Praying at the lake

As I head off in the wind to pray at the lake, I'd like to wish Heidi a wonderful first day at work as a vicar.

Sacred Space

I'm on retreat at Seabury, and this holy space still feels like home. It's been great to worship with the community in the chapel again. I can't wait to go pray Evensong. Beth and I stayed up past midnight talking, and shortly before that, Laurel and I discovered a new madonna and child. For the real story, see Laurel's blog!

How the new hair color happened

It wasn't my idea.

Remember exams that pose a question and then direct the writer to "be specific"? I should have thought of that yesterday. It was time to color some gray out of my hair, and I told my stylist, "Not so blonde this time." Right...like I said, "be specific" might have been useful. But who knows.

Come to think of it, the new color is something like the color of a turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Let it snow

The first snowfall started a few minutes ago. We're expecting up to 3 inches on top of the blanket of golden leaves that dropped very suddenly. The snow allows us to stay home, rather than drive to Chicago's southwest suburbs today. This gives me 5 straight days without interstate driving. Hurray!

Grrrrrrrrrr

Two houses on our block have Christmas lights up. It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Got Kleenex?

It's Monday, the day I give lots of time to cooking. I'm using a delightful book entitled Onions, Onions, Onions! Chop, chop, chop. Sniff. Another onion, another. My poor eyes! Whew -- they are small, but powerful. Onions are a thing of beauty, especially the oval rings in their centers. Squashes and peppers are next. Such color! Who would think vegetables could be so inspiring?

Taste and See

Sunday Evensong services at Trinity Church (check out our newly updated, much improved website!) include a sermon. This practice is new to me. Do any of you preach at Evensong?

Since my tendency to talk about food and banquets when preaching on Luke made me think that I might steer away from anything about eating this time, I decided to preach on the Psalm instead. Eagerly I turned to my Psalter....it's Ps. 34.

Ah, yes. This psalm is known for the words in verse 8: "Taste and see." !

Holy Spirit Kind of Day

At the invitation of one of our vestry members (!), I joined Facebook yesterday, and it still seems mighty peculiar to have done so. So imagine my surprise when my spiritual mentor in another town told me today on the phone, "You won't believe what I'm doing....no really you won't believe it...I'm in the middle of joining Facebook!"

The best part of this is that we each decided, about half a day apart, to use a photo other than our faces to represent ourselves. We both chose different images of the Holy Spirit: hers is a stunningly beautiful sacred space, with light pouring in; mine is captured in musical notation.

If any of my readers have Facebook accounts, please do add me as a friend, or send an invitation my way.

Want to draw crowds to your exhibit?

The secret is a large stash of chocolate! We're just back from Diocesan Convention in Des Moines. It was great to reconnect with Seabury friends Elizabeth and Meg, and hang out at the seminary's booth in the exhibit hall when I wasn't stationed at my own exhibit -- which drew many people because I offered a mountain of chocolate.

While this convention was not charged with anything as major as electing a new bishop (as will be the case in Chicago next weekend), we did elect 4 new clergy and 4 new lay deputies to General Convention 2009. I was elected, and am pleased to be a deputy for the third time. But I also was surprised, as this was my first time running as a clergy person and the slots are coveted. I'm honored to be headed to Anaheim in July 2009.