Friday, November 30, 2007

Friday Five from RevGalBlogPal

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: Don't Call It a Comeback Edition

posted by Will Smamma


Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey?

Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols?

Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.)

Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....
1) dessert/cookie/family food
divinity: It is NOT divine or heavenly. GAG.
2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Eggnog of any variety, to me, it's just a big loogey.
3) tradition (church, family, other)
The church that has the nasty stew cooked over an open fire combined with decorating the sanctuary and calling it Hanging of the Greens with the appearance of Santa Claus. All parents were expected to provide the gifts to be distributed by Santa but no one told the new people (including the pastor who had two young children who still believed in Santa).
4) decoration
The huge Santa kneeling at the manger in the church lawn at the same church as #3.
5) gift (received or given)
The mass produced plaque with wonderful supportive words about "our pastor" with all male pronouns.
BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.
Santa Claus Lane or any other song from "Last Christmas" by Hilary Duff

I know, I know.... pretty grumpy for November but why not get it out of our systems now so we are free to enjoy the rest of the festivities.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals

Friday 5- extravagant unbusyness....

posted by Sally

I am writing in my official capacity of grump!!! No seriously, with the shops and stores around us filling with Christmas gifts and decorations, the holiday season moving up on us quickly for many the time from Thanksgiving onwards will be spent in a headlong rush towards Christmas with hardly a time to breathe.... I am looking at the possibility of finding little gaps in the day or the week to spend in extravagant unbusyness ( a wonderful phrase coined by fellow revgal Michelle)...

So given those little gaps, name 5 things you would do to;

1.to care for your body
get a massage.

2. to care for your spirit
spend more time with friends or spend more time making more friends

3. to care for your mind
oh, this really is a busyness fuel, get a jump on reading for my last course for the PhD

4. to bring a sparkle to your eye
this would be the friends thing again

5. to place a spring in your step
go Geocaching

Enjoy the time to indulge and dream.... and then for a bonus which one on the list are you determined to put into action?

Well, tomorrow, I probably will Geocache while spending time making friends

visitors and comments

I suppose, if you want someone to read your blog, all you have to do is put something in it that someone else will g**gle or otherwise want to search.

I used to have a blog that did not allow anonymous posters. I discovered, this morning, after someone used a search function that anonymous posters could post on my blog. But not anymore.

I hate it when changes are made and I find out the hard way.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

I really do have a blog

I suppose if I'm going to have a blog, I should write something. I'm sure I've lost all the regular readers since I have not been a regular writer. Nonetheless, here is a blog that is not a Friday Five, a meme, or another variation on a personality quiz.

* I began watching ER when it first started. I then dropped it in the middle after the stabbing of Carter and death of Lucy but before Carter was gone. I started watching again when this seasaon began in order to see their version of a hospital chaplain. In the years of not watching ER, I've missed some things. But, like a soap opera, it has been pretty easy to catch up.

I wish John Stamos wasn't trying so hard to be George Clooney. I wish they had invested as much on the advisement regarding appropriate clergy behavior as they did on medical technicalities.

* I'm one of the officers for the local ministerial alliance. I'm not sure that I'm really that invested in the organization because most meetings I leave feeling like I've wasted my time. As a part of the nominations process, I met with two other clergy. One the same flavor that I am and one that is a different flavor. The same flavor one had to leave fairly quickly after the business was done. The different flavor one and I stood on the "porch" of the place we met and talked for an hour (maybe more). I could have easily talked to him longer. We talked about a variety of things but it started with Harry Potter. My investment in the ministerial thing may have gone up a smidge.

* My nephew was born on October 9 which was almost my favorite grandfather's birthday. He (the nephew) has hydrocephalus and has a shunt that appears to be working well. His first month checkup was today and went well. He is now 10lbs 5 oz. When born, he was 9 lbs 4 oz. Better my sister than me. My babies were little bitty -- thank God!

Speaking of my babies. My youngest, the Entertainer, was born on the anniversary of the same grandfather's death. She began playing violin when school started with a 1/2 size. She has now grown into the 3/4 size (or is it the other way around size wise?) violin that was originally purchased for that grandfather when he was about the Entertainer's age. She is not quite as good as he was yet. But I have every confidence that she will surpass him. And, if those in heaven, have any care about what happens here on earth, he will be her biggest fan even though he never met her on earth.

* Now that my church has managed to move on a better financial path, we need to find out how to help others discover our great little church.

* I am officially registered for the last course for my PhD. Then comes comps, then comes orals, then comes dissertation, so that last course is just the end of the beginning.

* I need to write a congregational stewardship letter. I'd rather copy someone else's well done letter. I hate writing stewardship letters, not because of the money part, but because I want the letter to be inspiring. I don't usually pull off "inspiring" in letters like this. Sermons? yes. Letters? not usually.

And the letters really need to be mailed tomorrow. But the secretary has a family medical thing in the morning, so that would be the finger pointing at me to do the job. I hope the mailing labels are already printed but I'm not counting on it. They are created by a program that is not user friendly. I wonder if the folding machine will cooperate? The copying should be easy. The stuffing, boring but easy. hmmm, do we have enough first class stamps? I bet not.

In that list, the first thing that has to be worried about is actually writing the letter. That is completely under my control. So I guess I will do that.
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