February 2, 2009 · 10:00 am

Preserving the door.

This morning when I got to work, I was met with the fact that our outside door had come unhinged.

That’s right.  Had completely come off its hinges.

Its a big glass door and as the staff opened up this morning, it kind of came off in their hands.  And of course the frame of it is metal.  Metal that gets very very cold when it is -33 outside.  T and K grabbed it with bare hands.  Now they have little spots of frostbite where they had to hold on to it.

How does a boss thank those two for such dedication to door preservation?

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February 1, 2009 · 7:50 am

I can tick that one off my to do list.

Last night I was part of an orchestra.  It was so much fun playing and having drums and trumpets and a choir behind us. 

It covered up for all the parts I did not play well.  And, besides, I was not carrying the bass part all by myself.  There were 5 basses all together – four of them a whole lot better at it than I.

I struck up a conversation with the 11 year old young man standing beside me.  He said something to the effect of, “I like your bass style when we are playing the jazz parts.”  And I thought to myself, “Wow, I like your style when you are just playing anything.”  How wonderful to be 11 and already so good. 

I didn’t talk much to the other bass player.  They were teenagers and – well maybe that says it all.

I guess I have a long standing acquaintance with the conductor.  His wife and I sang together in our high school years.  He came over and talked to me during one of the practice breaks.  I had kind of lost track of Judy and so, although his name was so familiar and it triggered that feeling of “he knows me and I should be able to place him,”  I could not be sure.  Now I know and Judy and I will have to reconnect. 

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January 30, 2009 · 8:06 am

That’s interesting

Things I post are not showing up.

We’ll try again.

Update

That was interesting.  Things seemed to return to normal after I posted from Live Writer.  Problem seems to be fixed.

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January 30, 2009 · 6:56 am

Things learned

Maybe the best thing about ranting on a blog is that, in the responses, one begins to see that the issue that caused the rant is one that raises the passions because it is one that we also struggle with.

If I rant about how others express love so imperfectly, it is because I also am imperfect and I fight against that.

A rant is a bit like shouting at God.  But when we are finished and we begin to listen again, we hear him in new ways, mostly showing us that the rant reflects our own need for his grace.

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January 28, 2009 · 7:14 pm

I can’t help it

Maybe I should not write a post when I am upset. I think I am most likely to rant.  I need to rant.

I hate protocols and precedents. It seems to me that they kill spontaneity. They squelch a response to God’s spirit moving; calling us to act. They kill love and all the flexibility and responsiveness that a loving relationship needs to grow and flourish as part of God’s great gift of creativity.

Protocols seems to me the way an organization responds. But a community, a family and a living body, when it is forced to adapt to hard and fast rules becomes dysfunctional, I think. So is the church the body, living and responsive, or is it set and hardened within sets of rules?

When we give protocols and policies a higher place than the practice of love we are not practicing the faith Jesus taught us. It was one of his big struggles as he walked among a land full of religious leaders who had forgotten the real meaning of God’s law.

In Matthew 23: 23 and 24 Jesus said, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

There, now I feel slightly better.

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January 28, 2009 · 5:56 am

Simple pleasures

Taking someone you love a cup of tea and having them look up and thank you.

Temperatures that do not fall below -20C.

Making a grand daughter smile by playing peek-a-boo.

Coffee with God in the morning.

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January 26, 2009 · 8:37 am

Getting ready for the big concert

Yesterday it was mentioned at church that there is a big concert coming up this Saturday.  The Saskatoon Youth Orchestra along with a mass choir from this city and some other hanger on groups such as the PA Strings are getting geared up to take over the EA Rawlinson Centre on Saturday.

Three people from the congregation are involved – Fiona who is singing with her school choir, Joanne(violin) and myself(bass).

So, now that it has been announced in church, it will be hard not to show up – which I was strongly tempted to do.  There has been much practicing going on at my house.  I don’t want my fans to be utterly disgusted with me!

The evening should be excellent, aside from my ineptitude at some of the songs.  I’ll be quiet.

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January 25, 2009 · 10:39 pm

Thinking about theology

Just looking at this blog and thinking…

That I haven’t had any real profound thoughts in a long while.   Not that what follows is in any way close to profound.

Although tonight we had fun discussing Mary and some of the differences between Catholic and Protestant beliefs about her.  And I brought along my great big heavy book of excerpts from Karl Rahner’s writings.  The bit about the immaculate conception was a bit obscure in its discussion  of this but I could understand the part where he states something to the effect that Mary was unique in that from the beginning God willed her to be perfectly obedient so that his plans for our salvation would take place.

But there are times when these deep theological matters really don’t seem to matter.  I doubt we understand the half of it.  How can we.  We look at things after the fact and try to make sense of things that are too big for us to ever understand.  And so we set up barriers to communication between different branches of the church and between people.

I wonder who pleases God more – theologians developing arguments or some poor soul out there handing out a blanket to some unknown street person who knows no theology other than love.

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January 24, 2009 · 11:34 am

-35

I just came in from errands.  It looks so nice out there but it is bone chilling cold.

-35 with the wind chill.

Hoping this is the last blast of winter cold.  Come on spring.

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January 23, 2009 · 10:22 pm

Now, if the weather had been warmer it would have been better, but …

This was one of the best days I have had for a long time.  I had a day off.  There was no school so my work at the School Dental Program  was on hold.

To start with, I slept in.  You may not consider 7:15 am as sleeping in but I do.  Its the best longest sleep in I’ve had in months.  Leo, who has been away a good part of the week woke me up by calling from Saskatoon.  Of course he thought for sure I’d be up.  But I’ll forgive him.  It is good to have him home.

Then, I spent a good part of the day talking with people.  One on one visiting has got to be one of my favorite things to do.  And one was my own spiritual direction appointment and it was so good to go and talk with someone today.  Needless to say, she commented on my obvious excitement as I told her I’d been accepted to seminary.

I came home to make a yummy supper.  Otherwise, I didn’t get as many errands accomplished as I had hoped.

But I did finish Grammer Quiz #4.  One to go before my midterm.  It feels good to have that done for the weekend.

Now, off to bed – with my hubby.  I do love that old guy!

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