itself to you.

I'm going to finish preparing the prayer service.

As a Followup

to the fever from my MMR, I went to the Doctor today. I have a headache -- he sees me looking at him all squinty-eyed and says "have you ever had migraines before?" Well, duh! I thought I had left them behind. I haven't had any since I had kids (a little backwards I know...)

He asks, "Have you had any unusual amounts of stress recently?" I started to giggle.

"As compared to what? What's a usual amount of stress? Gee, does CPE count?"

Unusual amounts of stress, indeed.

note: OK, is it "a usual"? or "an usual"? Doesn't "an usual" sound a lot like the word unusual?

Uhm.

I'm home today, so I'm reading blogs. Or so I thought I would. Except that when I checked my bloglines (229 feeds) I realized that I haven't done it in about 3 and a half weeks. I have more than 7000 entries to read. Gah! Would it be a sin to just start all over (zero out the counters)? Y'all have to stop writing so much....

Point of Information

IF (as an adult) you have to get an MMR because you are working at a Children's Hospital or school or whatever, be aware that there might be serious side-effects. I got my MMR almost 2 weeks ago. I now have a fever of 102 and am stiff all over. I'm missing a day of CPE and resting. Thankfully, I don't have to go back until Monday. I hope this all clears up before then.

I am enjoying CPE enormously. DLK is a kind and gentle person and her butt-kicking is of the kind and gentle type. The work is wonderful. My group is wonderful. This hospital is wonderful. I'm going to miss it come August. It has been a very affirming experience.

RevGal Friday Five -- for the first time

In light of the last posting, I'm doing the Friday Five.

1. In what kind of environment do you sleep best? (e.g. amount of light and noise, temperature, number of pillows, breathe-right strip, sleeping in the buff, etc.) My own bed. Now. One extra-firm, extra loft pillow, clean sheets, one blanket, one pillow, dark, quiet, ceiling fan on, tee-shirt, cool.

2. How much sleep do you need to feel consistently well-rested? More than I'm getting now. About 8 to 9 hours.
How much can you get by on? I'm getting by on about 4 on the weeekdays and MUCH more on weekends.
What are the consequences when you don't get enough? Grumpy, headache.

3. Night owl or morning person? Night owl, most definitely.

4. Favorite cure for insomnia. In this order: midnight walk followed by a sit on the front porch, warm milk, hot bath while drinking lots of fluids, relaxation techniques, Ambien.

5. To snooze or not to snooze? Why or why not? Yes, power napping is FANTASTIC. Laying down for 10 to 20 minutes can help a lot. NEVER more than a half an hour because I just become grumpier.

The most important thing I've learned: dehydration can cause insominia. If you are having problems falling asleep, it might be a symptom of dehydration. Drink lots of water. Yes, you may have to get up and go to the bathroom, but that's better than having to stay up all night. Also, use the 30 minutes before going to bed to slow down -- I use prayer. Sit in a quiet, dark place (no TV) and use the time to pray and think about the good things that have happened during the day. DO NOT start worrying about tomorrow. There's time for that later. Just be grateful for the good stuff.

End of Week Two

Learnings From CPE

I'm tired.
I'm real tired.

Rinse. Repeat.

Evening Prayer

I do my second all-night shift tonight. Since it's Wednesday, I get to also do evening prayer in the Chapel which is broadcast into all the rooms. (!)

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him.
Psalm 96:9
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron
O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.


Suffrages A
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.

Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.

Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.

Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours.

O God our creator, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into your purposes, and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people;

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.

Two Things

An article here. An interview about Bunny John and Wes and Beth Quick and ME!

Second, as I was visiting around this week, I was so very diligent about washing my hands. I also use the squirty-stuff that you can find near the doors of the rooms. I had just squirted some of the foam into my hands and was rubbing it in as I entered a room. The kid and I chatted a while about the usual: Cartoon Network, Board Games (this time Hungry Hungry Hippos) and whatnot. I asked if he had seen the clowns today or if the Child Life person had come by with something entertaining -- his eyes lit up and he started talking about the visiting puppies. He loved the puppies. He knows we disinfect everything, so as we finished up talking about the puppies, he asked me a question that caught me by surprise -- he asked, "How do you sterilize puppies?"

My first response that I did not go with -- "With about $150 and a very sharp knife."

But I said, "Gee, I don't know!"

Then I started to think. How DO you disinfect puppies? Disinfecting wipes? Autoclave? I don't know!

Inquiring minds want to know.....

The Song that Always Make Me Cry

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell.

When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun.

In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.

End of Week One

More stuff:
The hot-spots at the hospital are not easy to find.
The computers in the medical library are very slow.
I miss the internet.
Missing the internet might be good for me.
A 28 hour shift is a very long shift. Long. Very.
Sleeping on that sofa-thingy is difficult. Especially when I keep thinking I'm going to miss the beeper going off.
Ministry at the hospital is very immediate. And most of the time very rewarding.
I love hospital visits for this reason.
I LOVE the ice-cream machine and the Icee machine.
I love the Koi pond, the clowns, the therapy animals (esp the puppies and kittens) and the Child-Life people.

I'm finding that I miss the continued relationships with people. My supervisor explained that it's like floating around in a Movie Multiplex. You enter into the movie already in progress -- you stay for a few minutes, just long enough to get a grasp on the plot and to meet the main characters and then you float out to go watch a few minutes of another movie. I make a connection/relationship and I never find out the resolution. This is difficult.

I'm missing the blogosphere -- especially the handful of blogs I read every day. I miss rlp's chat room. I miss watching the news. Next time I over-night it, I've GOT to find the hot-spots.....

More Learnings from CPE Week One

9) my group is wonderful.
10) my supervisor is wonderful.
11) I need a better jacket with pockets.
12) Hospital food is not as bad as I remembered.
13) The staff at Scottish Rite is wonderful.
14) Some kids are scared of clowns.
15) Most all kids LOVE animals.
16) Happy Tails, the clowns and the Child Life people make a hospital stay for a kid almost tolerable.
17) I babble when I'm very tired.....

Learnings from CPE -- Week One

1) Atlanta traffic is horrible.
2) Scottish Rite is a 2 hour commute away because number one.
3) I can download sermons onto the iPod and play them on the road.
4) I like the routine of an eight hour day. I had forgotten that.
5) Orientation classes are ... orientation classes.
6) Visiting with kids and parents is a LOT more rewarding than orientation classes.
7) I look forward with holy fear and trembling my first 30 hour shift.
8) There's not much time for blogging....

Morning Prayer

Rising in darkness,
let us all keep watching
let psalms provide our source of meditation
And sing with all our strength
hymns of adoration
to our Creator bring.

O LORD, you are my portion and my cup;
it is you who uphold my lot.
My boundaries enclose a pleasant land;
indeed, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
my heart teaches me, night after night.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.
My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices;
my body also shall rest in hope.

Dearest Lord, you are the source of every good gift. You created this world and called it good. God -- it is so easy for me to reflect on the things that are not good -- things that go wrong. It is easy for me to become frustrated and anxious. Lord, I give you my anxiety and ask that you ease my frustrations. Help me rest in my blessings and be at peace. Help me to be content with the pleasant land and the goodly heritage you have given me.

Lord, give me a heart for those who do without. Use me to your ends, God and help me to become a blessing for them. I pray for those who suffer illness, who cannot do for themselves. I pray for the parents of children who do not flourish. Comfort them. I pray for those whose employment is uncertain. Sustain them. I pray for those whose hearts have no ease. Soothe them with your presence. I pray for those who are homeless. Grant them the security they so desperately need. I pray for those who have lost loved ones in a storm's fury. Ease their pain and grant them peace.

God our Father, you see my children -- our children -- growing up in an unsteady and confusing world, full of things that can harm them yet tempt them. Show my children that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, show them the path that will preserve them. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation. Watch over my children as they are away from me today and bring them safely home, just as you will bring us all safely home to you. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Last Road Trip

It is the 5th anniversary of my mother's death -- or at least it was on May 28. This is for Mama.

My mother was really big into genealogy. I start to understand now that I have turned 40. I reach out for connections to the past as I search of a sense of heritage, of who I am and from where I came and by doing so I somehow reach into the future. It is a basic urge of humans to want to make a mark on this world, to leave a heritage, to know that we exist and know that we were.

My mother was really big into road trips. We would pack up in the car and visit cemeteries. Many of my relatives are buried in perpetual care cemeteries, but most are not. On Decoration Day (or Confederate Memorial Day) we would take rakes and plastic bags and clean up the graves of Mama’s grandparents in Marietta. In the last few years, we fell out of the habit of doing this, and now I don’t think that I could find most of these cemeteries.

Not too long ago, when Entropy was a baby and Chaos a toddler, my mother and I took the girls and her cousin Norma on what was to be our last road trip. We took back roads and twisty country lanes and ended up at a cemetery that had fallen into almost complete disrepair. Norma and my little family were the last descendents of this branch. In fact, neither my mother nor I am directly related -- it is a collateral line. Norma was the absolute last descendent. She did not have children that I know of and since she died a few years ago, I am certain I will never find this graveyard again. The last burial from Norma’s family was done in the 1870’s, however the latest stone dated from the 1950’s.

When we got there, after winding through the North Georgia mountains, we exited the car into a cool mist. It was a dank and gray November morning, the roads slick with moisture. The mountain laurel was dark and dripping wet and the woods up the hill were forbidding. Everything was brown or black except for the slash of road up the hill glowing red from the Georgia red clay. Someone had recently laid “crush and run” on the road and installed a chain with a lock across the road. Norma and I decided to go up the hill and leave my mother and the girls in my car. We began to trudge up the hill into deep woods. After a while the road gave way to a small path and branches started to slap us in the face as we climbed. It wasn’t very far -- maybe 1/2 mile, but I felt that I was entering an ancient and primeval forest. The feel of the woods was not benign. We reached the top of the hill and both Norma and I were surprised. The last pictures of the hill that Norma’s family had taken were on a Decoration Day in the 20’s. In the ensuing 90 years or so, the woods had taken over. The sunny hilltop in the black and white photographs had been completely reclaimed by the mountains. The graves beyond the little fence, down the hill had been slightly better taken care of. Many of the stones had toppled and were unreadable. More were just missing. Later Norma and I found out that some of the locals had been taking the large polished slabs of granite and marble and laying them out as paths, carved side down, in the local church graveyard. The stones were being recycled.

I felt a strange sadness as I learned this. I ached for the people I never knew, never loved, never mourned and now I would never know their names or where they were buried. Norma and I saw the ghost of writing on a large slab of stone, but could not read it. We decided to hold the stone up to the light to see if we could get the weak November sun to cast a better shadow. As we lifted the stone up, we disturbed a bed of scorpions. They skittered over the stone and our hands. We both screamed and jumped back, dropping the stone and shattering it into several big chunks. I stepped back onto another grave and my left leg went in up to my knee. I pulled myself out and peered into the hole I had made, but couldn’t see anything. Oddly enough, I wasn’t spooked at the time, but on later reflection I realize that this is the sort of stuff that Hollywood loves to use in movies. It just seemed cold and dirty at the time. Norma and I gave up after 30 minutes or so. We could not find a single grave that had not been ruined by the ravages of man or weather.

There are passages in Ecclesiastes that remind me of this last road trip. The vague sadness I felt as I saw the forgotten graveyard are echoed in the words:

“For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing,
they have no further reward
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.” Eccl 9:5-6

Norma and I made our way slowly down the hill, holding hands, slipping and sliding. We didn’t fall into any more graves, although we did see a large stand of Lady’s Slippers, blooming late in the fall and some beautiful tripartite trillium. By the time we reached the car, we were warmed by our walk, the sun had broken through the trees and the fog was being burned off in the gentle rays of the sun. My mother had a tape in the radio singing with the girls “You are my Sunshine” and had poured coffee for Norma and myself. I loved and was loved, and it was enough.

“Go, eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun -- all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for in the grave where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” Eccl 9:7-10

I read these words differently now. My mother, my husband's mother, his grandfather, my grandmother: they have all died since I wrote these words. I sit now and remember them and I remember the love they had for me and I give thanks that I had them in my life -- and one day I'll find that graveyard and show the girls and let them join in that love and those memories.

Newness

I am starting new things ... and handing over old things.
I have been accepted in a CPE program at Scottish Rite Hospital this summer ... starting tomorrow.
We have found a really good babysitter for the kids (although it's really more for entertainment value than childcare.)
The family and I are going to take a couple long weekends at the beach, rather than one full week. The girls are going to have music lessons this summer -- guitar and piano (Entropy wants to play the drums ... I think we'll wait for next year!). We are going to clean a little every day, instead of marathon cleaning once a month/semester. We are giving up popsicles for yogurt. We are going to eat more fish and vegetables. Fruit instead of sweets. Big changes.
Today we are going shopping for clothing for me that looks more "business casual" than "seminary student."
It's an inbetween place/time for us all. Both exciting and anxious.

A Prayer for Pentecost

O Spirit of the living God, Thou light and fire divine,
Descend upon Thy church once more, and make it truly Thine.
Fill it with love and joy and power, with righteousness and peace;
Till Christ shall dwell in human hearts, and sin and sorrow cease.

Blow, wind of God! With wisdom blow until our minds are free
From mists of errors, clouds of doubt, which blind our eyes to Thee.
Burn, winged fire! Inspire our lips with flaming love and zeal,
To preach to all Thy great good news, God’s glorious common weal.
-- Henry H. Tweedy

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
--Acts 2 1-13

Breathe on us God
Let the violence of your Spirit sweep among us and
Make us discontent.
Fill our churches with the overwhelming sound
Of your rushing wind -- your ruah.
Prepare us for the coming of your Spirit
Let us listen with anticipation the teachings of Jesus the Christ:
Make our hearts and minds be ready to receive
The blessing of the Holy Spirit,
Prepare us to be filled with the strength of his presence

Breathe on us God
Prepare us for the coming of your Kingdom
A perfect kingdom where no sword is drawn but
The sword of righteousness,
A perfect kingdom where no strength known but
The strength of love:
Breathe on this world your breath and so spread your Spirit,
So that everyone in the broken world may be gathered under
The banner of the Prince of Peace,
So that everyone in this broken world may be children of one Parent.

Breathe on us God
Prepare us for the perfecting of your Church.
Set up on fire for your Word.
Perfect us with a burning desire to do your will.
Let us speak to each person in this world
In language they will understand.
Fill us with all truth, in all truth with all peace.
Where your church is corrupt, purify it;
Where it is in error, direct it;
Where your church does not promote your kingdom, reform it.
Where it is right, strengthen it;
Where it is in want, provide for it;
Where it is divided, unite it;
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.

Things that make you go Hmmmm....

I've had rather picky tastes when it comes to teas for quite a while. I'm still looking for this facinating tea that I had a few years ago that had the most complex taste. It was a first flush Darjeeling -- a taste of muscatel, a hint of smokeiness, peaches and roses.

Now I discover there are gourmet salts. Yes, salts.

OK, I'm intrigued.

Thursday Poetry Blogging

Every year on the way to cut our christmas tree, my family passes a historical marker honoring the Poppy Lady. The red poppy was first introduced as a symbol of remembrance of memorial day by a university teacher, Miss Moina Michael. She graduated of Columbia University in the early 1900s and in 1918 was teaching at the Univeristy of Georgia. She was moved by the plight of young men leaving home, some of them her own students and volunteered for the Red Cross training at Columbia University. At 49 years of age it was decided that she was too old to go overseas to nurse the wounded and so she stayed for a while in New York at the YMCA to train others to go overseas in her stead.

On November 9, 1918, she sat with a cup of coffe to read the newspaper and read this poem.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Dr. John McCrae served as a doctor in the South African War as well as France. Although he was a battlefield surgeon for quite a while he noted that it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood, and McCrae said he had seen and heard enough to last him a lifetime.

At Ypres he was to work around the clock for 17 days, snatching sleep where and when he could, but the wounded kept coming. "I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

On May 2, 1915 one death affected him more than all the others. A friend and former student, Lt. Alexis Helmer, had been killed that day and McCrae treated his wounds to no avail. Lt .Helmer was buried just outside of the field hospital in a cemetary that now stretches for acres and acres. McCrae had to perform the funeral ceremony because there was no chaplain.

The next day, there was a reprieve in the flow of the wounded to his station and he saw the wild poppies dancing in the wind in the ditches and among the graves and he wrote this poem. It was too painful for him to have it published himself and so another officer sent the poem to Punch and it was published in 1915.

Moina read the poem three years later in a New York paper, after McCrae had died from exhaustion and pneumonia while still serving his field hospital. She was moved by the poem. She felt that he passed the torch to her personally and described her experience as deeply spiritual. She felt called by the voices which had been silenced by death to remember. From then on, the Poppy Lady wore a poppy as a sign of remembrance and a symbol of "keeping the faith with all who died."

Perhaps you have a vet who sells the little paper poppies every year in your congregation. If you don't understand the meaning, it might be easy to dismiss him or brush him off as a bother. It doesn't matter if you support the war or not. Memorial day is a time to remember those who have died in the service of their country -- rightly or wrongly. It's a time to mourn the loss of loved ones who were pulled away by that service to die -- and to mourn that war is even possible in this sin-torn world of ours.

OK, a funny observation...

Since I met some of the different RevGals at the Festival of Homies, when I read their blogs now, I actually can HEAR the words in the appropriate voice. Wild!

Morning Prayer

*note: If you read/pray this prayer with me today/anytime, please add an "Amen" or similar phrase in the comments.

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell.

When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun.

In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.

I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
-- John Helgen,The Faith We Sing 2051


1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
--1 Timothy 2: 1- 2 (NRSV)

Creator God,
You have been with me my whole life and I know you will walk with me and be with me forever. There are times when you seen distant and time where you seem as close to me as my own skin. As my life unfolds, I ask that you make your presences real to me -- and help me see you. Open my eyes, so that I can see you love in your childern, your beauty in your creation and your grace in this world.

Creator God,
You have given me blessings and gifts that surpass my understanding. You have given my family and friends blessings. You prepare us through your grace to be your hands here on earth. Pour into our hearts your love -- such love towards you and your children that we may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Morning Prayer

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

Christ is alive, and goes before us
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
our God is making all things new.

-Brian Wren, 1978

Colossians 1: 9- 14 (NRSV)

9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Lord of Life
Lord of Glory
Lord of Creation
Lord of Love,
You make all things new. Every day is a new beginning in you. Every day is fresh. I rejoice in your beautiful world. I give thanks to you for the gifts you have given me in such abundance. I thank you for Your Body, the church, which surrounds me and supports me in that love.

Lord, may I be filled with the knowledge of Your perfect will.
May I be filled with your wisdome and understanding so that I can live a life worthy of You.
I desire nothing more than to please you.
Make me strong with the strength that comes from You, so that I can indeed be prepared to endure all things with patience.

I pray for my children today. I pray that they grow in the knowledge of you.
I pray for my little one's health again today. Her beauty is breath-taking to me and I fear for her fragility. Keep her in the palm of your hand. Heal her according to Your will.

This I pray in the name of the God who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Amen.

Just an observation

A week can seem like a very long time.
Very.

Not that I'm not learning stuff.
It's just a lot to do in a week.

I'm just sayin'.

Postscript:
better than the speakers at the conference are the RevGals.
I wish some of the speakers would run just a little shorter so that we can get on with the important stuff like talking, eating and drinking.

Morning Prayer

Awake, awake to love and work!
The lark is in the sky
the fields are wet with diamond dew
The worlds awake to cry
their praises to the Fount of Life
Christ Jesus passes by.

To give and give, and give again,
as God's own grace is free
To spend yourself nor count the cost
To serve most gloriously
the God who gave all worlds that are
and all that are to be.
-- From the Kentucky Harmony

3 For you have been my refuge, *
a strong tower against the enemy.
4 I will dwell in your house for ever; *
I will take refuge under the cover of your wings.
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows; *
you have granted me the heritage of those who fear your Name.
6 Add length of days to the king's life; *
let his years extend over many generations.
7 Let him sit enthroned before God for ever; *
bid love and faithfulness watch over him.
8 So will I always sing the praise of your Name, *
and day by day I will fulfill my vows.
-- Psalm 61

My soul is alive and free
And soars on the Wind
that blows through the tree
and caresses my face.

Your Spirit is breathed in me
Causing my dance of Joy
Your Spirit causes me to sing
and your Love sustains me.

God, I give you thanks
For those who have helped
Sustain me. For those whose
Spirits are mirrors of Yours.

God, I give you thanks
For the beauty of your creation
For the gifts of your earth
For the gifts so abundant.

Amen.

Aarrgghh!!

I'm going to the big RevGal meetup today --

BUT
I've ripped my pants!! And I will have no time to go get another pair!!

Aarrgghh!!

Update: another Aarrgghh!!

I cut my hair on Saturday b/c of a wad of bubblegum (don't ask). This morning I ran out of hair product that I'm fond of. I used something Chaos uses -- I now look like the wild woman of Borneo. Uber bad-hair-day.

So, I'll be the one with duct tape all the way down one leg and the weird hair. I hope the resturant will let me in.

Aarrgghh!!

Ordinary Time Book

Ordinary Time: Year B Devotions for June to November

On Sale now for $18.99

Morning Prayer

Entropy is sick today. VERY bad croupy cough. Of course, since last Fall and the rheumatic fever, I'm paranoid about her health. So we are at home today and I am praying she's better by Monday and the festival of homies (Festival of Homiletics, for those not on the RevGal ring).

Precious is the heart of love;
may, at length, such hearts be ours;
God, please send down from above
your love and truth divine.
And may they cleanse our willing souls
of earthly ills and make them whole;
for Christ did come to share our toil
and will not spurn our prayers.

From Psalm 90
15 Call upon me in the day of trouble; *
I will deliver you, and you shall honor me."
16 But to the wicked God says: *
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and take my covenant upon your lips;
17 Since you refuse discipline, *
and toss my words behind your back?
18 When you see a thief, you make him your friend, *
and you cast in your lot with adulterers.
19 You have loosed your lips for evil, *
and harnessed your tongue to a lie.
20 You are always speaking evil of your brother *
and slandering your own mother's son.
21 These things you have done, and I kept still, *
and you thought that I am like you."
22 "I have made my accusation; *
I have put my case in order before your eyes.
23 Consider this well, you who forget God, *
lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.
24 Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; *
but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God."

Good and Gracious God,
You are the beginning and end.
You are the creator and beginning of our existance.
You have commanded us to love our enemies.
God, that is a hard teaching.
Help me to love them.
Help me to pray for them.
Lead them and us from prejudice to truth
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge
I want to pray for Justice -- but will wait for your time.
In your good time I know you will enable us all to stand reconciled before you

Good and Gracious God,
you forgave your enemies while suffering shame and death
Strengthen those who suffer for the sake of conscience;
when they are suffering and hurt, save them from speaking in hate
when they are rejected, save them from bitterness
when they feel imprisoned and helpless, save them from despair
And help those of us who stand at the sidelines
to have grace to respect their witness and to discern the truth,
that our church and our society may be cleansed and strengthened.

Good and Gracious God,
from you comes every good and perfect gift:
Send down your Spirit down upon our people, our ministers, our clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their care
Send your healthful Spirit of grace upon them
and pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing.
Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator.

Good and Gracious God,
You are the Good Shepherd of your sheep
you gather the lambs in your arms and carry them in your bosom
I commend to your loving care my child.
Relieve her pain, guard her from all danger, restore to her your gifts of gladness and strength,
and raise this child up to a life full of your grace and glory.
for your dear Name's sake. Amen.

Lipstick

I keep 3 different lipsticks. One in the bathroom with my makeup, one in the purse and one in the desk drawer. Or really, it should only BE one, but usually is two or three in each place.

I'm out of my favorite shade of lipstick and I don't think it's being made anymore. The remaining shades are either too light or too dark. What should I do? Should I go shopping for more?

Why do I not feel "dressed" without the lipstick? Is wearing lipstick a necessity for you? Should a clergywoman even wear lipstick?

My decision this morning: I'm going to go without. (Eeek! is what my brain is telling me right now) Rather than too light or too dark, I'm going bare. (Eeek!!)

Then I'm going to go visit the Clinique booth sometime this week......



(post script: Now I feel totally shallow. I just got an email asking permission to crosspost a poem. Shallow and vain, am I today.)

Post-partum

I’ve noticed something in myself. I encounter a letdown after a big project. I invest blood, sweat and tears most of the time into them – and there are huge labor pains, a big release and then I let go. After a couple of days, I’m in a numb stage and it reminds me of nothing so much as post-partum depression. A certain listlessness, a certain restlessness, a desire to watch melancholy movies or play piano pieces in minor keys.

The melancholy is nice to begin with – as Jaques claims about himself in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, I “sucks melancholy from a song, as a weasel sucks eggs.” For a while, it’s a nice place to be – melancholy without maudlin. But then.

It’s like the feeling you get when you don’t brush your teeth for a long time; they get rough and mossy. Or when you don’t get dressed and hang around the living room in your pajamas. It’s OK for a while, but.

So today, I sit around, sipping hot tea and eating split-pea soup. Tomorrow, I’ll begin again.

Peace.

Morning Prayer

Psalm 22 from the BCP
Praise the LORD, you that fear him;
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob's line, give glory.
For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them;
but when they cry to him he hears them.
My praise is of him in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your heart live for ever!"
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.
For kingship belongs to the LORD;
he rules over the nations.
To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him;
they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.
They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn
the saving deeds that he has done.

"Thus I was taught that love was our Lord's meaning. And I saw quite clearly in this and in all, that before God made us, he loved us, which love was never slaked nor ever shall be. And in this love he has done all his work, and in this love he has made all things profitable to us. And in this love our life is everlasting. In our creation we had a beginning. But the love wherein he made us was in him with no beginning. And all this shall be seen in God without end ..."
-- Julian of Norwich

Lord God,
draw my heart to your heart.
guide my mind to your mind
fill my imagination with your will
fill my will with your desire
dedicate my life to your purpose
make me completely yours.
make your love, my love.
keep me in your peace
show me your essential nature.
Amen.

Sniff

I habe a code.

(translation: I have a cold.)

I'm on cold medicine and I keep doing silly thing. I forgot to bring my SS notebooks home, so I can't update the roles. Oh well.
Then I forgot to close the front door and I put the sugar in the refrigerator. I erased my worship calendar from the computer. I forgot to hang the phone up. Stuff like that.

I have arranged a substitute for my sermon/communion thingy. Worship service, yeah, that's the word.

I did remember to save the Mediashout before I shut the Windoze machine down.

I'm going to take a nap now.

Oh yeah, and there was something about a book to be published.....

What am I doing??

I ask myself -- What am I doing?
I have a takehome final due tomorrow and what am I doing??
I'm nursing a cold and reading blogs, that's what I'm doing.

I think I'll turn the internet OFF now....

because I think my child is adorable

Here is her poem to Little Kitty.

Her spelling resembles mine.... hmmm.......

I received a gift today

Not of the physical type -- but I was witness to a sacred moment.

It was Dr. Hackett's last class this afternoon. We are at the end of the semester -- perhaps the beginning of the eschaton?

He expounded funeral practices in the chapel today -- a lecture of end things. He teaches with panache and dignity. -- and impecable fashion sense. Half way through the lecture, Don Saliers paused in the open doorway of Cannon Chapel before he addressed the class. After a few humorous remarks, there was a subtle change in the mood. He and Dr. Hackett stood perhaps twenty feet away and Don said, "in these few waning moments, I came to say fare thee well."

In a motion full of grace, he raised his outstretched arm holding open his hand in a dancer's gesture to Dr. Hackett. Ted reached out his hand -- and even though they were twenty feet away from one another, it was Michealangelo's hands -- God and Adam. Don said "without you, dear friend, it would have been only half the journey. Untill me meet again."

Ted could say nothing, but his eyes were bright. He just smiled that little smile he has and they looked at each other. After a moment, Don turned on his heel and left.

It was a moment before we could get back to the lecture.

The presence of God was with us.

It was sacrament.

Complete And Total Procrastination

the A to Z meme

Accent: Upper Piedmont. Really.
Booze: Merlot
Chore I Hate: All of them -- seriously, I cannot think of a single one I like. Washing Dishes? Laundry? Catbox duty? -- I suppose the worse for me is Cleaning the Refrigerator. Can we just buy a new one??? Please??
Dog or Cat: Little Kitty. 18 years old. O-o-o-ld.
Essential Electronics: Which are NOT essential? The iBook is essential, as is the iPod, the Dell, the WD 250 gig hard drives (at least 3, don't you think?), the keychain wireless detector, the Jump Drives (in assorted colors, to match the liturgical season.) The power inverter in the car so I can plug in many electronics at the same time. Oh yeah, and the cameras. Essential.
Favorite Cologne(s): Chanel No. 5
Gold or Silver: Diamonds.
Hometown: Atlanta GA
Insomnia: Frequent
Job Title: Minister of Christian Ed and Media. I think I want to be Minister of Spiritual Formation. And Mommy.
Kids: Two
Living arrangements: Yes.
Most admirable trait: I can usually talk to anyone about anything. (Least admirable trait -- bonus): Conflict avoidance
Number of sexual partners: Yes.
Overnight hospital stays: maybe 2? Delivery of Children.
Phobias: burning the house down with the curling iron, iron, crockpot, oven, dryer, etc... or leaving a door unlocked.
Quote: "Not in a thousand years will man ever fly!" 1902 by Wilbur Wright
Religion: Christian; UMC
Siblings: one
Time I wake up: when I HAVE to get up.
Unusual talent or skill: I can look very very innocent ...
Vegetable I refuse to eat: Artichokes, like what's the point?
Worst habit: Procrastination heh heh heh
X-rays: teeth, sinuses, leg, arm -- wait, that was the cost.
Yummy foods I make: Chili, Grillards, veg-beef soup
Zodiac sign: about 3 foot square

I'm winding down

Reaching the home stretch of the semester. 4 of 5 newspaper articles DONE. Photographs shipped to editor for inserts. One 20 paper paper done, one in progress, one final and a short 2 page paper -- for this week. Then one Christian Ed project, one paper describing my own personal paradigm for preaching. Finishing touches on THE BOOK.

I think I'll take a break next.

I don't think I've ever written so very much in such a short period of time, but it means all my words have been used up and this well is dry. Dry, dry, dry.

I think I'll take a silent retreat when this is all over.

Shoes

This year's shoes.

Last year's shoes.

The year before last year's shoes.

Am I in a rut?
Maybe this year I'll get these!!


And some of these (in all the liturgical colors.)





And (boring) some of these:


(OK, I'm mindless right now. Holy Moley Week burned out most remaining brain cells.)

OK, I'm finished

with the boring paper about funeral practices -- and I didn't include either a New Orleans Jazz Band OR the Taiwan Funeral strippers (either of which would make a funeral much more interesting), I'm behind on my 5 (five) articles for the newspaper, my review of the new SS brochure and my video for the VBS meeting tonight. My eye is sore and swollen still. Time for drugs.

Meantime, for your enjoyment, here is the video I'm using to start the VBS planning meeting....

I had surgery on my eyelid

yesterday. I had a small growth/tumor/something or another near the inside corner of my eye. It's taking a while for me to feel better -- I think it's a combination of the stress of Holy Week and the anesthesia. I took this a while back -- you can't even see it. It developed in less than 6 months. Hmm...

Back to bed for a while.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

So here are some pictures.

The Media/Sound "Booth" without a booth.


We had 8:00 worship in the Sanctuary, 9:00 in the Chapel and 9:30 and 11:00 here in the Fell-Worsh-Nasium. Four sections of chairs, pews along the sides and the bleachers. We can seat around 900 if full.


The Donkey with which we wrestled last Sunday.


My office sometime last month. There is now a nice big comfy chair and ottoman (BIG Chair) and more pictures on the walls. Along with a bigger stack of papers.

So totally light and fluffy

this posting will be.

I've been spending a lot of time at the church the last few days (for some reason...)
What are the absolutely NECESSARY things to keep there?

I have in my little closet:
complete makeup bag, hairbrush and hairspray
toothbrush and toothpaste
panty hose
clean shirt/top
grubby shirt
basic black jacket (to instantly "dress up")
bottles of water
mirror
alb
robe
surplice
stoles
collar
basketball and Hello Kitty Kick ball
200 spools of ribbon
hammer and picture hanging hooks
folded up shopping bags (all Cokesbury, of course)
Video camera
Still camera
box of assorted cables
Communion Lunch box with the elements

What do you have in your closet at work? (OK, your WHATEVER at work?)

A Comment

on an old posting -- specifically on a poem about Maundy Thursday. And I quote:

Your prayer? poem Sounds Very Dark to me. Concentrating on the Minor theme and missing the Real Message of this season, which is Jesus Christ gave us The greatest gift of all times!!!

We all, are or have been dead in our sins! but if you accept Jesus as your savior by asking forgivness, You will remove the blackness in your life, better yet You'll one day get to live in a sinless world with a new body that will never grow old and be in God's presence for ever. All because of Jesus Sacrfice at the Cross!! and because he Arose from the dead!!

I find this interesting. I grew up in a tradition that was not very liturgical -- and one that skips directly from the "Hosannas!" to the "Hallelujahs!" -- blithely going from Palm Sunday to Easter. No Ash Wednesday, no Lent, no Maundy Thursday, no Good Friday. From one high point to another high point without hitting the valley below.

As I grow older and I grow in my faith and understanding, I begin to wonder if there is more of value in walking the entirety of Jesus' walk -- to walk the Via Dolorosa and encounter the full suffering of Christ before we move onto the glory of the resurrected Lord.

It's a matter of balance -- the bitterness and suffering of the Via Dolorosa offset by the sweetness and glory of the empty tomb. We risk seeing only a part of the story; a tapestry is made of both light and dark threads.

Fred Craddock always stresses the importance of letting each part of the story stand for itself -- and I must agree. He says:

The mother picks up the child and says—in the oldest myth in the world—“Let me kiss it and make it well.” . . . She picks up the child, kisses the skinned place, holds the child in her lap, and all is well. Did her kiss make it well? No. It was that ten minutes in her lap. Just sit in the lap of love and see the mother crying. “Mother, why are you crying? I’m the one who hurt my elbow.” “Because you hurt,” the mother says, “I hurt.” That does more for the child than all the bandages and medicine in the world, just sitting in her lap.”

“What is the cross?” Craddock asks. “Can I say it this way? It is to sit for a few minutes in the lap of God, who hurts because you hurt” (Cherry Log Sermons: Why the Cross).

To sit and suffer WITH -- to sit in the darkness of Good Friday to know suffering before we sit in the light of the Resurrection.

Or (to quote another favorite preacher) It's Friday, but Sunday's coming.

Wonderful Wednesday

Today we enter fully into that mad rush we call Holy Week -- with our Lenten Lunch.

Then I go shopping to get the rest of the stuff I need for our Seder Meal tomorrow night. (The list has stuff like "brown paper bags," "assorted fingertip bowls" and "new LCD projector bulb." Assorted and random.)

For our Seder, I'm putting the responses on the big screens and we are going to have a live camera feed onto the big screens. Probably not necessary since we are going to have only about 100 people, but it will be good practice. (Shoot! Still no one to run the Media -- hmmm.... Since I'm going to be at the head table, along with the kids and the Sr. Pastor's family, I'll see if the Dear Loving Husband (Jack of all Trades) will do it... It's better than donkey wrestling (the donkey was stubborn on Sunday. Imagine that, a stubborn donkey.))

For Friday, we have the Tenebrae I wrote last year with some music changes.

For Saturday -- Easter Egg Hunt and Labyrinth Walk.

For Sunday FIVE services. Full Media at two -- again, hard to be two places at one time, I sure hope I have a helper....

So, now for the prayer time and then begins the time when I rush around like a chicken with its head cut off -- or rather, time to play whack-a-mole -- time to borrow LGF's trout.

I start with one of my favorite hymns -- one that I'm singing today at our Lenten Lunch.

Into the woods my Master went,
clean forspent, forspent,
into the woods my Master came,
forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to him.
the little grey leaves were kind to him,
the thorn tree had a mind to him,
when into the woods he came.

Out of the woods my Master came
and he was well content;
out of the woods my Master came,
content with death and shame.
When death and shame would woo him last,
from under the trees they drew him last,
'twas on a tree they slew him last
when out of the woods he came.
-- Sidney Lanier, 1880*


*Lanier, the “poet laurete of Georgia,” earned his degree from Oglethorpe College. In 1879, he was appointed lecturer on English literature at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. This hymn first appeared in the Methodist Hymnal of 1905. He was raised a Methodist with a strong Presbyterian mother -- growing up around Macon, Georgia. When Lanier moved to Baltimore, he lived a somewhat more liberal life -- both as to creed and conduct -- he wrote: "If the constituentsand guardians of my childhood-- those good Presbyterians who believed me a model for the Sunday-school children of all times -- could have witnessedmy acts and doings this day, I know not what groans of sorrowful regret
would arise in my behalf." His family mostly lived south of Macon and into North Flordia. He was also an accomplished concert flutist. He became first flutist in the Peabody Orchestra in Baltimore, Maryland in 1873, and in 1876 he wrote a cantata for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. At least one of his descendents is a concert trumpet player. He was only 39 years old when he died.

Music and God were intertwined for Lanier. Lanier believed in the religious value of music; it was a "gospel whereof the people are in great need, -- a later revelation of all gospels in one." "Music," he says, "is to be the Church of the future, wherein all creeds will unite like the tones in a chord." He was one of "those fervent souls who fare easily by this road to the Lord." Music tended "help the emotions of man across the immensity of the known into the boundaries of the Unknown." He would have composers to be ministers of religion. He could not understand the indifference of some leaders of orchestras, who could be satisfied with appealing to the aesthetic emotions of an audience, while they might "set the hearts of fifteen hundred people afire." The final meaning of music to him was that it created within man "a great, pure, unanalyzable yearning after God."

Morning Prayer

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak
and upright in your judgment.
Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,
a sinner from my mother's womb.
For behold, you look for truth deep within me,
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure;
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

Dearest God,
Your Son took on the form of a human and became humble
for our sake. He became a servant
for our sake. He humbled Himself even unto death
for our sake. He went not onto joy, but first suffered pain
for our sake. He walked the way of the cross
for our sake. He bears the dreadful curse
for our sake. He took on death just
for our sake.

God help me walk the way of the cross
Help me be a witness to the light
Help me speak of Your glory
Help me serve Your people
Help me live as you would have me to live.

Purge me of sin. Wash me and make me clean as snow.
For You. Amen.

recurrent dream

I'm having a recurrent dream recently.
Do you remember the silly "bop the gopher" game at the arcade? Where there are four pop up gophers and you have to bonk them with a big padded mallet?

Well, I dreaming that I'm bonking away and someone adds 4 more gophers -- then 4 more and then 4 more -- until I'm surrounded by pop-up gophers and I just can't bonk any faster.

Hmmm....

While writing for our Seder Service

(Passover meal, for those in the know), I found this lovely set of finger puppets.

Yes, my kids want to play with Plague Finger Puppets. Especially the "Boils" and "Death of the First Born" ones.

Or perhaps we will pass over this lovely retail item.

Too Much To Do

I'm making lists
Imperative
Essential
Important

I'm doing the Imperative list today.

But in the mean time, some random thoughts:

Martin Luther wrote, "The Passion of Christ should not be acted out in words and pretense, but in real life."

The Seven Last Words:

1. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
2. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
3. Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26 f.).
4. Eli Eli lema sabachthani? (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
5. I thirst (John 19:28).
6. It is finished (John 19:30).
7. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

Stabat mater dolorosa
iuxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.


Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,
mater Unigeniti!
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.

Quae maerebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati poenas inclyti.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?

There are Sundays

And there are Sundays.

So much to say. So little energy. Almost baptized a baby with grape juice (I'm glad we checked out the pitcher first), a classic kid-moment during a baptism that was UBER embarassing for Mom (so embarassing I can't even blog it), Senior Pastor melted part of his robe during communion -- I pinched out the smoldering hole and he didn't notice.

We have Extreme Spring Break Camp!!! (not my exclamation points) tomorrow. I'm going to mix the sound -- something I've not done in a long time.

Oh, and I'm editing a book.