It's Late August

It's late August, but this will do:

Various and Sundry

The Trinity Sunday sermon is finished.   I'm focusing more on the worship aspect than the actual Trinity thing, because, really, anything more than three-in-one-and-one-in-three will get you in trouble.  But focusing on the worship of God never poses that problem.

I actually finished next week Wednesday's Word.  It has to do with a right fit, and sometimes you're just inspired.

I'm working on our parish website issues -- we can do better, it's just a matter of figuring out how to do it better.

And I have a bunch of stuff to clear off the desk.

So that's the day.

Odd

So this is odd.

I was logging into my blog and, just for the fun of it, started poking around the stats page -- looking at when I had high traffic and from whence it came.

It turns out that, next to the U.S., I'm receiving more visits from Russia and Ukraine than from anywhere else in the world.

I'm not sure what that's all about.  Maybe I need to start paying more attention to that Russian-Ukrainian conflict thing going on over there.

I'm also wondering what on earth a relatively insignificant priest in a small Oregon city has to say about God, religion, faith and football that could possibly attract people from Russia and Ukraine.

As the song says, "How bizarre."

Pizza

Sometimes we do things not knowing why we did them until later.

Today was the regular monthly meeting of The Usual Suspects (mainline clergy).  We get together over lunch, talk about life in general and just have a place to be with each other.  Today, though, was more of a business meeting as we began discussing our annual ecumenical Good Friday service.

I normally order a sandwich, but I decided to get a small pizza instead (Canadian bacon and pineapple).  But I forgot that a "small" pizza serves two, and a "mini" pizza serves one.  So I got a box to take the rest home for breakfast tomorrow morning.

This afternoon a homeless man walked in wanting to know if we had any canned food.

"Nope," I said.  "But if you're hungry, I've got half a pizza you can have."

And that, apparently, is why I ordered the "small" and not the "mini."

Signs of the times?

Several weeks ago, a women's group booked the parish hall for their annual event on the morning of Saturday, 1/24.

My organist died on Monday.  His funeral will be held the afternoon of Saturday, 1/24.

Yesterday there was a phone call from one of the members of the aforementioned women's group miffed that we were scheduling a funeral the same day as their annual party -- because they want time after the event to mix and mingle and don't want the funeral to interfere with that.  And, besides, they booked the room first.

The short answer:  Find another place to mix and mingle.

And on a sports talk show I listen to in the mornings, the guys were talking about NFL coaches who were unsuccessful in their first job but found success in their second job.  Some of the coaches who fell into this category were Dick Vermeil, Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin, John Gruden and Bill Belichik.  As a matter of record, Pete Carroll is the only coach in NFL history to take his third team to a Super Bowl and win it (having coached the NY Jets and NE Patriots before going to USC).

It would appear, then, that sometimes things are better the second time around.

Home Again

Last Thursday the Ref Family drove up to Salem.  I had to be there for our annual diocesan convention.  While I attended to business on Thursday evening and Friday morning, Mrs. Ref and The Kid hung out at the hotel.

Friday morning I introduced the nominees for a variety of diocesan positions.  I was on the ballot for Standing Committee.  After voting, the bishop of the Diocese of Idaho made his keynote presentation.  I don't know the man, but he was very good and I think I would enjoy serving under him.  We then broke for Eucharist.

All in all, that was okay.  Things went relatively well, there were only a few minor glitches.  But I gotta tell you, I'm not a big fan of jazz Eucharists.

Immediately after the service, the family headed out for our long drive to Mrs. Ref's mom's house for the funeral.  If you missed it, my grandmother-in-law died and her service (which I officiated) was this past Saturday.  Due to weather, we arrived late Friday.

During the trip, I was informed that I did not win the election for Standing Committee.  And that was not disappointing news.

Also during the trip, I did some low-level evangelism.  We stopped for lunch at a fast food place and, while standing in line, a worker who was on her break said, "You're a priest, aren't you?"  (I hadn't changed before leaving the convention)

I affirmed I was, and she said, "I need to find a priest to confess my sins and stuff and get right with God."  We chatted for a bit, she got her lunch, I got ours and we ate.  Before I left, though, I gave her one of my business cards with some key words to google for an Episcopal church in the area.  Who knows?  It might work.

Saturday was taken up with the funeral and family things.

Sunday we drove home.  The roads weren't nearly as bad as they were Friday, so we got home at a decent hour.

Monday I was back on the road to a meeting in Cottage Grove.

And today I'm attempting to get caught up with everything that's piled up over those few days:  vestry agenda, bulletins, Christmas music, and drop in visits.

And that's how I've spent my last few days.  Advent is two weeks away.

Space History

Tomorrow, November 12, the European Space Agency is scheduled to land a probe onto a comet.

I'm probably going to miss the live transmission/broadcast, but this is way cool.  Here's a video for your enjoyment and information.

Prison Ministry?

A few weeks ago I received a letter from an inmate at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Facility.  In that letter he said that he was most likely to be released to our area in three years, was there an N/A group (he's a recovering addict) and could he tell me more about the church?

I replied back saying that there were groups that met here, but couldn't promise it would still be going in three years, and I enclosed a few TEC brochures.

I received another letter from him today.  He wants to know if I can fix him up with an N/A sponsor and would I be willing to be his spiritual mentor.

How do these people find me?

Not to be cynical, but . . .

I had a couple come in asking for help with gas last week.  Nothing unusual there.

What was unusual was that they said they wanted to make a new start and do things right.  That meant attending church and could I tell them about mine.

I talked with them for 30-45 minutes.  Besides wanting to attend church, they were also wondering if I would do marriage counseling with them.  Yes, they knew they were already married, but they could benefit from going through classes as a good starting point toward doing things right.

I gave them an overview of the church, and that, yes, I would meet with them for the marriage prep classes.

They left and said they would see me on Sunday.

They were not in attendance today.  And, honestly, when I told them that the Episcopal church looked a lot like the Roman Catholic Church and the husband said, "I like the Catholic services when I was at San Quentin," I really didn't expect to see them in the pews today.

Perfect Day

So today was the perfect day, weather-wise anyway.

I woke up to a 47 degree morning and a slight chill in the air.  The high for today will reach 85.

Today was pure awesomeness.

Good Day

'Twas a good day, today, it was.

In short:  Pentecost, balloons, a sea of red, artwork from the Boys & Girls Club, visitors from our partner school who put a face to our efforts, Pentecost potluck with food from all over the globe, and a half-decent sermon.

But now . . . it be nap time.

Husbandly duties

Mrs. Ref and I purchased a smoked turkey from the local meat shop a few days ago.  While she is in Reno this weekend at a singing competition, it was my job to cut it up, put it into bags and put it in the freezer for future use.

When I finished, it looked less like this:




and more like something from the Saw movies.  But it's all done and we've got smoked turkey in freezer packs for future dinners.

Noah

Noah, the movie, is getting some big press lately; not the least of which is the expected gnashing of teeth from the right wing christianistas about how it's not true or faithful to the story as told in the Bible.

I was reading an article about it on Religion Dispatches and came across this:

Glenn Beck, for instance, notes that “the biggest problem for me was Noah himself… I always thought of Noah as more of a nice, gentle guy, prophet of God.”

"A nice, gentle guy, prophet of God"??  Really?  This quote from Glenn Beck, probably more than anything else he's said, should be proof that Glenn hasn't actually read the Bible.  A nice, gentle prophet of God?  I'm not sure there is such a thing.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that if the right wing christinistas are screaming about how awful and unfaithful something a movie is, then it's probably worthwhile seeing.

Chores

Fridays are my day off (besides Saturday).  I've taken Fridays as my day off since I was first ordained and getting settled into my new job in Montana.  I had two churches and I needed to figure out how to split my time; so it just made sense to work Monday & Wednesday in one office, Tuesday & Thursday in the other office, and Friday & Saturday off.

On Fridays I do chores.  Mainly laundry, but a few others here and there.  Paying bills is also on the list.

Like many people my age, I've been paying bills for a very long time.  I've got a system that works pretty good.  But this isn't about the system, this is about sending in my payment.

Mrs. Ref belongs to a local gym.  They used to do all of their billing from their local office.  For some reason, they thought that if the bill was due on the 5th of the month, they should send them out on the 4th of the month.  Recently, though, they contracted with an outside company to do their billing, and that company is based in Arizona.  But here's the great thing:  The envelopes they include with the billing statement for sending in payments Require No Postage if Mailed in the United States.

How cool is that!?!  I have never in my life had an invoice that included a postage-paid envelope.

For all of the other crap they include, you'd think they would have a prepaid envelope for invoices.

Another Response

As of yet, I haven't seen any responses to my rebuttal of the pro-creationism gentleman in the paper.  But then again, it's still early.  My letter was printed on Thursday, the local paper doesn't run on Sundays or Mondays; so if a response comes, it will come sometime this week most likely.

However, I did have the one verbal response (which I posted about below) at the funeral.  And today I took a call from a lady who wanted to know what time Ash Wednesday services were.  After I told her, she also told me how glad she was to see letters standing up to the "typical JoCo mentality."

That gives me hope.

Letter to the Editor

I don't normally write letters to the editors of papers.  The last time I did was when I felt someone needed to say something against the Family Research Council and their web of lies and hate.

In Thursday's paper there was a letter to the editor discussing the Nye/Ham debate.  You may have heard about that.  Bill Nye the Science Guy debated Ken Ham the Young Earth Creationist Guy.  Actually, "discussing" would be a bit too generous.  What he did was rail against science and that we needed to put an end to teaching its "frog-to-prince fairy tale."

I couldn't let that one go:
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So, H.T. believes “science” in general, and evolution in particular, is a “frog-to-prince fairy tale” that needs to be tossed in the garbage (Letters to the Editor, February 20, 2014).

Mr. T and other young earth creationists confuse theology with science. Christians do not need to choose between religion OR science/evolution, because they are not incompatible. Claiming that they are mutually exclusive damages scripture and may lead to a crisis of faith when those indoctrinated into YEC realize that the earth is much older than 6000 years.

The historic Creeds of the church proclaim that God is the “creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” This is a faith claim about the identity of God (Creator); it is not a scientific claim about God's methodology. To do so is to put the creative force of God into a box of our own making and understanding.

Mr. T continually uses scare quotes around the word science, which is a common tactic among the YEC crowd in an effort to throw doubt upon the overall discipline of science. Unlike actual science that uses tightly defined methods of observation, hypothesis, prediction and test, test, test, Ken Ham and the YEC crowd base their pseudo-science on a methodology of conclusion first, working to fit everything into their particular interpretation of the Bible.

Finally, let us never forget that it was the “science” of the church that condemned Galileo; it was the “science” of the church that condemned women accused of witchcraft in Salem, MA; it was the “science” of the church that sanctioned slavery; and it remains the “science” of churches today to oppress those whom they deem different.

When it comes to science, I'll stick with Bill Nye and those who don't confuse it with faith.

Happy Epiphany

What?  Your kids don't wake you up at 5:30 in the predawn morning eager to see what the Wise Men left under the Epiphany tree?

Yeah, well, neither do mine.

We held our annual 12th Night/Epiphany Party last night at the church.  It was advertised as "Potluck dinner at 5:30 followed by a gift exchange ($20 limit) for those who want to participate."

At 5:30 we had maybe eight people.

Between 5:31 and 5:42, maybe another 25+ showed up.  Everyone had a good time (the ring, dime and thimble were all found) and the gift exchange was also fun.  In years past we did the "everyone draws a number then pick a gift or steal from the person in front of you" thing.  This year Mrs. Ref suggested that we put everybody in a circle with a gift while I read the Epiphany story, and every time I paused during the reading, people would pass their gift to the left.

It was something new and it was fun.

Today was spent cleaning up the last of the decorations, storing the Christmas figures back downstairs and taking down the tree.

We are slowly returning to normal -- whatever that is.

This afternoon I spent time at the hospital visiting a parishioner who just had hip replacement surgery.  He is in fine form and hopefully not trying the patience of the nursing staff too much.  On my way out, I ran into a couple who have attended off and on.  He was getting a blood draw, so nothing serious.  But we talked for quite awhile in the hospital lobby about everything from Corvette's to becoming a member of the parish.

It's been a good day.

Happy Epiphany.  May the Spirit of God lead you down unknown roads.

First Sunday after Christmas

I love it when Christmas is on Wednesday.  We get two Sundays after Christmas to enjoy Christmas carols and Twelfth Night falls on a Sunday evening, so it doesn't disrupt midweek activities.

It also gives me a good long time to recuperate from the Christmas work (home stuff and church stuff) since I'm out of the office after Christmas Day services, I always take the day after Christmas off (Thursday this year) and Friday is my normal day off anyway.

And in my congregation(s), as with many other congregations around the country, this Sunday is Christmas Lessons & Carols.  Which means lots of music and no sermon.

I always get the one or two persons who say, "I miss hearing your sermon."  That's a nice compliment; but, really, enjoy the music and I'll preach again next week.  I promise.

Blessings for a joyous remainder of the Christmas season.

Sad day

It's sort of a sad day all around.

Here in my local town, there might be snow, so the schools are all closed.

On the world stage, Nelson Mandela passed away.  People are rightly mourning his passing and celebrating his spirit.  He did much to help bend the arc of justice.

And in the sports world, Chris Peterson will become the next head football coach of the University of Washington Huskies.  Dammit.  He's a good guy and a good football coach.  I hope he does well there, and may all his seasons contain at least one loss every year.  Go Cougs!

Dreams

I had a dream last night that I was in a plane crash.  As the plane was going down, we (the passengers) were all calm and getting organized into who would do what when we hit the ground.

And then we hit the ground and it was pretty much chaos.  Among other things, there were two people impaled through their midsections to the seat in front of me.

I was in the sacristy yesterday and we have a brass candle anchor that we've used for the Christ candle in the Advent wreath.  It sort of looks like this:

Except longer, pointier, and more medieval-ish deadlier.

And now you know how my dreams are inspired.