Thanks Anitra for the prompt to get us blogging again :) I am doing really well! I just finished my 2nd full week at Family and Children's and I am loving it. My official title is Family Support Specialist and basically and I am the social service side of the educational component that the child receives in Head Start. Before getting hired I was getting really depressed and down, but God does work in mysterious ways and has come through yet again. Resurrection experiences abound!
Anyway, that's about it for now. I hope you all are well. I miss you my friends!
Christ is Risen!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
News from Wilbur
Hello friends -
Finally some news from Wilbur. I am sure you were all waiting with bated breath :) Everything is prepped and ready for Holy Week. Now all I have to do is lead the services. One of my parishoners that was on the PNC asked if I was planning on giving the Easter sermon from my DVD when they hired me. I took that as a sign, as she was really interested in the rest of the congregation hearing it, so that took some major pressure off. So on Sunday it will be "This is Easter" again.
Lars and I continue to enjoy Wilbur. We are eagerly awaiting Spring. I have lots of greenery coming up from my bulbs but no flowers yet. When they arrive I will post pictures. Lars and I are trying to grow a lawn and that is proving to be harder than it looks. We have sprouted some flamingos though (a fundraising event for the Miss Wilbur pagent.)
Lars is working as a cook most evenings. It is going ok. He is on the lookout for something better and will probably work at the pool this summer.
I am doing ok. Ministry is so much work. Note to self - don't try to write all the Holy Week services that week. Lars and I are headed to Kennewick to visit my folks after church on Sunday and are taking a few days off there which is good. On the whole I am happy, but also feeling a bit tired. I am looking forward to things slowing down and some vacation time in the summer.
Around the house, our new dog Milo keeps us all entertained. He is always on a lap or bugging a cat. We sure enjoy his bright spirit in the house as we await warmer weather.
Well, I hope that everyone is doing well. Easter blessings to you all!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
A new member of the SFTS family
Hey everyone~
Here's some good news I just got ahold of. Rich, Becky and Austin Poole have a new addition to their family. I don't have the details except that his name is William. Maybe someone can bug Rich for the details and a picture.
Missing you all this Holy Week and hope you all are having a wonderful one.
Blessings
Cheryl
Here's some good news I just got ahold of. Rich, Becky and Austin Poole have a new addition to their family. I don't have the details except that his name is William. Maybe someone can bug Rich for the details and a picture.
Missing you all this Holy Week and hope you all are having a wonderful one.
Blessings
Cheryl
Hello - anyone out there?
Things have gone quiet lately but I imagine there is much going on in our lives. Has Alex & Heather moved yet? How goes the work with Family Support, Jen? Heather and James and Harold - this is your first holy week as pastors! Going well? Good enough? Watcha doing to celebrate the high holy days? Stephanie - send more pictures now that the snow has melted? Are the birds back on the pond? Cheryl, Bob - log in - how goes the search? Robert Hattle - finish signing up and tell us good news from Ghost Ranch! Aimee - send up more news - what is day to day life like in Switzerland?
And for everyone who is reading:
What is going on in your life that feels like Good Friday?
What is going on that feels like Easter?
And for everyone who is reading:
What is going on in your life that feels like Good Friday?
What is going on that feels like Easter?
Monday, March 26, 2007
2007 SFTS Alumni Reunion
We all qualify for this!2007 Alumni Reunion 'Save the date'... the SFTS Alumni Reunion will be held April 19-21, 2007, for all graduates, with special recognition for the classes of 1957, 1982, and 1997 as they celebrate their 50th, 25th and 10th anniversaries. Click here for registration and program information:
Friday, March 23, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
What an amazing thing!
I planted tomato and basil seeds last weekend. For five days they did whatever they did in secret and then on the sixth day they started popping up. In the morning, there was just three of them - their little stems bent over but starting to straighten up. By the end of the day almost all the tomatoes were up and out. Now they are tall enough that they follow the sun. I walk into the kitchen where I keep them in a greenhouse window thing that hangs out over the sink and I can see all of them leaning into the morning sunlight.
Dana is out visiting on her last spring break before graduating.... the last school holiday. I'm getting very sentimental on the thought that she'll get a real job with limited vacations and then I won't see her as much any more. Also becoming rather terrified about the idea of her moving into a place of her own and having to figure out for herself how to do the furniture, food, pots & pans, rent, utilities, etc. I cried hard when I dropped her off for the first day of kindergarten (its a mom thing) - now look at this! How did my mother ever let me go?
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
and I'll always remember you like a child, girl
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
and I'll always remember you like a child, girl
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Another graduation...and the Pope
It's hard to believe that just nine months after I received my last diploma, I've already gotten another one. The way the program works here, about two-thirds of the students graduate from the "graduate school" at the end of February and go home, leaving the 10 masters students to fend for themselves during the spring semester. So a couple of weeks ago, we had a graduation ceremony, and here's me receiving my diploma for the graduate school - the guy shaking my hand is the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia. (I might mention that he didn't whisper anything in my ear when he shook my hand.)
Before we got our diplomas, though, the whole lot of us went to Rome for a visit with the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity - and to meet the Pope, sort of. In previous years, Bossey students have participated in a "general audience" with the Pope, meaning they sit in a room with 12,000 other screaming fans (literally - it was like a football game with people getting up and offering the Pope "cheers" from their various countries or organizations) and then get a group photo taken with him after. Sadly, this year the Bossey students only got to see the Popemaster General from afar - no group photo. Seen here, he's shaking the hand of Bossey's director, which is as close as we got. The blond head in front is one of our students from Germany. I didn't take this photo - I was a few rows farther back...but you get the idea.
Thanks, everyone, for posting all your news! It helps me feel a little closer to my SFTS family (can you believe it's been a year since we were starting to plan baccalaureate???).
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Grist for the Mill
There have been a few interesting resources coming into my life lately that I'd like to share with you. The first is a book by William Willimon. Its titled simply, "Pastor". I'm only through the introduction so far and have already found it to be helpful, inspiring, and timely. I will recommend it to you all as "continuing education."
The second is one I found today in my search for resources to lead our process for discernment about becoming an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation (think More Light). This is a beginning place for looking at the scriptural basis of conversations around human sexuality, LGBT issues, and the church. I believe it will lead one to further helpful articles and links. It might be useful for those who need or want to talk openly about these issues with their congregations, Presbyteries, and CsOM. See it at
http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-walter-wink
Finally, I thank you all who came to Kenwood on Feb. 18, who called or wrote, or who have simply prayed for me on that most wonderful day, or since then. You continue to bless and inspire me!
The second is one I found today in my search for resources to lead our process for discernment about becoming an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation (think More Light). This is a beginning place for looking at the scriptural basis of conversations around human sexuality, LGBT issues, and the church. I believe it will lead one to further helpful articles and links. It might be useful for those who need or want to talk openly about these issues with their congregations, Presbyteries, and CsOM. See it at
http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-walter-wink
Finally, I thank you all who came to Kenwood on Feb. 18, who called or wrote, or who have simply prayed for me on that most wonderful day, or since then. You continue to bless and inspire me!
Howdy from Holland
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Hey Everybody!
The little yellow house you see is our new home. If you look closely, you'll see the newest edition to our family, Ferdinand the snow blower. And if you look very very closely you can see a tiny little twig just to the left of the driveway. That's an oak tree that sprang up in our former abode on Ross Avenue way back when. Jim has nurtured that little tree for lo, these many years and by golly, we brought it with us to CA. I think the last leaf finally "let go" a few days ago!
Once the snow melts (if ever) we look forward to having the yard landscaped since there is really nothing there but dirt! Next door (just to your right) is an empty lot; behind us is a little lake which hosts scurrying geese and ducks and a few high-stepping herons. They've all gone away since the lake is now frozen.
Jim is still in CA but will be striking out to come this way after he finishes service at San Francisco Towers on March 18. I tell you, it has been a real eye-opener and challenge to face all this newness without him right here. Cell phone conversations with 3 hour time differences just aren't the same as having your sweetie right here! However, this experience has made me have a whole new appreciation for those who live alone. I also have a greater empathy for those military families whose loved ones are so far away, facing the attrocities of this seemingly never-ending war. At least I know that our geographical separation has a definite ending; these families demonstrate real courage -- and I keep them in my prayers daily!
I also check the blogpot daily -- just to see your sweet familiar faces in the great ordination photos from James' special day (thanks, Cheryl!) and to keep in touch. I'll try not to be such a lurker -- much love and every blessing!
Friday, March 02, 2007
James Ordination!
The Rev. James Kosko
Ok so better late than never. I have finally gotten my act together to get this post done. Everyone please feel free to add your comments about the ordination. Although it was probably the longest ordination I've been to yet it was worth every minute to get to see James loved on and affirmed by such a great cloud of witnesses.
Ok so now I've done my part all-be-it a little sloppily (I'll get the hang of it someday) Who knew it wouldn't put the pictures where I wanted them but you all get the idea anyway.
Love to you all, can't wait for the next one!
Cheryl
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Katrina News
The Presbyterian News Service has written up and posted, with photos and video, how recovery is going in Katrinaland. There is a rather distressingly long video of a car drive through the now non-existent 9th ward
To view the stories - please click here.
If you want to see an astounding video of the storm and the surge coming ashore into Biloxi then click here
There is an interesting analysis of the storm's impact on Biloxi and D'Iberville at the The Weather underground - and a very personal story of how the storm was deeply devastating to the community of St. Martins just east of D'Ibeville.
A story that haunts me comes from this site:
"One of the odd things that has occur ed since the storm, probably due to continuing issues with bringing the phone system back online, is that the sub station regularly receives 911 calls from locations that currently are nothing but slabs, from these areas. Answering the call, there is only static on the other end. There is a list of addresses, numbering about 20 in total, hung up on the wall for the dispatcher, noting these locations. We think that possibly the last calls from these locations were 911 calls, and are somehow still electronically in the memory or database of the phone system."
To view the stories - please click here.
If you want to see an astounding video of the storm and the surge coming ashore into Biloxi then click here
There is an interesting analysis of the storm's impact on Biloxi and D'Iberville at the The Weather underground - and a very personal story of how the storm was deeply devastating to the community of St. Martins just east of D'Ibeville.
A story that haunts me comes from this site:
"One of the odd things that has occur ed since the storm, probably due to continuing issues with bringing the phone system back online, is that the sub station regularly receives 911 calls from locations that currently are nothing but slabs, from these areas. Answering the call, there is only static on the other end. There is a list of addresses, numbering about 20 in total, hung up on the wall for the dispatcher, noting these locations. We think that possibly the last calls from these locations were 911 calls, and are somehow still electronically in the memory or database of the phone system."
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
A Red Letter Day!
Dear Friends,
February 18, 2007 was quite a day for ordinations! Blessings to James & Mary as they venture out into their new life of ministry! And congratulations and blessings for Paul Phillips who was also ordained in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy on the very same day. Paul will be serving at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis MO as chaplain. The hospital, I believe is somehow affiliated with Presbyterians. Leanne Van Dyk, former prof of Systematic Theology at SFTS and current Dean/VP of Western Theological Seminary was also ordained on Sunday, February 18. So all-in-all, it was a RED letter day to be sure. I attended Leanne's ordination and felt that I was standing amidst a great cloud of witnesses in the chapel at Western -- and somehow felt a sweet connection to the ordinations of James and Paul. Call it a Spirit thing!
The man who preached at Leanne's ordination used to serve on the board of trustees at SFTS and was part of the search committee who called her to SFTS back in ?? and is now pastor of Westminster Presbyterian, Grand Rapids. Leanne has an identical twin sister who was there too -- kinda freaky in a good kind of way. Leanne and Greg Love are pals -- in fact, Leanne encouraged Greg to apply for the position at SFTS way back when. Interestingly (to me), he, too, has an identical twin. BUT they didn't know that about each other -- luckily, yours truly was able to make that connection for them! Another man with whom I spoke (Don Butyne) at Leanne's ordination was on the faculty at SFTS for 8 years and served as interim dean for 3 of those years. So I felt very close to my community at SFTS even though I am, at times, what seems light years away.
But that's for another blog. For now, I just wanted to let you know about the other ordinations. Think of you all often and send you loads of love!! Keep in touch when you can!!
February 18, 2007 was quite a day for ordinations! Blessings to James & Mary as they venture out into their new life of ministry! And congratulations and blessings for Paul Phillips who was also ordained in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy on the very same day. Paul will be serving at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis MO as chaplain. The hospital, I believe is somehow affiliated with Presbyterians. Leanne Van Dyk, former prof of Systematic Theology at SFTS and current Dean/VP of Western Theological Seminary was also ordained on Sunday, February 18. So all-in-all, it was a RED letter day to be sure. I attended Leanne's ordination and felt that I was standing amidst a great cloud of witnesses in the chapel at Western -- and somehow felt a sweet connection to the ordinations of James and Paul. Call it a Spirit thing!
The man who preached at Leanne's ordination used to serve on the board of trustees at SFTS and was part of the search committee who called her to SFTS back in ?? and is now pastor of Westminster Presbyterian, Grand Rapids. Leanne has an identical twin sister who was there too -- kinda freaky in a good kind of way. Leanne and Greg Love are pals -- in fact, Leanne encouraged Greg to apply for the position at SFTS way back when. Interestingly (to me), he, too, has an identical twin. BUT they didn't know that about each other -- luckily, yours truly was able to make that connection for them! Another man with whom I spoke (Don Butyne) at Leanne's ordination was on the faculty at SFTS for 8 years and served as interim dean for 3 of those years. So I felt very close to my community at SFTS even though I am, at times, what seems light years away.
But that's for another blog. For now, I just wanted to let you know about the other ordinations. Think of you all often and send you loads of love!! Keep in touch when you can!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Jenn's Update
Today there are over 800 jobs posted on the Church Leadership Connection...yet nothing has worked out. However, I just had an interview with Family and Children's Services in Tulsa, OK and it was great! They affirmed me and my gifts and wanted me...and I want to be involved in their mission! I haven't felt this happy, calm and complete about something in such a long time.
The position is a Family Support Specialist, which basically means that I am working with families and parents that have kids in Head Start and Early Head Start (infants start at 6 weeks). I go on home visits and form relationships with both kids and adults, helping them set goals and giving them resources they might not otherwise get. I am really excited and I thought I would share this with my friends :) While it's not an ordained call, I really do feel like this is a call to ministry and I believe God's hand is there guiding this endeavor.
I miss you all! Take care and God bless :)
The position is a Family Support Specialist, which basically means that I am working with families and parents that have kids in Head Start and Early Head Start (infants start at 6 weeks). I go on home visits and form relationships with both kids and adults, helping them set goals and giving them resources they might not otherwise get. I am really excited and I thought I would share this with my friends :) While it's not an ordained call, I really do feel like this is a call to ministry and I believe God's hand is there guiding this endeavor.
I miss you all! Take care and God bless :)
Friday, February 23, 2007
I love Italy - Their Food Sings
Sooner or later somebody (Cheryl, pictures?) will post on the Grand Ordination of The Rev. James Kosko (a 3 hour extravaganza and truely a great love-a-thon) and the debrief in the bar afterwards but in the meantime:
I found this on another blog (on cheese making, natch) and fell in love....
I found this on another blog (on cheese making, natch) and fell in love....
Friday, February 16, 2007
Time for a little "Oneness" in the Body
I finally got all signed up and back on the Blog (Thank you Anitra!)
In light of all the split/leaving talk in the PC(USA) I thought we might all appreciate a little "Good News"
I haven't checked out all the particulars yet but this looks like a good thing to me.
http://www.christianchurchestogether.org/news/070209.html
Looking forward to seeing some of you on Sunday at James ordination!
In light of all the split/leaving talk in the PC(USA) I thought we might all appreciate a little "Good News"
I haven't checked out all the particulars yet but this looks like a good thing to me.
http://www.christianchurchestogether.org/news/070209.html
Looking forward to seeing some of you on Sunday at James ordination!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Jepsen Update
Hello friends -
Lars and I are slogging through winter. It is finally warming up (38!) and most of the snow has melted. Our back yard was nothing but weeds when we bought the place so now it is a big mud patch. I go out to walk the dog and I fall out of my clogs. We need to look into some grass. Either way we are both eager for the arrival of Spring. We planted lots of bulbs when we got here and I can not wait to see their happy faces.
Lars finally got a job. He is working as a cook at "The Homestead". It is one of our restaurants - the only one that doesn't specialize in burgers. He is making steaks and pizzas and seems to be enjoying himself.
We are busy inside the house while we wait for Spring. We ripped up our bedroom carpet yesterday to finally get down to our hardwood floor. God only knows why there were so many staples but Lars and I finally got everything cleared. It looks awesome.
Church is going OK. Some of you saw my short lived post on an issue with parishoners. We had a run in about the authority of Scripture. Much to my surprise they are still attending. The session has voted to no longer be a Confessing Church so that is good. Admist the division talk I am glad that they heard my call for working together. This job is difficult and I am constantly lamenting how unprepared I am from my time in seminary. There is just such a disconnect from the way we are trained to be pastors and what the work actually requires of us. Oh well - "I will, with God's help"
Hope you all are well. Thanks for your care and concern. I miss you - and Anitra - what I wouldn't give for a Mount Tam Pale Ale and some Onion Rings - thanks for the picture.
- Heather
Lars and I are slogging through winter. It is finally warming up (38!) and most of the snow has melted. Our back yard was nothing but weeds when we bought the place so now it is a big mud patch. I go out to walk the dog and I fall out of my clogs. We need to look into some grass. Either way we are both eager for the arrival of Spring. We planted lots of bulbs when we got here and I can not wait to see their happy faces.
Lars finally got a job. He is working as a cook at "The Homestead". It is one of our restaurants - the only one that doesn't specialize in burgers. He is making steaks and pizzas and seems to be enjoying himself.
We are busy inside the house while we wait for Spring. We ripped up our bedroom carpet yesterday to finally get down to our hardwood floor. God only knows why there were so many staples but Lars and I finally got everything cleared. It looks awesome.
Church is going OK. Some of you saw my short lived post on an issue with parishoners. We had a run in about the authority of Scripture. Much to my surprise they are still attending. The session has voted to no longer be a Confessing Church so that is good. Admist the division talk I am glad that they heard my call for working together. This job is difficult and I am constantly lamenting how unprepared I am from my time in seminary. There is just such a disconnect from the way we are trained to be pastors and what the work actually requires of us. Oh well - "I will, with God's help"
Hope you all are well. Thanks for your care and concern. I miss you - and Anitra - what I wouldn't give for a Mount Tam Pale Ale and some Onion Rings - thanks for the picture.
- Heather
Monday, February 12, 2007
Upgrades, Ordinations, & Podcasts
We are officially upgraded to the new blog. If y'all want to post, you'll encounter the update process. Please let me know if you have any problems!!!!
James Kosko's ordination is coming up this sunday in Kenwood. (Which is in between Santa Rosa and Sonoma if you didn't know this...) At last count there should be about eight or nine of us in attendance. There are plans to go out afterwards in search of appropriate beverage and food.
I've taught myself how to do podcasts and how have two podcasts on Itunes - and also available for mp3 downloads. Please come visit the Covenant Network site for the mp3 version and do a search in Itunes on Covenant Network for the full flavor w pictures version. There are two presentations - one is an interview of Margaret Towner, the first woman ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church(USA) and the more I listen to it the more in awe I am of how this has taken place. Read it in text or listen to it - I think its important to know how this came to take place. The other podcast is a really great sermon from Lisa Larges, the regional director of That All May Freely Serve. She does a very nice job of laying out a tough message with humor and compassion. Please come visit - and if you blog or have friends who blog, please suggest that they too come visit these presentations.
If you are following the New Wineskins - they have met, they have asked a sister denomination Evangelical Presbyterians to open a non-continoues Presbytery for congregations wishing to leave the PCUSA, and will meet again in a few months or so. Leslie Scanlon has some good coverage at Presbyterian Outlook (free, but registration required). You might also be interested in visiting the Presbyterians for Renewal website, and the Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership. Or you might just go get another cup of coffee.
James Kosko's ordination is coming up this sunday in Kenwood. (Which is in between Santa Rosa and Sonoma if you didn't know this...) At last count there should be about eight or nine of us in attendance. There are plans to go out afterwards in search of appropriate beverage and food.
I've taught myself how to do podcasts and how have two podcasts on Itunes - and also available for mp3 downloads. Please come visit the Covenant Network site for the mp3 version and do a search in Itunes on Covenant Network for the full flavor w pictures version. There are two presentations - one is an interview of Margaret Towner, the first woman ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church(USA) and the more I listen to it the more in awe I am of how this has taken place. Read it in text or listen to it - I think its important to know how this came to take place. The other podcast is a really great sermon from Lisa Larges, the regional director of That All May Freely Serve. She does a very nice job of laying out a tough message with humor and compassion. Please come visit - and if you blog or have friends who blog, please suggest that they too come visit these presentations.
If you are following the New Wineskins - they have met, they have asked a sister denomination Evangelical Presbyterians to open a non-continoues Presbytery for congregations wishing to leave the PCUSA, and will meet again in a few months or so. Leslie Scanlon has some good coverage at Presbyterian Outlook (free, but registration required). You might also be interested in visiting the Presbyterians for Renewal website, and the Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership. Or you might just go get another cup of coffee.
Monday, February 05, 2007
God Bless Cliff Kirkpatrick
Hi again, folks -
The stated clerk and executive director of the GAC of the PCUSA sent out this letter to all congregations in response to the potential defection of churches in coming weeks.
http://www.pcusa.org/oga/newsstories/christs-unity.htm
It is so odd to be spending all my time studying the unity of the global church, all the while my own denomination is potentially splitting once again.
The stated clerk and executive director of the GAC of the PCUSA sent out this letter to all congregations in response to the potential defection of churches in coming weeks.
http://www.pcusa.org/oga/newsstories/christs-unity.htm
It is so odd to be spending all my time studying the unity of the global church, all the while my own denomination is potentially splitting once again.
Transitions
I'm preaching on The Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday in about two weeks...hm... the same day as the ordination of James... I wonder, will his face glow after the laying on of hands? Should we be offering to build booths in the sanctuary?
I have never quite "got" why either the Transfiguration passage was significant nor why it rates its own Sunday in the lectionary till I started digging into it all this morning. I think I may suffer from way too many sermons on Peter's alleged point of view, "Wow, cool, let's hang out here, what do you mean go back down the mountain?" You may remember James Noel's riff on the passage during graduation weekend.
In the lectionary, it will always be preached because it closes out Epiphany. Depending on the whole Easter moon calendar calculation Epiphay can run up to eight weeks, but not always. Transfiguration Sunday is the override passage, the tip-down passage. Its like when I've been flying for a very long time and then there is this subtle shift in the alignment of the airplane. Subtle and unmistakable - I call it the tip down moment and its the signal that not only have we started to approach the airport, its a good time to make that last run for the bathroom before those seatbelt lights are turned on overhead...
Bill and I took the weekend off and rented a room in a hotel in the financial district of San Francisco. We walked all over the city - we enjoy walking and looking at neighborhoods. We had a nice view - we looked toward North Beach and Telegraph Hill. We saw the twin spires of Saints Peter and Paul highlighted against the sky. They have an open design - they are translucent even as they point toward heaven. They glowed in the twilight of dawn and dusk and were the first to emerge and the last to disappear into the darkness.
So clearly, I am rehersing/exploring themes for the sermon yet to be written - but thus is the nature perhaps of blogging or writing or streams of thoughts at any rate. What I really want to do in this blog entry is to tell you that we took the ferry over and back out of Larkspur and - of course - stopped for lunch at the brewpub.
We sat outside in the late winter sunlight - ordered up beer and burgers off the same menu that we have all used for years and I remembered all the meals with all of you I have enjoyed in that place. I ate too much and became bloated with beer, onion rings, and pastrame sandwiches. Then we got in the car and drove back home to Santa Rosa.
Is it possible to go back? Or to stay too long? Or is it good to transition in stages? Even though none of you were there with me in person, you were there with me in translucent memory. Did I shine with a strange new light or just glow with the mild sunburn I had picked up from the three days of city hiking and ferry riding we'd just completed. Santa Rosa is certainly not the hills of Calvary - but I found that I can't eat at the brewpub like I used to. My body is starting to rebel at the presence of all that meat and fat. Or perhaps its not a rebellion but an awakening to a needed change.
What can we take with us? What must we leave behind? What awaits us? The Gospel speaks with the Law and the Prophets, the Grand Plan is put into place - and Peter just tries to figure out how to be a good disciple.
Peace - I miss you all very much.
Anitra
ps - I'm going to add a note to the end of the entry on switching to the New and Improved Blogger so if you are wondering where we are with that conversation, check back to there.
I have never quite "got" why either the Transfiguration passage was significant nor why it rates its own Sunday in the lectionary till I started digging into it all this morning. I think I may suffer from way too many sermons on Peter's alleged point of view, "Wow, cool, let's hang out here, what do you mean go back down the mountain?" You may remember James Noel's riff on the passage during graduation weekend.
In the lectionary, it will always be preached because it closes out Epiphany. Depending on the whole Easter moon calendar calculation Epiphay can run up to eight weeks, but not always. Transfiguration Sunday is the override passage, the tip-down passage. Its like when I've been flying for a very long time and then there is this subtle shift in the alignment of the airplane. Subtle and unmistakable - I call it the tip down moment and its the signal that not only have we started to approach the airport, its a good time to make that last run for the bathroom before those seatbelt lights are turned on overhead...
Bill and I took the weekend off and rented a room in a hotel in the financial district of San Francisco. We walked all over the city - we enjoy walking and looking at neighborhoods. We had a nice view - we looked toward North Beach and Telegraph Hill. We saw the twin spires of Saints Peter and Paul highlighted against the sky. They have an open design - they are translucent even as they point toward heaven. They glowed in the twilight of dawn and dusk and were the first to emerge and the last to disappear into the darkness.
So clearly, I am rehersing/exploring themes for the sermon yet to be written - but thus is the nature perhaps of blogging or writing or streams of thoughts at any rate. What I really want to do in this blog entry is to tell you that we took the ferry over and back out of Larkspur and - of course - stopped for lunch at the brewpub.
We sat outside in the late winter sunlight - ordered up beer and burgers off the same menu that we have all used for years and I remembered all the meals with all of you I have enjoyed in that place. I ate too much and became bloated with beer, onion rings, and pastrame sandwiches. Then we got in the car and drove back home to Santa Rosa.Is it possible to go back? Or to stay too long? Or is it good to transition in stages? Even though none of you were there with me in person, you were there with me in translucent memory. Did I shine with a strange new light or just glow with the mild sunburn I had picked up from the three days of city hiking and ferry riding we'd just completed. Santa Rosa is certainly not the hills of Calvary - but I found that I can't eat at the brewpub like I used to. My body is starting to rebel at the presence of all that meat and fat. Or perhaps its not a rebellion but an awakening to a needed change.
What can we take with us? What must we leave behind? What awaits us? The Gospel speaks with the Law and the Prophets, the Grand Plan is put into place - and Peter just tries to figure out how to be a good disciple.
Peace - I miss you all very much.
Anitra
ps - I'm going to add a note to the end of the entry on switching to the New and Improved Blogger so if you are wondering where we are with that conversation, check back to there.
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