The week to come

The other exciting thing that happened to me this week is that last night, about 10 minutes after I went outside, I returned inside my house to discover an inch of water covering most of the downstairs. Eeewch. Yuck. Mark shut the water off and we shop-vac'd and mopped and toweled and removed nasty wet things until it was mostly dry. But I had to miss the CE/discipleship team meeting last night. so if anyone wants to chime in on the meeting, that would be great.

Meanwhile, this week will include:

• catching up on things
• Bob is out today; Pam is out today and tomorrow
• preparing for Midweek Manna (King ranch chicken night!)
• preparing for Evensong
• preparing for Sunday Worship
• preparing for Sunday School
• following up on all things Spiritual Renewal-related, including the birthday dinner. What did y'all think, if you were there?
• writing newsletter articles, which are due Wednesday
• fretting and fussing, most likely, about who knows what
• attending a field hockey game or two-- go Chargers!-- being the hockey mom that I am
• hopefully getting in a teacher conference re. Sam sometime this week, since I missed the ones last week.

Worship sunday will be on the following texts: Exodus 33:12-23 (Moses wanting to know God's name), Matthew 22: 15-22 (the question about paying taxes), or possibly I Thessalonians 1: 1-10. Every now and then I get interested in Paul, and stay tuned, this may be one of those rare occasions. ; )

Just a few snippets on the gospel text, in lieu of pictures this week--

from St. Augustine (whose Metairie, Louisiana Episcopal Kindergarten I attended!):

"For humanity was made to God's image and likeness. . . . Our true and lasting good therefore is to be stamped anew by regeneration. This seems to me the sense which wise interpreters have applied our Lord's words upon looking at Caesar's tribute money: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. It is as if Jesus had said: God, like Caesar, demands from us the impression of God's own image. Just as we repay Caesar's coinage to Caesar, so return the soul to God, shining and stamped with the light of God's countenance."

Okay, so just the one snippet . . .

Examinations

It always takes me a little time to get back in the swing of things. I'm thinking maybe instead of following the "lots of little vacations" route I should just take like a big fat vacation once a year and not waste all this acclimation time otherwise. But who knows . . .

Last week I flew to Dallas where I spent a VERY busy week at the lovely American Airlines Training Center reading Ordination Exams. These are the tests taken by prospective Presbyterian Ministers of Word and Sacrament before their ordination can be approved. Sort of like the Clergy Bar or something. Anyway. The tests our group read were in the areas of Polity, Worship and Sacraments, and Bible Exegesis, specifically Old Testament, in this case Zechariah.

I found polity to be pretty dull, though not everyone feels this way. Old Testament was very difficult to grade, partly because so many of the papers we received just weren't very well-written, but I thought it was really interesting too. When I got a good Zechariah paper, exploring the implications of hope for the exiled people of Israel, it was an amazing thing-- much more so than, say getting a good paper on, say, how to respond to a civic engineer who wants the pastor to sign a paper to sell church property to the city. (just say no, to keep it short . . .) Which to me says that no matter how completely awesome the book of order is, has been or will be, the Bible is just better. So there.

It was a VERY interesting week, I met some really kind, caring, and thoughtful people, and even though we worked from like 8:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night, I will look forward to doing it again.

Life returns

Moïse conduisant le peuple, Arthur Boyd, 1947

It's funny how much a difference a couple days makes, but here I am on the outside of the deep black pit that I'd been falling into for the last two weeks. Being able to return to my home, to be safe and comfortable and well-lit, to know that my kids know where their stuff is and that they have a sense of ownership . . . it's huge. And all this just because the power was out.

But now it's on.

So. Onward.



Last week I did Midweek Manna, Evensong, Sunday liturgy and sermon, and Sunday School, and a very brief Spiritual Renewal meeting. I didn't go to Session because we were moving back in to our house.



This week I'm

• doing Midweek Manna and Evensong, then Sunday School and assisting in worship on Sunday.


• There are a lot of last minute things to do for the Church Anniversary dinner on Sunday: line up our accompanist for hymns, talk to guest speaker about details, send congregational e-mail reminding everyone of the event, . . .


• meeting with pastor Bob to talk about Session Ministry Teams "retreat" which will take place next Monday. I won't be able to attend but will consult on format, content, etc.


• hopefully get the old gold minivan fixed. We've got a brake problem and a distracting sort of noise coming from the right under the hood. This is what happens at 180K miles I guess. Even for a Toyota. The van is at the shop right now.


• Kid stuff this week= today: Lizzie at 4:00 from school, then karate at 5. tomorrow: L at 4:00 from school, then Sam to karate at 5:30. wed.: L at 4:00, back to SPC for Wednesday night stuff. thurs.: Southminster School out at noon for teacher conferences, L to orthodontist at 2:00, then I think maybe we're done for the day. Also Mark comes home on Thursday. Yay. Friday: ??? that's too far ahead. And it's my day off. Sat: Focus Conference at Northwoods; Lizzie to theater at 1:00. Sun: church in the a.m., then fly to Dallas to get ready to grade ordination exams. I'll be in Dallas through Thurs. of next week.

Oh wow, if nothing unexpected comes up, this will be do-able.

Next week's scriptures include Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20, better known as the Ten Commandments. Also Matthew 21: 33-46, known sometimes as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. I adore the image of Moses that I posted here. I don't know anything about the artist, but feel free to chime in if you do. This Moses, who I think hasn't received the commandments just yet, has a look of gentle determination and faithfulness about him. I think receiving the commandments will be a great relief to him, so he doesn't have to try to keep all these people in line all by himself. They are God's gentle, determined, faithful way of ordering our lives. A true gift to the people on the journey.

I could never have had these thoughts last week.

power problems vs. sewer problems

Which is worse?
Apparently the sewer pumping station for our neighborhood is not functioning due to power outages; I assume it hasn't worked for a couple weeks now. Sewage is backing up in the streets and in the ditch that runs next to our house.
I'm tired of this.
I'll be staying at my dad's house until my power returns. Hrrrrumph.

back in the saddle?

He Qi, "Moses Striking the Rock", 2002.

Well, I'm back in the office anyway, though we still don't have power at our house. For now we're staying with my dad downtown, going to check on our pets at home a couple times a day, and trying to stay sane. I am the first to admit, the storm and its aftermath have really gotten me down. I'm trying to stay hopeful, and I know in my head that this will all be history in a month or so, but meanwhile, the interruption to my ordinarily boring life has been difficult.

Here's what I'm trying to get accomplished this week:

• prepare for Midweek Manna tonight
• prepare for Evensong tonight
• prepare liturgy and sermon for Sunday
• prepare Sunday School lesson for Sunday
• prepare for Spiritual Renewal meeting Sunday after church
• prepare for Session on Sunday

That's about it.

Sunday: Whiney people, Moses, and God: Exodus 17: 1-7.

San Antonio life

SA is good.  Is it cooler in Houston now?  It's really nice here now.  We're hearing Lizzie's school won't open until next week some time; they go with HISD schedules, so who knows when we'll start again.  People keep pointing out to me that there are advisories NOT to go back to Houston.  there are road signs on the highway that say "do not travel to houston or beaumont."  So . . . we're staying for a few more days.  I know Mark wants to be at church Sunday, so the two of us-- or maybe just Mark-- will probably head out Saturday, spend the night Sat. night, then come back here after church on Sunday.  That's the latest . . .

post-Ike

don't know how many of y'all are getting this, but just so you know, Mark and Lizzie and Sam and I, along with Star, Winston and Harvey, are all in San Antonio.  My mom's here too.  We're staying at my sister's house.  

Good turn out for 9:00 service this morning-- sorry we had to leave before 11:15.  The streets were actually better when we got home than when we left-- go figure.  Thanks to all who came and to those who came back.  

My prayers are with each of you, and all in the Houston area, who are without power and/or water.  We'll be back as soon as we can.  Feel free to comment here with your own updates.  

Ike Update

Hi y'all-- are you sheltering in place like I am?  We've moved stuff into the garage from the yard, we've stocked the house with bottled water and batteries, and two out of three cars have gas.  

So how about the church, you may ask.  We're closed tomorrow-- actually Bob, Pam and I left at noon today.  Pam was headed to Quanah with Pat and the horses.  Bob's expecting Laurey to arrive at Hobby airport at 8:30 tomorrow morning!  Hope that happens.  

The school is closed tomorrow too.

We've had help from the deacons in contacting people in the church who we thought might need some storm help.  If you know of anyone who is alone, or who may still need help during or after the storm, please leave a comment here and I'll get in touch with them if possible.  

We'll have to wait and see what things are like for Sunday, but as of now, services are on.  I'll definitely update this blog if we have to change schedule or whatever.