Had an interesting experience last night. I was downstairs on my computer, pounding away at the family tree. Molly called down that she was going to bed. I yelled up, "Good night!" then thought, "Hmm. She's been going to bed a lot later than this lately. I wonder why she is going to bed so early ... " Then I realized it was Saturday night, and she had to lead worship in the morning! Oh yeah!
I guess I'm finally on sabbatical.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Soli Deo Gloria
Went to worship at Saint Andrews United Presbyterian Church, my home church where I was baptized, raised in faith, confirmed, and ordained. I was a little anxious coming back, as I haven't been back for four or five years, and I figured I'd have to remember a lot of folks I grew up with but haven't seen forever. Otherwise, I was looking forward to it, and especially to hear Pastor Merry preach. I think the only time I've heard her was at Bill's memorial service.
Well, no worries on either account. There were only a few of the old timers there that knew me, both a relief and a sadness. As Dad said, most of them are gone now -- to their reward, that is. Also, Merry wasn't preaching. For one thing, she has had a couple unexpected eye surgeries and isn't supposed to be reading a lot. For another, it was the morning for the youth mission trip group to lead worship and report on their experience. Oh well.
As it turned out, the youth did a really fine job leading worship! The theme for their work week was "More or Less," with specifics each day, like More Courage - Less Fear, More Love - Less Ego, More Jesus - Less Me. The girls who spoke about their experiences (they were all girls -- the one boy on the trip wasn't there for worship) did so with enthusiasm, confidence, and apparent faith. It was very encouraging. Unfortunately, the music for the service was an epic failure. They planned three worship choruses, the music for which was on a CD that decided not to play on the church sound system at worship time. With no accompanying music and songs that were unknown to most present, there was not much singing at all. Too bad. A couple of the songs were ones Meredith and I know from LOGOS Conference. She wrote me a note early in the service that we should sing with "obnoxious enthusiasm," but when it came to it our enthusiasm was consumed by the larger silence. Nevertheless, may God be praised in heaven and earth! Amen.
After the service, I was surprised that there really were so very few people I recognized in a fairly small crowd at that. I don't know if that was the usual size worshiping congregation or if they were away for the summer or if they were avoiding the youth-led service (NEVER understood why people do that), but in a town the size of Leesburg with five or six Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations and a few other Presbyterian flavors thrown in, I was sad. When I was a kid it was hard to find a seat in that church. Of course, the split in 197X put an end to that, but still I found myself wondering if Presbyterians really are done, if our era is past. Regardless of that larger pattern in society, as long as a congregation can put the kind of light-of-Christ experience into a group of teenagers that was demonstrated in this worship service, there is still hope.
Lord Jesus, use your faithful people, whatever their denomination, to work your will in the world. Amen.
Well, no worries on either account. There were only a few of the old timers there that knew me, both a relief and a sadness. As Dad said, most of them are gone now -- to their reward, that is. Also, Merry wasn't preaching. For one thing, she has had a couple unexpected eye surgeries and isn't supposed to be reading a lot. For another, it was the morning for the youth mission trip group to lead worship and report on their experience. Oh well.
As it turned out, the youth did a really fine job leading worship! The theme for their work week was "More or Less," with specifics each day, like More Courage - Less Fear, More Love - Less Ego, More Jesus - Less Me. The girls who spoke about their experiences (they were all girls -- the one boy on the trip wasn't there for worship) did so with enthusiasm, confidence, and apparent faith. It was very encouraging. Unfortunately, the music for the service was an epic failure. They planned three worship choruses, the music for which was on a CD that decided not to play on the church sound system at worship time. With no accompanying music and songs that were unknown to most present, there was not much singing at all. Too bad. A couple of the songs were ones Meredith and I know from LOGOS Conference. She wrote me a note early in the service that we should sing with "obnoxious enthusiasm," but when it came to it our enthusiasm was consumed by the larger silence. Nevertheless, may God be praised in heaven and earth! Amen.
After the service, I was surprised that there really were so very few people I recognized in a fairly small crowd at that. I don't know if that was the usual size worshiping congregation or if they were away for the summer or if they were avoiding the youth-led service (NEVER understood why people do that), but in a town the size of Leesburg with five or six Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations and a few other Presbyterian flavors thrown in, I was sad. When I was a kid it was hard to find a seat in that church. Of course, the split in 197X put an end to that, but still I found myself wondering if Presbyterians really are done, if our era is past. Regardless of that larger pattern in society, as long as a congregation can put the kind of light-of-Christ experience into a group of teenagers that was demonstrated in this worship service, there is still hope.
Lord Jesus, use your faithful people, whatever their denomination, to work your will in the world. Amen.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Finding the Old Ones
I've been plugging away at the family tree stuff pretty heavily, mostly at www.ancestry.com. They make it pretty easy, and really, they must have some pretty amazing software running that site. As soon as you put a person on your tree, the site scans all the other member trees and all the records they have access to and it makes suggestions of data and connections to other family members based on what it finds. So if you find a good vein, you can go back several generations in half an hour or so. That's just what I've been able to do in a couple cases. Here are some of my findings.
My maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, never said much about her father Sheridan. So little, in fact, that all we knew about him was his name, and his wife and kids. Thus it has been for, oh, eighty years or so, I guess. But last night, I found Sheridan and his parents, siblings, and grandparents. It turns out that he was a teacher at some sort of residential school or institution at the age of 25. Another 25-year-old teacher there was Anna, whom he eventually married. This showed up on a data sheet from the 1900 Federal Census. It shows a fellow listed as "Head" (of household?), his daughter, various servants, Sheridan and Anna as teachers, then a long list of children from 7-17 years who are described as "inmate"! As it happens, Sheridan and Anna got married in 1900 -- a workplace romance, apparently!
As for Anna, her paternal grandfather's middle name was Ross, and his mother's maiden name was Ross. This caught my attention a bit. You see, a few years back we were planning a Kirkin' of the Tartan service at CPC, and I wanted to get a tartan stole for the event. Problem was we never knew what clan we were associated with. We knew we had some Andersons in the mix, so that was a possibility. I dug around some and found a subclan called "Duthie" connected to Clan Ross. It turned out that the Andersons were also associated with Ross. The Ross tartan was a handsome green pattern, which would make for a good stole that could be used most of the year. So I got Clan Ross tartan for my stole. Now here I find some Rosses in the family line. Followed them back another three generations, and found John, who was born in 1685 in Scotland! Well, his father, John, was born in 1658 in Angus, Scotland, and died at the Battle of Boyne in Londonderry, Ireland -- where we expect to find some Douthetts! And his wife was born in Aberdeen, near where we will be staying Scotland. All four of their parents were born in Scotland as well, as were at least a couple of the grands, going back to 1608. So picking Clan Ross seems to have been a good guess! By the way, in the 1845 or so, William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse set up the largest telescope in the world (which held that title for 100 years) in, if I'm reading this right, Armagh, N. Ireland, where it is said Joseph Douthett came from. These are the things that make this process a lot of fun!
My paternal great-grandmother was Sarah, and she married WG. Last night I followed Sarah's mother's side - the Pierce family. There were a variety of spellings, but I'll try to get back to that later. Four generations of Pierces back (most of them named John), there is a wife named Maria Delamater, born in New York State in 1696. Her grandfather was Claude de la Maister. It turns out Claude was born in 1620 in France, was a Protestant, and fled in the Huguenot persecutions. He went to Canterbury, England, for a short time, then to Amsterdam for a while where he met his wife, Hester DuBois, whose father was French but who was herself born in Canterbury, then moved to Holland. It was Claude and Hester who made the trip to New York. Their son Johannes married Ruth Waldron, whose parents were both from Holland. So, I guess I've got some Dutch. Explains a few things, even if it is from four-hundred years ago.
This is also interesting, because I had found some stuff earlier (which I thought I had blogged, but I guess not) that the Douthetts had come from France, where they were, yes, Huguenots! They scattered to Canada and Wales during the persecutions, going from Wales to England and Scotland, then on to Ireland and America. So it seems to me I have three hundred fifty years of Protestant heritage behind me. I'm afraid the woman I talked with last week at St. James is going to be disappointed.
There are still plenty of slots to fill on the family tree, and I still have hopes of finding the missing link from Joseph to Ireland. Nevertheless, I think there will be plenty of stuff to look up and look at, now knowingly, in Ireland and Scotland. So stay subscribed!
My maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, never said much about her father Sheridan. So little, in fact, that all we knew about him was his name, and his wife and kids. Thus it has been for, oh, eighty years or so, I guess. But last night, I found Sheridan and his parents, siblings, and grandparents. It turns out that he was a teacher at some sort of residential school or institution at the age of 25. Another 25-year-old teacher there was Anna, whom he eventually married. This showed up on a data sheet from the 1900 Federal Census. It shows a fellow listed as "Head" (of household?), his daughter, various servants, Sheridan and Anna as teachers, then a long list of children from 7-17 years who are described as "inmate"! As it happens, Sheridan and Anna got married in 1900 -- a workplace romance, apparently!
As for Anna, her paternal grandfather's middle name was Ross, and his mother's maiden name was Ross. This caught my attention a bit. You see, a few years back we were planning a Kirkin' of the Tartan service at CPC, and I wanted to get a tartan stole for the event. Problem was we never knew what clan we were associated with. We knew we had some Andersons in the mix, so that was a possibility. I dug around some and found a subclan called "Duthie" connected to Clan Ross. It turned out that the Andersons were also associated with Ross. The Ross tartan was a handsome green pattern, which would make for a good stole that could be used most of the year. So I got Clan Ross tartan for my stole. Now here I find some Rosses in the family line. Followed them back another three generations, and found John, who was born in 1685 in Scotland! Well, his father, John, was born in 1658 in Angus, Scotland, and died at the Battle of Boyne in Londonderry, Ireland -- where we expect to find some Douthetts! And his wife was born in Aberdeen, near where we will be staying Scotland. All four of their parents were born in Scotland as well, as were at least a couple of the grands, going back to 1608. So picking Clan Ross seems to have been a good guess! By the way, in the 1845 or so, William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse set up the largest telescope in the world (which held that title for 100 years) in, if I'm reading this right, Armagh, N. Ireland, where it is said Joseph Douthett came from. These are the things that make this process a lot of fun!
My paternal great-grandmother was Sarah, and she married WG. Last night I followed Sarah's mother's side - the Pierce family. There were a variety of spellings, but I'll try to get back to that later. Four generations of Pierces back (most of them named John), there is a wife named Maria Delamater, born in New York State in 1696. Her grandfather was Claude de la Maister. It turns out Claude was born in 1620 in France, was a Protestant, and fled in the Huguenot persecutions. He went to Canterbury, England, for a short time, then to Amsterdam for a while where he met his wife, Hester DuBois, whose father was French but who was herself born in Canterbury, then moved to Holland. It was Claude and Hester who made the trip to New York. Their son Johannes married Ruth Waldron, whose parents were both from Holland. So, I guess I've got some Dutch. Explains a few things, even if it is from four-hundred years ago.
This is also interesting, because I had found some stuff earlier (which I thought I had blogged, but I guess not) that the Douthetts had come from France, where they were, yes, Huguenots! They scattered to Canada and Wales during the persecutions, going from Wales to England and Scotland, then on to Ireland and America. So it seems to me I have three hundred fifty years of Protestant heritage behind me. I'm afraid the woman I talked with last week at St. James is going to be disappointed.
There are still plenty of slots to fill on the family tree, and I still have hopes of finding the missing link from Joseph to Ireland. Nevertheless, I think there will be plenty of stuff to look up and look at, now knowingly, in Ireland and Scotland. So stay subscribed!
Monday, August 9, 2010
One Bread, One Body?
I had the pleasure of choosing where to worship this morning. I've never been to the big new Catholic church, St. James the Greater, just up the road before, and I've wanted to see the inside of it since they finished it a couple years ago. So off I went for 11:00 mass.
Now, I've been to masses before, so I kind of know the drill. Nevertheless, I was a little anxious, as most first-time visitors surely are. So when I went in I looked for a friendly looking usher, found one (!), and said, "I'm new at this. Is there anything I should know?"
She looked pleased for an opportunity to be helpful. "Oh, are you a Protestant?"
"Yes, I am!" says I.
"I'm a convert!" she said. "Just don't freak out by how many times we get up and down and up and down. This service is also a little noisy, because, unlike Protestants, we bring our children to church."
"...." I said, biting my tongue.
She continued, undaunted, "Some of the kids get a little loud, and some of them I'd just like to POP sometimes! But over all, it's good to have them here. Now are you exploring Catholicism?"
"No, I'm just on vacation."
"Oh, well, that's wonderful that you can be with us. We have a visiting priest today. You can sit anywhere, and enjoy the mass!"
In spite of the slam about Protestants and children, I went into the sanctuary feeling lighthearted and oddly welcome. The sanctuary is really quite beautiful. It has a contemporary feel without the experimentation of a lot of modern church architecture. It's a large sanctuary, and it was quite, quite full. The walls are painted in a sort of greenish khaki with tan trim, which gives it all a warm, homey feel. The pews are a rich cherry-looking wood, and relatively comfortable. There is, of course, an enormous crucifix on the front wall, with statues of St. Peter to his right and St. James to his left. There is a ring of three fish on the ceiling over the center of the transept, the meaning of which I should know, but it seemed a bit out of place. I think it is trinitarian and recalling the multiplication of food, but whatever. There are two tiers of windows. The upper ones are clear, the lower are stained glass representations of the various biblical stories, OT on the left, NT on the right. After the service I found that there are four sets of statues with candles and kneelers in the four outer corners of the transept. The choir loft / balcony is in the back with a huge, 3-manual Allen organ, which was played ably during the mass. There is a very large representation of the Annunciation on the back wall.
The service itself was like most masses I've been to and not unlike our own liturgy in many regards. Different elements are more or less emphasized than in our service, but the order is pretty much the same. There were two men leading the mass, both in green and gold liturgical garb -- forget what they call the poncho-like robes. The older man was the visiting priest who had been the parish priest for St. James some fifteen years ago, as it turns out. He was soft spoken and not well miked, so he was hard to hear (especially with all those noisy children -- they really weren't that bad). The younger man, it turns out, was a deacon -- a layman who can serve in virtually every way as a priest except for officiating the eucharist. I learned this later along with the fact that he is married and has two children. He was a much better speaker and much easier to hear. He led most of the prayers and did a really good job.
As for the older priest's homily, well, Catholic priests have a reputation for not being very good preachers, and this fellow didn't disappoint, I'm afraid. For the life of me, I don't know what his point was. There was stuff about the covenant with Abram, and looking at the stars of the sky (I got the impression that the priest has a love of the night sky!), and a good bit about freedom -- for physically enslaved Israel and for modern people enslaved by sin (and maybe bad doctrine?), but I couldn't really find the connection or what God's part in it all is supposed to be. And it was hard to hear him, to boot. I did get the impression he wants us all to be free, though, so I'm good with that.
The woman who was the cantor for the responses and the Psalm and all was very good and had a beautiful voice. I saw her as she was walking out after the service and noticed she was wearing a lace scarf over her hair. I had noticed earlier that several other older women around sanctuary were wearing such scarves, too. I was a little surprised at that at first, but I was particularly surprised by the cantor, as she was a younger woman, probably in her early 30s. I am not familiar with this being a regular practice in Catholic churches. There weren't many who were doing it, so I wouldn't call it widespread, but there were enough to catch my attention.
I found myself singing the responses more robustly than a lot of the people around me. Thought that was interesting since I didn't know most of them. Just sayin'.
I knew going in I wouldn't be taking communion, which I don't really agree with or appreciate, but I am willing to abide by their custom. In the front of the missal (the seasonal book of liturgy and prayers in the pews), it explains a bit about this practice of what we call closed communion, who can and can't partake, and so on. It suggests that those who are not taking communion should pray for the unity of Church and of all God's people. So I did that. While the many and various divisions within Christendom will probably never even come to consensus on what "the unity of the Church" means, I prayed for it nonetheless, and for God's blessing on the congregation and mission of St. James. I have, in the past, often felt smug and arrogant about my own faith tradition when attending mass. Today, by the grace of Christ, I was able to get past that. That felt good.
After the service and after I had meandered around admiring the sanctuary, I was making my way out, wondering if I might see the usher with whom I had spoken. She was in fact in the narthex, talking with some children. When she saw me she came straight to me and asked if I had had any questions. I told her no. We introduced ourselves, and she asked again if I was just starting to explore Catholicism. I told her, no, I am actually a Presbyterian minister. Surprisingly, this did not slow her fervor for getting me what I needed to pursue my conversion to Catholicism! Among the points she made were that their previous priest was also a convert, that I should read Scott Hahn's books about his journey from Protestantism to Catholicism, how his exploration of the early church fathers' writings pointed to Catholic practice and doctrine rather than things Protestant, that there is a particular program on one of the Catholic cable networks about converting, and a few other stories about her own journey from having attended Baptist and Presbyterian (PCA) churches but having come to understand that Christ is in the Eucharist and submitting to the authority of the Church she was led to convert. I tried a couple times to assure her I was really fine with being Presbyterian, but she seemed to know differently. "When you're ready, read some of Hahn's books, if you are looking for some answers." Trying to remain gracious, I thanked her. We wished each other well, and I made my get away. It was fascinating to find someone who was so zealous and evangelical for the Catholic faith. She obviously had sincere motives and was wanting nothing but to help me on my way, even though she might not have taken the time to discern where my way seems to be going.
All in all, I had a very pleasant experience of worship, even though there were many points where I might otherwise have found myself feeling alienated, frustrated, or even insulted. I think what I appreciated most was the sincerity of faith I felt from this one woman and in the atmosphere of the congregation. The desire to have an experience of God's presence, to share that experience with others and pass it along to others (either children or pre-converts), to participate in the mystery of Christian community, these are things we share, and I believe they only come from Christ by grace. As many things as we all do in our churches to turn people off, Jesus still is inherently attractive, making us one body in him.
Thanks be to God!
Now, I've been to masses before, so I kind of know the drill. Nevertheless, I was a little anxious, as most first-time visitors surely are. So when I went in I looked for a friendly looking usher, found one (!), and said, "I'm new at this. Is there anything I should know?"
She looked pleased for an opportunity to be helpful. "Oh, are you a Protestant?"
"Yes, I am!" says I.
"I'm a convert!" she said. "Just don't freak out by how many times we get up and down and up and down. This service is also a little noisy, because, unlike Protestants, we bring our children to church."
"...." I said, biting my tongue.
She continued, undaunted, "Some of the kids get a little loud, and some of them I'd just like to POP sometimes! But over all, it's good to have them here. Now are you exploring Catholicism?"
"No, I'm just on vacation."
"Oh, well, that's wonderful that you can be with us. We have a visiting priest today. You can sit anywhere, and enjoy the mass!"
In spite of the slam about Protestants and children, I went into the sanctuary feeling lighthearted and oddly welcome. The sanctuary is really quite beautiful. It has a contemporary feel without the experimentation of a lot of modern church architecture. It's a large sanctuary, and it was quite, quite full. The walls are painted in a sort of greenish khaki with tan trim, which gives it all a warm, homey feel. The pews are a rich cherry-looking wood, and relatively comfortable. There is, of course, an enormous crucifix on the front wall, with statues of St. Peter to his right and St. James to his left. There is a ring of three fish on the ceiling over the center of the transept, the meaning of which I should know, but it seemed a bit out of place. I think it is trinitarian and recalling the multiplication of food, but whatever. There are two tiers of windows. The upper ones are clear, the lower are stained glass representations of the various biblical stories, OT on the left, NT on the right. After the service I found that there are four sets of statues with candles and kneelers in the four outer corners of the transept. The choir loft / balcony is in the back with a huge, 3-manual Allen organ, which was played ably during the mass. There is a very large representation of the Annunciation on the back wall.
The service itself was like most masses I've been to and not unlike our own liturgy in many regards. Different elements are more or less emphasized than in our service, but the order is pretty much the same. There were two men leading the mass, both in green and gold liturgical garb -- forget what they call the poncho-like robes. The older man was the visiting priest who had been the parish priest for St. James some fifteen years ago, as it turns out. He was soft spoken and not well miked, so he was hard to hear (especially with all those noisy children -- they really weren't that bad). The younger man, it turns out, was a deacon -- a layman who can serve in virtually every way as a priest except for officiating the eucharist. I learned this later along with the fact that he is married and has two children. He was a much better speaker and much easier to hear. He led most of the prayers and did a really good job.
As for the older priest's homily, well, Catholic priests have a reputation for not being very good preachers, and this fellow didn't disappoint, I'm afraid. For the life of me, I don't know what his point was. There was stuff about the covenant with Abram, and looking at the stars of the sky (I got the impression that the priest has a love of the night sky!), and a good bit about freedom -- for physically enslaved Israel and for modern people enslaved by sin (and maybe bad doctrine?), but I couldn't really find the connection or what God's part in it all is supposed to be. And it was hard to hear him, to boot. I did get the impression he wants us all to be free, though, so I'm good with that.
The woman who was the cantor for the responses and the Psalm and all was very good and had a beautiful voice. I saw her as she was walking out after the service and noticed she was wearing a lace scarf over her hair. I had noticed earlier that several other older women around sanctuary were wearing such scarves, too. I was a little surprised at that at first, but I was particularly surprised by the cantor, as she was a younger woman, probably in her early 30s. I am not familiar with this being a regular practice in Catholic churches. There weren't many who were doing it, so I wouldn't call it widespread, but there were enough to catch my attention.
I found myself singing the responses more robustly than a lot of the people around me. Thought that was interesting since I didn't know most of them. Just sayin'.
I knew going in I wouldn't be taking communion, which I don't really agree with or appreciate, but I am willing to abide by their custom. In the front of the missal (the seasonal book of liturgy and prayers in the pews), it explains a bit about this practice of what we call closed communion, who can and can't partake, and so on. It suggests that those who are not taking communion should pray for the unity of Church and of all God's people. So I did that. While the many and various divisions within Christendom will probably never even come to consensus on what "the unity of the Church" means, I prayed for it nonetheless, and for God's blessing on the congregation and mission of St. James. I have, in the past, often felt smug and arrogant about my own faith tradition when attending mass. Today, by the grace of Christ, I was able to get past that. That felt good.
After the service and after I had meandered around admiring the sanctuary, I was making my way out, wondering if I might see the usher with whom I had spoken. She was in fact in the narthex, talking with some children. When she saw me she came straight to me and asked if I had had any questions. I told her no. We introduced ourselves, and she asked again if I was just starting to explore Catholicism. I told her, no, I am actually a Presbyterian minister. Surprisingly, this did not slow her fervor for getting me what I needed to pursue my conversion to Catholicism! Among the points she made were that their previous priest was also a convert, that I should read Scott Hahn's books about his journey from Protestantism to Catholicism, how his exploration of the early church fathers' writings pointed to Catholic practice and doctrine rather than things Protestant, that there is a particular program on one of the Catholic cable networks about converting, and a few other stories about her own journey from having attended Baptist and Presbyterian (PCA) churches but having come to understand that Christ is in the Eucharist and submitting to the authority of the Church she was led to convert. I tried a couple times to assure her I was really fine with being Presbyterian, but she seemed to know differently. "When you're ready, read some of Hahn's books, if you are looking for some answers." Trying to remain gracious, I thanked her. We wished each other well, and I made my get away. It was fascinating to find someone who was so zealous and evangelical for the Catholic faith. She obviously had sincere motives and was wanting nothing but to help me on my way, even though she might not have taken the time to discern where my way seems to be going.
All in all, I had a very pleasant experience of worship, even though there were many points where I might otherwise have found myself feeling alienated, frustrated, or even insulted. I think what I appreciated most was the sincerity of faith I felt from this one woman and in the atmosphere of the congregation. The desire to have an experience of God's presence, to share that experience with others and pass it along to others (either children or pre-converts), to participate in the mystery of Christian community, these are things we share, and I believe they only come from Christ by grace. As many things as we all do in our churches to turn people off, Jesus still is inherently attractive, making us one body in him.
Thanks be to God!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I went viral!
Don't know how many people this affected yet, but when I got on my email this afternoon I found my auto-reply message propagating itself at a prodigious rate in one of the yahoogroups I belong to (one about astronomy sketches, as it happens)! Obviously, I misset the rules somehow, and it was looping back on itself. A little later I got an email from one of my blog subscribers wondering why I had just sent him 16 of the same message. (This is, I think, unrelated to the fact that he subscribes to my blog - just one of those happy accidents.) Any way, after the first episode I turned off the auto-reply. At least I think I did. But I don't know if it was widespread through my address book or anyone in my inbox or just random victims. My apologies to any and all.
It's a little like what happened to Craig Ferguson, host of CBS's Late Late Show, and one of my favorite personalities. He opened his show the other night explaining that when he gets angry with someone, he writes them a nasty email on his phone, explaining just exactly what he thinks of them at the moment, and then saves it as a draft and never sends it. It gets it out of his system and he moves on. Not a bad strategy, really. Except.... Something happened that day that was unexpected, and he got a call from his stage director asking what the ... um.. fuss was all about? Craig asked what he meant, and director guy said, this email you just sent me? Craig checked his phone, and ALL the draft messages had been sent. "I just spent a year's wages on flowers today!" he said mournfully.
I don't think I'm quite in that condition, but I can imagine a few people thinking I'm rubbing it in a little that I'm not working for the next three month. Sigh. One of the odd side-effects of this process.
Be that as it may, stay subscribed!
It's a little like what happened to Craig Ferguson, host of CBS's Late Late Show, and one of my favorite personalities. He opened his show the other night explaining that when he gets angry with someone, he writes them a nasty email on his phone, explaining just exactly what he thinks of them at the moment, and then saves it as a draft and never sends it. It gets it out of his system and he moves on. Not a bad strategy, really. Except.... Something happened that day that was unexpected, and he got a call from his stage director asking what the ... um.. fuss was all about? Craig asked what he meant, and director guy said, this email you just sent me? Craig checked his phone, and ALL the draft messages had been sent. "I just spent a year's wages on flowers today!" he said mournfully.
I don't think I'm quite in that condition, but I can imagine a few people thinking I'm rubbing it in a little that I'm not working for the next three month. Sigh. One of the odd side-effects of this process.
Be that as it may, stay subscribed!
Friday, August 6, 2010
This is hard work!
Well, since going off the clock I've been mostly sitting at my computer, not unlike spending time at the office. I've been working on:
Besides that, I've been doing genealogical research on www.ancestry.com, looking for Douthetts as far back as we can go. So far I haven't gotten past Joseph Douthett, the first of our line we know of who came from Ireland. He apparently was born in Armagh, N. Ireland, in 1745, got married to Rosanna Rea and had some babies there before coming across. Son Benjamin was apparently born in 1765, also in Armagh, so they didn't come over until after that, any way. Records have Joseph and family coming to Butler Co. PA in 1799 or 1800 from Washington Co. PA. I haven't found any evidence of him in Washington Co., although I did find some reference to some Douthetts in Washington Township of Allegany Co. about that time.
I found also a family history for a different branch of Douthetts wherein the author outlines a broader history of the name going back to the Renaissance! Unfortunately, there is no source material or reference to follow up and prove it. Still, very exciting. In fact, it's been so exciting, I was up until 3:00 two nights running, following various links and lines and whatnot all.
So all in all there is progress in the preparations, but the relaxing? That still needs some work.
Will try to write again tomorrow. In the mean time, stay subscribed!
- flight arrangements for New Mexico,
- car rental for same,
- flight arrangements for me to and from UK,
- flight arrangements for Molly to and from UK,
- travel for Dad, Clare, and me from Dublin to Belfast,
- flight arrangements for Dad, Clare, and me from Belfast to Scotland,
- car rental for Belfast,
- housing accommodations for N. Ireland,
- and making sure we have phones that work over there.
Besides that, I've been doing genealogical research on www.ancestry.com, looking for Douthetts as far back as we can go. So far I haven't gotten past Joseph Douthett, the first of our line we know of who came from Ireland. He apparently was born in Armagh, N. Ireland, in 1745, got married to Rosanna Rea and had some babies there before coming across. Son Benjamin was apparently born in 1765, also in Armagh, so they didn't come over until after that, any way. Records have Joseph and family coming to Butler Co. PA in 1799 or 1800 from Washington Co. PA. I haven't found any evidence of him in Washington Co., although I did find some reference to some Douthetts in Washington Township of Allegany Co. about that time.
I found also a family history for a different branch of Douthetts wherein the author outlines a broader history of the name going back to the Renaissance! Unfortunately, there is no source material or reference to follow up and prove it. Still, very exciting. In fact, it's been so exciting, I was up until 3:00 two nights running, following various links and lines and whatnot all.
So all in all there is progress in the preparations, but the relaxing? That still needs some work.
Will try to write again tomorrow. In the mean time, stay subscribed!
Monday, August 2, 2010
So it begins...
Well, I was not thrilled with my sermon this morning -- my last until November! -- but it was okay. I sort of started in the wrong place, as I thought about it later, and then the whole thing was sideways. It had sounded so much better last night and in the shower this morning. Oh well.
Any way, at 11:27 pm, I've got just about a half hour until the sabbatical starts officially I guess. We had a good worship service and a good crowd. It was nice to see so many people there at once and many who we haven't seen for some time. I am confident that Leslianne will do a great job at CPC. Then the Church Life committee put together a wonderful reception after the service with cakes and shrimp and punch and fresh fruit and all manner of goodies. Lots of good wishes from many dear people. Barry introduced and welcomed Leslianne and offered a farewell blessing to me. Very nice!
Had a meeting after all the festivities -- an appropriate way to go out. Then, I found it hard to get everything together and get out of the office this afternoon. This leave-taking really is challenging. I feel like I'm leaving so much undone and so many people that I should have contacted. If you are one of those or are close to one, I ask for your grace and forgiveness. I'm also just so used to being at the church, doing.... churchy things. Maybe the anxiety I feel about leaving is a good indication that it's a really good idea for me to leave for a while! It reminds me (and the congregation) that ministry is God's work first, and who does it is secondary.
Okay. It's now after midnight. Heeeeeeeeere weeeeee GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Any way, at 11:27 pm, I've got just about a half hour until the sabbatical starts officially I guess. We had a good worship service and a good crowd. It was nice to see so many people there at once and many who we haven't seen for some time. I am confident that Leslianne will do a great job at CPC. Then the Church Life committee put together a wonderful reception after the service with cakes and shrimp and punch and fresh fruit and all manner of goodies. Lots of good wishes from many dear people. Barry introduced and welcomed Leslianne and offered a farewell blessing to me. Very nice!
Had a meeting after all the festivities -- an appropriate way to go out. Then, I found it hard to get everything together and get out of the office this afternoon. This leave-taking really is challenging. I feel like I'm leaving so much undone and so many people that I should have contacted. If you are one of those or are close to one, I ask for your grace and forgiveness. I'm also just so used to being at the church, doing.... churchy things. Maybe the anxiety I feel about leaving is a good indication that it's a really good idea for me to leave for a while! It reminds me (and the congregation) that ministry is God's work first, and who does it is secondary.
Okay. It's now after midnight. Heeeeeeeeere weeeeee GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
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