Creeping Crud

For the past four days I've had what I call, The Creeping Crud. Its basically an upper respiratory illness that creeps over me like the Blob of movie lore.

It starts out with a slight scratchiness to the throat with a dry cough when I talk too much. It then moves to a full blown sore throat, which accompanying chest congestion, and nose running the marathon.

Invariably I'm too sick to get out of bed to head over to the quick express medical place until the secord or third full day of symptoms. I've already missed a day of work by that time, and usually find out that I'm going to miss a few more.

Not that I'm contagious (they tested for flu) its just that I'm achy, sore and tired. Its amazing how tired you get when you're sick, and coughing. By the fourth day, my lungs are sore from the coughing, and it feels like I've been worked over by the old NYPD boileroom boys*.

By the fifth day, I'm not quite 100%, but well enough to head back to work. Happy Happy, Joy Joy !!

... and so it goes


*In case you don't get that reference, they were supposedly a bunch of cops with rubber hoses that were liberally applied to the sides of the offender.

Contemporary Christian Music

We've been doing a short Praise and Worship time before our traditional service this summer. We don't have a flashy worship team, its just myself, SWMBO, an acoustic guitarist, and our Minister of Music on piano. Obviously, that's not us on the right!!

We don't sound all that bad, in fact one of our older saints says she thinks I have a fantastic voice. Of course, I'm not so sure how good her hearing is. That said, we make a Joyful Noise.

We only do three songs, and our guitarist is still learning and does mostly chords, and only in certain keys. Our Music Minister tries to play all four parts on the piano, and does his darnedest to slow down even the fastest contemporary song.

However, this week, both the guitarist and the pianist are out of town on vacation. So, I get to find karaoke versions of songs to use as accompaniment. I'm sure not going to do this a Capella.

That said, we're lucky to get more than 20 people during this time, and most of them show up about 5 minutes before the main service, with the rest of the congregation showing up during the passing of the peace just before the call to worship.

Needless to say, our congregation is not all that enthused about this. I do realize that contemporary music is not for all churches, nor is it the cure-all for a church that is not growing, but anything that makes Stodgy Presbyterian a bit less stodgy helps. So we try, and we sneak in a contemporary hymn about once or twice a month, just to shake things up. The problem is, we really need a rhythm section to keep our pianist (and sometimes the guitarist) on the beat.

And so it goes ....

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Its been a very slow summer, what with vacation, and heat waves, and the summertime blahs. I'm not complaining, mind you. I'd rather have the heat than the cold and snow of winter, its just that after spending five weeks on the grand tour in June and the beginning of July, the rest of the summer is just an anticlimax.

There are a few things that need doing, and I'll get to them sometime this week, but really, with the heat index in the 90's and the humidity, and then the thunderstorms, who can get anything done. Oh, SWMBO will get me going, that I know, but right now, just sitting with my keyboard typing away is so much preferable to actually doing something.

Maybe because I reached my 39th birthday on a week ago, just like Jack Benny used to. Of course, I'm much older than that (I've got my AARP card), but I haven't yet reached Social Security retirement age. Still, I think I can go to work at TJ's and toss cases of corn around like the 20 year old next to me does. Then I come home the next day and have SWMBO slather Watkins(R) Warming Analgesic Balm* all over my back and shoulders.

I've been away from the blog for the same reason, lethargy, and really nothing to write about. Well, I could have, but I've been biting my tongue (or in this case, binding my hands) from commenting on the various goings on in the many Christian denominations. I'm wondering if He shouldn't come back with a rope's end to start tossing the tables, and clearing the temple again.

I hear people talking about the 'Dietary' laws when the 'elephant' argument comes up, but then I read in Matt 15:10-11

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "

. Then in Matt 5:17-18:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Yet people listen, but do not hear.

But as I'm rambling on, you may also notice that the blog has another skin. I had intended to leave the Harry Potter theme up for only a week or two (that got away from me) and replace it with my old theme. However, I did some searching through Google and found a theme that I liked, and so the place has been remodeled once more. I hope the new look is pleasing to the eye, and to the reader.

And so it goes .... (with a tip of the hat to the late Uncle Walter)

*if you want to know how to get some, leave a comment and I'll get back to you ;)

Defining Church .. hmmm, not really !!

In reading yesterday's (July 21) Presbyweb, there was a link to an article on Dr. Joseph Small's talk at the Calvin Jubilee held in Montreat.

One thing in the article struck this Reformed Catholic as in error, and I admit I'm not as well versed in Calvin as some. I quote:

Small focused on three aspects of Calvin’s thoughts on the church that remain relevant today: word and sacrament as central marks of the church, a unified plural ministry of clergy and laity and the communion of congregations.

Now, I'm not sure if this is exactly what Dr. Small's said, or if this was messaged by the reporter, but having attended lectures on Calvin from someone who has made Calvin his specialty (Dr. Charles Partee), I don't believe that is what Calvin actually wrote.

So I checked via Google, and found this information from Dr. C. Matthew McMahon on the site "A Purian's Mind". I won't go through the whole article, but I will list the three Marks as listed there, with supporting Scripture verses:

Mark 1: Sound Doctrine (John 8:31, 47; 14:23; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Thess. 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:16-4:4; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 9-11)

Mark 2: Right Administration of the Sacraments(1 Cor. 10:14-17, 21; 11:23-30)

Mark 3: The Right Administration of Discipline (Matthew 18:17; Acts 20:28-31a; Rom. 16:17-18a; 1 Cor. 5:1-5, 13; 14:33, 40; Gal. 6:1; Eph. 5:6, 11; 2 Thess. 3:14-15; 1 Tim. 1:20; 5:20; Titus 1:10-11; 3:10; Rev. 2:14-16a; 2:20).

Again, not sure if Dr. Small was emphasizing areas of his concern; he is trying to bring back the idea of teaching/ruling elders, or just eliminating areas of Calvin's thoughts that are inconvenient to those who are currently holding power in the PCUSA.

New Blog Template !

OK, I'm a geek ... found this on the Harry Potter website, and thought, what the heck, for a few weeks, it won't hurt.

I'll have to rebuild the old template gadgets, but for the fun of having a Harry Potter skin on the blog, its worth it ;)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Just got back from the midnight show of Harry Potter and the HBP. Okay, so I'm a geek. I think I was the oldest person there without kids. So be it, however, SWMBO was along to enjoy the movie, and I have to say, I enjoyed the movie.

However, much as the novels got darker in 5, 6 and 7, so the movie starts out dark, gets a bit lighter, then dives back into the darkness. The writer, Steve Kloves, who's written every movie except for Order of the Phoenix, did a very good job in keeping most of the feel of the book, yet allowing for the visual needs of the screen vs. the mental pictures of the book. Some scenes were altered to allow for a more visual staging, yet they lose nothing of the suspense found in the same scene in the novel.

I could go into more detail, but I really don't want to start creating spoilers. All I need to say is this:

1. If you liked the book, run do not walk and see the movie
2. The movie is much darker than the previous, it is rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality. (OK ... Ron gets snogged for most of the first half of the film) :)

Getting back to the Daily Grind

Well, after five weeks on the road, coming back home is somehow bittersweet. Yes we both had time to relax and renew, but the reality that playtime is over is here.

Sunday, we lead the praise time we have here each summer. The stodgy folks here at SPC; you know the types they've been here since the church went up and nothing changes in my church, would not hold to do something like that during the normal worship service. So, we get 10 minutes prior to the normal worship time. What that means is that while we're up front singing Come, Now is the Time to Worship, people are walking in making small talk, and basically ignoring us up front. Luckily a few people join in the singing, and eventually the talkers get the idea.

Monday, I spent time working on the network to clean up a few things that occurred while I was on vacation, then Tuesday I changed the church announcement sign that has had the same thing since the middle of May. I had hoped someone would get the idea that maybe VBS should be advertised, but I did that today. At least someone had the forethought to change the worship time from the usual 11am to the summer hours of 9:30am.

Would be nice to have Air Conditioning, but that would call for a capital campaign, which would mean actually asking people to pledge.

FWIW .. I didn't begin this as a rant post, but it turned out that way. I think the reason was that I found out that someone who was the Deacon Moderator last year, and one of those stodgy folks I mentioned above, decided after her 3 years on the Board was over, to start attending a different church.

I won't go into what I think are the reasons, just that it seems like a temper tantrum, and she took her ball and went home.

I think that differentiates those who look at the church as a club, and those who look at the church as a group of believers who worship the Living God. Those who worship, work at making the church open to all who come through the door seeking Christ. Those who club, want to keep the church the way it is for themselves and their associates.