Terrapin Station

Poormouth* here

I am home for 2nd day with sinus headache.  It makes me wicked dizzy to move around much but I've propped myself in front of this computer and thought I would check in. 

This is the first day of classes so not a great day to be out...but last time I went to work with this, it wasn't pretty.

I love:  Mucinex DM. 

I read a book yesterday, interesting story but excessively poorly edited.  I hate that.  It makes me dislike the book.  I shan't recommend it. 

I read another one, wonderfully written, funny, excellent tight dialogue, and it's British so I got to hear lovely English inflections and turns of phrase as I went.  And it's about knitting, what a bonus!  It's called The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club.  It's on at Amazon for a bargain price, and it's available for Kindle as well. 

Another interesting but unrelated find:  George Bullard:  http://bullardjournal.posterous.com/ via a FB link from BesoMami.  Good stuff about congregational development and growth. 

Wouldn't you think I'd have something else to say, but my head's not quite right.  (Maybe it never is but we will leave that one alone.)  So I'll stop for now.  Good to read you all. 

*When I was growing up, poormouthing meant complaining.  However, I found this on the web:  "(Poormouth)...comes from a Gaelic expression -"putting on the poor mouth"-which means to exaggerate the direness of one's situation in order to gain time or favour from creditors."

So if I owe you any money you can expect to have it be late...!

That Ole Holy Spirit

As you know, my church is about 1/2 hour from my house.  Usually I don't consider that one way or the other...that's just where church happens to be, and I go.  But sometimes, I go for a meeting or something and I am not all that excited about it. 

(can I get a witness?)

and I think, "Oh, MAN, it's so far, and there will be other people there, and I don't really need to go, and blah blah blah." 

And the times when I think that are, invariably, the times when That Ole Holy Spirit shows up.  When I get so energized and excited about the topic at hand; when I see how God is going to work in us; when I be-lieve! 

It's a good thing for those blessings, no? 

Thanks be to God. 

Vestryperson of the Day

Cathy asked to hear more about being Vestryperson of the Day* (or, as we call it, the "Vee-Pod.")

In my denomination, the governing board is called the Vestry.  There are 9 members who meet regularly to conduct the business of the church, and at my particular parish church, each of us takes a turn being Vestryperson of the Day once every nine weeks.  The VPOD is intended to be the point person for that Sunday.  I think the VPOD duties may vary greatly from church to church, and I'd be interested to hear from others of you on what your practices are.  (Clearly, some of the things I have listed below are my own additions...or specific to this past Sunday.) 

On my VPOD Sunday, I generally arrive by 6:30 a.m., before the first service at 7:15.  This gives me a little time to pray for the day's worship ahead and the people who will be there.  I unlock all the doors of church buildings that are to be used, make sure A/C or heaters are set, turn on lights, make coffee, set out service bulletins that have been readied by our fabulous Parish Administrator; check in with the verger and other servers; greet and act as a fill-in usher if needed (it was needed at all three services this week), go get donut holes for all three services (very, very important!) and then watch the service in progress to provide any needed assistance from the rear of the church.  Secure the offertory funds until the end of the church day. 

Service is over: reset & ready facilities for 8:30 service.  Repeat as needed and make sure folks have what they need.  Help to greet newcomers; make sure there is plenty of coffee and TP.  Watch service.  Secure offertory funds. 

Service is over: reset & ready facilities for 11:00 service.  We had a Bishop coming for confirmation, so I looked for the parking space sign that said "This Space Reserved for Bishop" but could not find it.  Fortunately, that Bishop is well able to take care of himself; still, it would've been a nice touch. 

Usually there is Sunday school between these two services, but not during the summer (which we've begun).  Enjoy talking with loose children of all ages.  Fill in at the nursery when the nursery attendant disappears briefly; begin room set-up for post-Confirmation reception. 

11:00 AM: Watch and participate in this service; sing offertory anthem with Choir; take Communion; secure offertory funds.  Attend reception; assist with clean-up; lock buildings, turn off lights, reset AC's, praying in each room as I leave it for Vacation Bible School activities which will take place there this week.  Deposit offertory funds at bank night depository.  It's about 1:30 when I am done. 

It's work that I truly do love doing.  And of course, the saving grace of being the VPOD (and being real new to the Vestry) is that at any time I can look up and find at least a few people who have done this work before and can answer any questions, help me find things or haul tables or locate a VCR or whatever.  And with joy, they do it.  I really do feel so blessed to be a part of it. 

____

* Funnily, I am at the right age/part of the country/who knows what, that the phrase that sounds easier in my head is "Vestryman of the Day."  But guess what (whispering), our vestry is more than half women!  Mwa ha ha!  Maybe we should be called the "Vestrywomen of the Day," right?  Because everyone would know that meant women AND men, right?  ;)

 

Church Stuff

Today, just a tiny little kerfuffle about who does what at the church.  Trust me to put my foot in it, right?  But I would rather be faulted for asking outright than for wondering silently...

I'm amazed at how much is done at my church by so few people...does that sound familiar to anyone?  Shall we sing another verse together?  Especially since all of our office staff are also dedicated and involved members of the church.

Ken and I went to a musical at a UMC church not far from our home church last weekend.  It was an enormous, gorgeous physical plant, clearly with many and amazing programs (I, um, notice these things).  I borrowed some literature and that night I read that they have twenty-six people on staff. But, wait!  Their website identifies by photo THIRTY-EIGHT staff members.   

Yeah, you read that right.  38.  I suppose they may not all be full-time, but still.  Holy SMOKES. 

We are not them and do not need to be them.  It would not be my choice for membership for many reasons, some of which I am sure I do not know.  It just has me thinking. 

God's Own Exams

250 Episcopal Seminarians, including My Favorite Seminarian, will be taking the General Ordination Exams (aka “God’s Own Exams”) this week.  The schedule looks like this:

Wednesday - Set 1 - Holy Scripture (9-12:30)

Wednesday - Set 2 - Ethics and Moral Theology (1:30-5)

Thursday - Set 3 - Christian Theology and Missiology (9-12:30)

Thursday - Set 4 - Contemporary Society (1:30-5)

Friday - Set 5 - Church History (1:30-5) - no set Fri. Morning

Saturday - Set 6 - Theory and Practice of Ministry (9-12:30)

Saturday - Set 7 - Liturgy and Music (1:30-5)

Here’s some info on the exams, and a study site with some actual exams.  Does it make you want to run away screaming…or go back to school??

Please keep these folks in your prayers this week…all are senior seminarians who have worked so hard to answer God’s call to ordained ministry. 

St. Francis, College Station

I often talk about the first place that became church to me as an adult...St. Francis Episcopal, College Station.  I love and miss it, even though I love and am devoted to my current church home. 

Often in my path I have thought, "Ah!  This is just where God wants me to be!  THIS is the pinnacle of what God's got for me, it couldn't get any better." 

Hee hee, says God, and shows me differently. 

I am featured in a "where are they now" article in the St. Francis Dance this month.  This link will take you to their website, and if you click "newsletter" on the lower left side of the page and then go to page 7 of the pdf file, you can see the story about me. 

But I am not what is so cool!  What is so cool...is what is going on there now.  Don't miss page 4, which reports on Children's Joy and the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd...a Montessori based program that formed my own spirituality to great extent. 

I have moved on, and they have moved on.  Yet their corporate life is still so crucial to me.  The Great Cloud of Witnesses only grows as we move along in life.  It is not always an easy path...there were about 8 years after I moved here that I grieved for my church home and could not find another.  Sometimes things are difficult; relationships get broken and people get hurt.  I am especially praying for a pastor friend in such a situation.  But...we keep on because that's our call. 

I just received an e-mail from Sally Williams, who was a leader in my (Houston) childhood church and a friend of my parents', and who had read my story in the St. Francis Dance...because she is now a member of that community! 

I truly believe God had me read in the local paper about the marvelous new organ at Church of the Annunciation in order to get me and Ken to head down the highway and check it out. 

Our Blessing of the Animals in honor of the Feast of St. Francis will be this Sunday at 2:30 p.m.  Josie and Boudreaux are excited and so am I! 

Thanks be to God!

I love to sit in the middle

For the second week in a row today I sat in the main sanctuary instead of up in the choir loft.  Mostly because I was running late both times, and we are not having formal choir during this month.

You know what...I love it.  I love being in the middle of people that I know and do not know (this is a big step for me!!); singing and hearing my voice make a difference; being close enough to see the faces. 

I'll go back to the loft when it is time.  But I love this season away. 

It's all about the relationships you build.

As I finished my prayers this morning and considered again the charmed few days that the RGBP Big Event Planning Group had together in Lawrenceville, I kept feeling tears come to my eyes.  How could I get so lucky to be involved with such an amazing group of women in ministry?  I didn't know that I hungered so for it, that I needed to know what I would learn from it, but it satisfies me in ways that nothing else does. 

My therapist says it this way, "You were ready for that connection and you opened yourself to it...and it came to you." 

You may know that for a living, I send kids on international education experiences.  In this context, I frequently quote St. Augustine:  "The world is a book, and the person who does not travel reads only one page." 

God's Christian church is the same way.  If I stayed in my Episcopalian shell all my life, I would only know that model and polity...and I'd only have my IDEAS about other denominations.  Ideas which are being proven wrong, inadequate, and lacking at every turn. 

For instance:  I never heard of the United Church of Christ before Revgals.  We don't have those much in my area.  "Church of Christ," a very popular denomination in this area, means something very, very, very, very different than UCC.  Oh golly, does it. 

"Baptist," to my uneducated mind, automatically meant "Southern Baptist."  Guess what?  There are lots of sorts of Baptist denominations.  I had a pre-conceived idea about "American Baptists," and could I have been more wrong?  Doubt it.  I am a little embarrassed to admit how ignorant I have been...I like to think of myself as an intelligent and well-read person.  Clearly, I have more learning to do! 

Another thing I say a great deal in my work is this:  "It's all about the relationships you build."  I believe this is our best hope for a peaceful future, on the theory (stolen from Senator J. William Fulbright) that if we can send people to work and learn and study together, we won't have to do so much killing of each other in the long run.  The program born out of Fulbright's dream is now 61 years old, and more than 250,000 persons have studied, learned, and built relationships across national boundaries. 

Perhaps...ecumenical groups like RG are, then, an opportunity to hope for a peaceful and united church.  I don't mean ecumenical groups with that as the primary purpose...but groups like ours that have a very specific mission:  to support and encourage women in and heading for ordained ministry.  As we work toward that mission, we create loving, supportive relationships, and learn that our differences and divisions are not so large...or that they are very large...and how can these be worked around? 

God our Father, Mother, and Brother, be with us us as we minister to your world and to each other.  Direct us in the ways that you would have us go.  Love us when we make mistakes and have kerfuffles.  Remind us why we are here. 

Thanks a lot, God. 

Today in Church...

Today in church...

• Heard an awfully fine sermon from My Favorite Seminarian, one which has convicted me that I need to seriously consider and pray about going on our annual mission trip to Navajoland next summer.  Oh, my, there are so many reasons why I haven't gone along on this trip.  In the meantime, as she preached I remembered an uncomfortable conversation I had with God as a teenager, "I want to be a Christian, and all, but I don't want to be a MISSIONARY."  (Trust me, I know that one week in Bluff, Utah does not a missionary make!)
• We had a visiting priest - a woman!  I think she was there because our rector had planned to be out of town.  I had the delight of seeing a woman deacon and a woman Gospeller, two separate people serving AT THE SAME TIME.  Such visions are few and far between around here. 
• My friend S. was there!  She is scheduled to deliver her third child by Caesarean tomorrow.  This is a sweet baby girl who we initially feared would come very early...like, at 32 weeks.  But she has gone to full term and that is a great blessing!  She had baby Emma with her (9 months) and looked great. 
• My friend C. and her family were there, too...my first time to meet her newly adopted daughter from China.  A darling baby! 
• The announcements took for-freaking-ever
• Fr. David carried on the conversational tone from the announcements to the Eucharistic table by going off on a long riff about when or whether we should kneel or stand during Eucharistic Prayer C, and why.  Mercy!
• As I left the loft for communion, our wonderful organist signalled to me to pass her the hymnal she needed for the Eucharistic hymn.  Since she was improvising with one hand, I offered to open the book for her.  "What page?" I hissed.  "861," she said.  I took about forever to get it open and place on the rack in front of her.  (She was improvising all this time.)  She looked puzzledly at the music, which was an arrangment of "In Paradisum," the part of the funeral service that is chanted at the committal.  Then she started flipping back to get to the CORRECT piece, numbered 816.  Much more appropriate for a communion hymn. 
• I had to stop on the stairs and laugh hysterically at the idea of folks wondering why they were hearing "In Paradisum" at the Eucharist. 
• Sally (organist) didn't need my help, clearly.  She could improvise for hours while finding her own page number plus cooking a full Italian meal and diapering a baby.
• After church we went into the chapel and tied knots in a flannel prayer blanket for my friend Janet.  You have probably seen this done...each knot contains a prayer.  Here's a photo of some folks knotting one...ours will have to be washed and sterilized before it can be given to her, because the chemo is going to wreck her immune system.  But the prayers will certainly not wash out. 
• 
• On the way to church I cross the Lake Lewisville bridge.  That lake - is 9 feet above its "full" level.  That lake - was very, very close to that bridge. 
• It's starting to rain again.

Solemn Evensong

Our rector, Fr. David Holland, celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on Sunday night.  We had a Solemn Evensong followed by a gala reception (champagne, cheesecake of every description, a chocolate fountain...!) and speeches.

The music was beautiful (if I do say so).  We did two special anthems: a Magnificat and an Ave Maria.  We chanted Canticle 5: the Nunc Dimittis, as well as the Psalm, Creed, Suffrages, Lord's Prayer...

We closed with the traditional version of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, one of my favorites:

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee, and hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name, thou wilt be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting.  Amen. 

The Spirit of the Lord was moving so powerfully that night, and our emotions were very close to the surface.   

Fr. David's wife Gina, a breast cancer survivor, has very recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  She has entered an experimental treatment program at Medical City Dallas, starting yesterday.  The Hollands have served our parish for the last 16 years, along with their three children, now all young adults.  This family picture is from Easter 2004. 

Won't you please keep the Holland family...which includes all of us at the Church of the Annunciation...in your prayers?  That God will fulfill his perfect will in Gina and in every one of us, and that we will be Christ's body to the Hollands as they have been to us over the years.

Thanks be to God.