Week Roundup

March 20, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life, Religion 

This week’s roundup comes a little early – I’m taking Good Friday off from work.

Sunday – After worship I went to the Adult Forum on the capital campaign which included a manse tour.  The manse tour included lunch.  This solved a problem for me – Carolyn was in North Jersey at a wake for a cousin-in-law of hers.  Later in the evening I went to Sr. High youth group where we prepared further for Youth Sunday.  I have an assignment – I need to find Old Testament scripture(s) to match up with the Prodigal Son.  (Feel free to suggest some in comments or e-mail)

Work this week has been quiet.  My boss passed her Project Management Professional exam on Monday (on the first try!) and we celebrated with donuts and bagels on Tuesday.  The entire group is taking her out for lunch next week.  Other than that I’m doing design work for a project.

Planning for the moderator candidate event is progressing.  I’m finding a huge disparity in how presbyteries handle the list of commissioners.  Some are treating it like I’m some kind of identity thief and insisting on forwarding the event information to their commissioners.  One stated clerk said that he’d look at the invitation and determine whether or not it was “appropriate” for the commissioners.  Other presbyteries are being very forthcoming and giving me all of the information that I ask for in minutes.  I have to wonder who abused the list of commissioners at some point and how that caused the very prickly reaction in some places.

Monday evening at church Project Open Door met (well, actually at the manse – it solved a child care issue for the pastor).  Most of the meeting went very well.  Then we got to the subject of whether or not racism is an issue in our church (which is 90+% white) and whether or not we’ve introduced bias into our visitor survey.  I’m amazed at how passionate people were about their positions (given that it was a room full of white people) and at how much disagreement there was.  After this painful experience we’re going to revisit it again later – probably with the help of an expert.  Ironically, Barack Obama covered all of the issues that we discussed in his speech the next day.

Tuesday evening I ended up serving as the pick-up Net Control Station for a ham radio weekly drill.  This was the weekly Mercer County SKYWARN/RACES/ARES net – to test radios and procedures in case our services are needed due to a disaster or severe weather.  It went relatively well given that most of our members were attending a club meeting at the time and were unavailable.

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Tonight I plan to go to our church’s Tenebrae (Maundy Thursday) communion service.  It will reportedly be very powerful.  They gradually dim the lights throughout the service and end in darkness and silence.  With the strong winds that we’re going to get it should be interesting.

Friday evening we’re off to see the Trenton Devils play the Dayton Bombers with my sister Laura.

Saturday evening we go to the Philadelphia Wings vs. New York Titans lacrosse game at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.  My friend Jill has a crowd coming.  My sister bought two tickets and after a friend dropped out Dad is coming with her – they’re riding with Carolyn and I to the game.

Sunday morning’s Easter service will probably be Catholic this year – we did Presbyterian last year.  Sunday afternoon we’re hosting Easter dinner with the Smiths and Brennans at our house (anywhere from 9 to 13 people depending on who comes).

Happy Easter!

A disappointing weekend

February 25, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life, Religion, Sports 

This was one of those weekends where nothing quite goes your way, but it’s not really anybody’s fault.

Friday evening I went to a Philadelphia Wings lacrosse game.  A friend of mine (from camp and church) has season tickets and we’d made arrangements for this game way back in October or November.  I was looking forward to “catch up” time with her.  Unfortunately (for me), she recently started dating the guy who sits behind her at the games.  Carolyn and I enjoyed the game (it was close until the 4th quarter when the Wings went on a tear and blew out the other team), but we felt a bit like 3rd and 4th wheels.  I can’t really blame my friend for concentrating on a new romance.

Saturday was quiet at home.  I got the bills paid, some reading done, and rested.  Nothing bad there.

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Sunday evening our youth director had planned a big “Bible Goes To the Oscars” program.  He worked really hard – we had a red carpet and special lighting and movie stuff all over the place.  We were going to have the youth do bible skits and then give awards for things like “Best Jesus” or “Best Supporting Disciple”.  Only 4 youth showed up (with 5 adults).  I think the issue is that many of our youth are involved in theater productions at the various high schools next weekend.  We had to punt and switch to a discussion of films that have made a difference in your life and relating them to faith.  Again – not really anybody to blame but not quite what we wanted.

One bright spot – I asked my pastor a pressing question for me regarding ethics and the workplace.  He mentioned it in his sermon yesterday.  He didn’t have an answer, but he posted the question to others on the church’s new blog.