Pentecost

"In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Shoe angst

(Disclaimer: yes, I do realize the following is a silly-@$$ first world issue.)

My name is Jane Ellen, and I loathe shopping.

Okay-- strictly speaking, that is not wholly accurate. I can enjoy browsing, when "aimlessly wandering without any real intent or need to pick out something specific" is the agenda. It's kind of like sightseeing that way, and can be fun.

But when it comes to procuring actual items that need to be purchased, I don't like it. I do not want to have to search hither and yon among crowds of other shoppers, spending fruitless hours picking out Just The Right Thing. It's frustrating and exhausting, and leaves me cranky and irritable.

Here's the thing: sometimes Shopping With Intent to Buy is unavoidable. I get that. When that happens I prefer to be a Woman on a Mission. Plan the work, work the plan-- get it over with and move on. Kind of like Caesar: Veni, Vidi, Vici (preferably on sale).

This is especially true if I need clothing, or God help us all, shoes. I detest shoe shopping. Current fashions don't usually suit what I'm looking for, and with my high arches nothing ever fits properly, and they're expensive, and things that are great on other folks end up looking strange on me, and how do you tell if they're going to be comfortable for the long haul since new shoes always feel weird anyway?

But the time does come when I have little choice in the matter. I'm going home for a wedding and a graduation next week, and the shoes I had that would have gone with the outfits for those occasions literally fell apart last fall.

So yesterday I bit the bullet, and went off (by myself-- it's better that way for all concerned) to look for shoes. And, after a minimum of tiresome searching I did find some. They were pricey, but a sale brought them down to merely mildly exhorbitant (I consoled my bank account by reminding it that we didn't pay retail, thereby upholding the Eleventh Commandment-- and at least I won't outgrow them in 3 months, like similarly priced sneakers for The Boy!).

And miracle of miracles, they actually fit! With arches and cushy insoles, and straps that don't rub in the wrong places... they make my feet content to be among them.


Almost worth the effort.

Books that followed me home from preaching camp

Preaching & Reading the Lectionary: A Three-Dimensional Approach to the Liturgical Year by O. Wesley Allen Jr.

Seasons of Faith and Conscience: Explorations in Liturgical Direct Action by Bill Wylie Kellermann.

Preaching Mark's Unsettling Messiah edited by David Fleer and Dave Bland.

Who Will Be Saved? William H. Willimon

Festival of Homiletics - random reviews

• When the rental car company says "Special- Van" on their reservation, it doesn't just mean a discount price. In this case, it meant a cargo carrier roughly the size of Delaware.

• Parking was a challenge; finding the vehicle in the parking lot later was not.

• Emory University (my residence for the week) needs some serious help with their wifi/connectivity. Not only glitchy, but the instructions they supply are seriously outdated.

• On the other hand, Emory employees were uniformly pleasant, eager to be helpful where they could, and generally delightful to deal with.

• Desmond Tutu is a joy-filled elf. Amazing that such a small body can contain such a giant soul.

• The concept of "church campus" (which descriptor applied to all three host congregations) leaves me bemused. I've visited smaller convention centers.

• The Methodist organ is what other organs want to be when they grow up. Phenomenal!

• The Baptists won the prize for most comfortable pews. Is this a happy side effect of expecting lengthy sermons?

• Some worship leaders try too hard. Worship has meaning by its nature; overdone voice inflections do not add to the experience.

• Blogger friends are even better in person.

• The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Episcopal bishop of North Carolina, is a homiletical hero. The man can preach.

• ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hansen is a direct and linear preacher-- easy to follow. He is also a gracious man.

• Anna Carter Florence's lecture was one of the better sermons of the week.
  

• Walter Brueggemann: Curmudgeon for Christ.

• Good music, secular as well as sacred, and sometimes the borders blurred.
  

"Trying to drink from a fire hose." Yep-- an apt description of the week. And SO worth it!

Festival of Homies!

It's been a busy few weeks On top of the regular round of sermons, bulletins and pastoral this and that we've had a regional board meeting, diocesan clergy conference, an unexpected funeral, and a congregational rummage sale. Sorry about the recent radio silence-- but corporeal life takes precedence.

And now... I'm off again! I'm currently sitting in the Denver airport, sopping up their free wifi. Headed in a couple hours to the Festival of Homiletics. In addition to the big names (Desmond Tutu, Barbara Brown Taylor, Fred Craddock, Anna Carter Florence, and did I mention Desmond Tutu?), I get to be in the presence of some really great folks--Rev. Ref+, Cheesehead in Paradise, St. Casserole, and more! I don't know which is more thrilling, and the combination is almost more than I can stand.

Look out, Atlanta-- here we come!