Monday & Tuesday August 4th and 5th
Whew! Or, rather, almost whew! Yesterday evening just before 7 PM Liz and I got up from the dinner table in Columbia, Maryland and drove the 259 miles from my cousin’s house back here to Heart Lake. Yahoo Maps said it would take four hours and 24 minutes and they were just about spot on – thanks be to God. Today I have to go to NYC for a meeting of the Tenant Selection Committee, which I chair. Tomorrow I return and we’ll see how long I can put off going again for the mail.
My head is swirling with impressions from the weekend. Getting to know my cousins better, going to the memorial for my aunt, looking at memorabilia, all this makes a grand mix to process.
Then there’s the return to life here and the trip to New York later today.
Yesterday the Lambeth Conference wound up. Bishop Gene celebrated the Eucharist and preached at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow. When I got up this morning I logged on to Wounded Bird – because I love Mimi and because she has near the top of her blog links to a number of sites about Lambeth. She pointed me to the story of MadPriest’s adventure – MP and fellow (or maybe genuine) Geordie TheMeThatIsMe went to Scotland to see and hear Bishop Gene.
I urge you to watch and listen to Bishop Gene’s sermon. He preached on two of the texts of the day – Jacob’s wrestle with the angel and the feeding of the five thousand – a wrestling match and a picnic. Two things he said in the sermon struck me particularly – one, as MadPriest noted, is the concept that most Christians think we are on the Selection Committee whereas we are really on the Welcoming Committee. That one was easy. The second is a little harder – speaking of the church, he pointed out that God is a welcoming committee of one, and by virtue of our baptism we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. That, too, is not a problem for me – but I do have a problem finding satisfactory words to discuss our (as Christians) welcome of those who are not baptized – for example, my cousins.
{written Monday and posted Tuesday]
About Me
- Allen
- New York, United States
- I'm a retired math teacher with a keen interest in English Literature. I have been active at my local Episcopal church for more than 50 years. My current project is to complete a history of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Manhattanville, which will have its 200th anniversary in 2023. I'm also working on a family history for my first and second cousins and I hope to publish on the web a version of my Masters Essay on The Dunciad.
My Blog List
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INTERIM4 years ago
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Beyond the Call of Duty5 years ago
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5 comments:
Water pistols are the answer. Laity are allowed to do emergency baptisms (and the possibility of burning in hell is an emergency in my book). So, next time there's a baptism at your church, fill a water pistol with holy water and hit the streets, holy cowboy!
That's cute, but not what I had in mind.
Hi, Allen. Thanks for the links.
So you went back to your roots in Maryland. I never actually left my roots for very long, except for three years in Mobile, Alabama, and five years in Hammond, Louisiana. I have roots where I live here in Thibodaux because my great-grandfather was born here in Lafourche Parish and moved to New Orleans. A friend gave me my family history from this area, the Cajun part of the family.
Bishop Gene's sermon was wonderful, wasn't it?
You're welcome, Mimi -- not that links from me are likely to increase your traffic.
As for my roots -- I'm closer to my roots right here at Heart Lake. My father's family scattered while my mother's family stayed more or less put -- all within a few hours drive of here. My mother's family also kept up the pattern of gathering several times a year.
It was a joy to reconnect with members of my father's family -- and I'll be dfoing more of it.
Allen,
Just discovered your blog via a comment you posted over on Allie's "Conformist Rebel."
Nice place :) ::waves at Grandmère Mimi:: and you attract a good crowd, too.
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