National Cranky-pants Presbytery met today, and in spite of a seemingly interminable meeting, they actually weren’t as cranky as usual. The divine miss m stayed in the nursery where I stopped in to feed her during the dreary bits of the meeting.
I detest fighting the traffic each and every time I have a meeting downtown, so this time I took Metro. Man alive, I am going to do that every single time. Even with miss m in tow, it was effortless. There’s something lovely about gliding through a dark tunnel, underneath a bustling city, with a book, an ipod, and a sleeping baby for company—especially when the alternative is white knuckles, radio traffic reports “on the eights,” and the burning of way too much fossil fuel. I also refrained from printing the 65-page packet. I will often print 2 or 4 pages to a single page anyway, but this time I just followed along on my laptop. All in all, a fairly virtuous day. Small changes…
We celebrated the retirement of two sweet old white guys, although the second one praised his wife for her unending patience regarding his relationship with “my mistress, the church.”
Of course there are times that ministry trumps family; still, on the list of Things I Will Never Say, that was the Grand Prize Winner. Reminds me of the retired minister I know of who had a church meeting on his 40th wedding anniversary. Um, no.
Our worship was led by some members of a new church development in town, a congregation that does the happy-clappy music thing. Which I actually like when it’s done well. I am all for variety. I suppose I’m traditional enough in temperament to appreciate the organ and hymnal; yet I’m young and Baptist enough to like a diversity of instruments, a good praise chorus, and even [gasp!] clapping. But for goodness’ sake, is it too much to ask that the language be inclusive and the theology have some depth? And just say no to Jesus Is My Boyfriend songs.
Finally, here is a portion of a vision statement for the local camp and conference center which we discussed today. Just reading the first line makes me say “Ouch!” as Lorna likes to put it, otherwise known as “not me, Lord!” But as I keep reading, I can actually feel my breathing slow down. Here’s hoping you find some sacred space in the midst of your day.
- In this helter skelter world of email addicts who bow to the tyranny of the urgent,
in our type A, overworked, Sabbath-breaking world,
We need a sacred place,
a place of grace and beauty that is our offering to God,
a place that our congregations can know as their own,
a place where weary servants of the Lord can escape from busyness,
a sacred place…
18 Responses to “presbytery potpourri”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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I love that mission statement. That’s a mission I could buy into.
Hi, my name is Songbird, and I’m an e-mail addict.
Hi Songbird…
It’s been thirty seconds since my last e-mail.
You say email addict like it’s a bad thing.
Hey ppb! I read your blog, you should be in bed by now.
Hmm, you’re e-mailing alone… your sleep habits are affected… we definitely need to stage an intervention.
Work the steps…
I am powerless over Comcast…
I can stop emailing at any time.
Maybe tomorrow.
E-mail is the gateway addiction, you know. First e-mail, then blogging, then chat…
I’m Mamala/MaDear…
it’s been 30 seconds since my last email. I vowed to go to bed hours ago, but I find myself in a gutter, clinging to passwords, phishing for data, wondering who will email me next, then finding words to reply to them and still, I want to ‘refresh’ Outlook one more time before I call it a night…
they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it. I suppose when they say “solve” they mean to get rid of the problem.
I want to know who this “they” is and why “they” think we should listen to “them”.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and check my e-mail. Again.
I was busy checking my e-mail when all this fun conversation happened.
Why are you all looking at me funny?
If you want more Presbytery craziness, just go over to my place.
Friends don’t let friends chat and check email.
Love the “Cranky-Pants Presbytery”!!! And the prayer, too. Cheesehead, you were still up at 1:35 am–must have been some kind of craziness in cheese country…
It was really only 12:35 am Cheese Standard Time…but yeah, I’m feeling it today.
email addicts unite!
email addicts untie!
I’m breaking the habit. I left the laptop home all day…. and then waited at least 5 minutes before I checked the email.
See? It can be done. (ha!)
Hee hee, crankypants!
I can stop this anytime. Really!
ouchindeed. I say it way too often but it really is where I am so much of the time.
Love the name of your committee and good for you and the metro the following along on the pc .. small changes matter.
loved your vision statement. yeah and no ouch there.
be blessed. I’m in Canada right now and it’s SO good to be away …