What I didn't say to the barista

At our local coffee house, the barista asked, "So is your son coming home for Easter?" (Well, not exactly. He's a church musician at a huge, busy parish -- there's a special reward in heaven for church musicians -- and he's working nonstop. We're all working, all weekend.)

"And what are you doing for Easter dinner?" she continued. (Are you kidding? We're all in different cities, and by the time two of us get back home, we'll be pretty wrecked. But when we're that tired, we can be awfully silly. That sounds good right now.)

I'll be grateful when we've gotten through the weekend, praying that we'll give those we serve a glimpse of the great mystery. In the end, the liturgy and the music pull us through, and even in our human mistakes and imperfections, the Christ-light shines.

Slowing down after a broken bone

On Sunday, I fractured a finger after falling in the parsonage. After four days of wearing a confining splint and seeing an orthopedic specialist, I'm wearing a smaller and simpler immobilizer, and he's determined that surgery will not be necessary. I am grateful that I'll be able to use the hand to rehearse and play in an orchestra concert this Sunday. I don't recommend breaking a bone, but the injury has slowed me down, and it's been instructive. I'm paying attention to movements I make, catching myself operating at top speed to save five minutes. There's grace in slowing down. It's been challening to write, to drive a car, to type on a keyboard, to wash a dish, to get dressed. Hopefully I'll be more attentive to the practical needs of others with broken bones, too. (Now if only I could write a blog post with paragraphs! Does anyone out there know how to fix this? I've already tried doubling the usual spacing.)

Messy as mud

As a reader kindly advised me, blogger paragraphs currently are disabled. Instead of posting 4 pages of a sermon here, all in a single paragraph (and hard on the eyes), I'll post the link to sermons on our church web page: http://www.trinityic.org/_whoweare/Sermons/sermons_raisin.htm. Unhappily, italicizing and footnotes did not transfer to the web page. That's too bad, because I think it's important to note sources. But at least the paragraphs are back.

Labor & delivery

Yesterday's sermon (labored over and delivered three times) is ready to post here, though not quite -- I cannot separate the text into paragraphs, so matter how many times I re-edit. I've not posted sermons in this space, but on occasion I think I'll start doing so. For now, the text is saved as a draft, awaiting the expertise of my favorite man in black.