Monday, August 29, 2005

weekend notes

Catching up:

1) Emily -- I am almost through Chapter 4 of McCulloch's The Reformation. Words to follow.

2) Lots of advice about leg stretching exercises to help my still very painful lower back and leg. The pain has gotten worse, but I am coping better. And the exercises will help. I had to work Saturday and I took pictures for the church's community picnic Sunday after the service. Other than that, it was heating pad and staying in various degrees of stationary coping.

3) This would have been a great weekend to garden. My garden demands it. True to the prophecy of another gardener in Indy back in spring, our gardens are mostly spent a bit too early. I need to clear out that "spent" part. I didn't even mow. Reminds me that mobility is a good thing.

4) Lots of people have bigger problems. I have a good friend who is dying. The poor people of the Gulf Coast are facing a horrific storm. People in Iraq are dying in horrible violence, including young American soldiers.

5) Sunday morning, I read at the main service, something I never do because of choir. I was basically a speech major in college. Reading aloud is something that has always come easy to me. The passage from Romans 12 (don't conform to this world, but be renewed by the transforming of your mind through Christ...) is a familiar passage. I practiced. And then, in reading, I completely lost my place. I never lost my composure. But inside, I panicked. As I scanned the passage to find my spot (and it's large print, lectionary - sectioned), I could not find it. Four or five times I looked for it. It was as if the passage had flown off the page, and in its stead was something else, from another book. Finally, I quickly scanned the entire passage to get to my spot. Some thought I was creating a dramatic pause. Others knew right away. As a reader, I try to not over-interpret. I try to be clear and to communicate. And I try to listen to the scripture afresh. I don't know if it was the distraction of hurting, or all that trying, but part of my composure was thinking, this is what it is, and a confidence that at some point I would find the right spot in the passage.

6) The garden again -- there are a couple of spots of fresh color: The garlic chives, appropriate for alliums, with their white opening petals will soon turn to giant dandelion-like balls, and the quite subtle transformation of the big pink sedums, their whitish-greenish blossoms slowly turning into pink. And the wild party (think cotillion dance instead of rock concert) of the pink Japanese anemones, opening as a dark, rich color, only to sway in the air atop their long stalks as pale, parasol petals rising above heavy, heavy leaves at the base.

1 comment:

Don said...

River Stone -- I am feeling much better, thank you. We didn't get to spend much time in Lindisfarne, but it was definitely worth it. I have other pictures that I will probably share from it.