Claimed, gathered and sent

I was moved by this prayer on the ELCA prayer website: Thank you, Lord, for always answering prayer, but not indulging my every petty, private give me. Thank you winnowing and refining, vetoing and delaying, refusing and revising. Thank you for being God and never less, for freeing me for wide horizons, for protecting me from my limited vision and wayward will. Thank you for foiling my every effort to unseat you and make myself king. T hank you for keeping it safe for me to pray. --Gerhard E. Frost From Seasons of a Lifetime: A Treasury of Meditations (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989, p. 118) candle picture

Thanks to Singing Owl for this Friday Five. Ours was spent on campus with the rest of the "remnant" that didn't go away. We gathered in the seminary refectory for a traditional Thanksgiving pot luck dinner. The fellowship and food were wonderful. 1. How do I limit the number to 5???? Anyway, I am first of all thankful for my husband, Ray, and for his supportive patience as I go to seminary. His love and encouragement have enabled me to make this change in our lives. 2. These are of course not in order as far as the amount of thankfulness I have. But my adult children Sarah and Christian are next. They have both grown i nto wonderful people whom I love with all my heart. For them I give thanks. 3. My granddaughter, Grace, a precocious nearly 5 year old. I am grateful for her and her unabashed love for Jesus. She is pr ecious. 4. I'm very thankful for Marisa, my son's fiancee, who has turned his world upside down. He's a different man. 5. And finally, I am tha...

Have a blessed Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. Our Thanksgiving will be spent with others on campus for a "Remnant Thanksgiving." flickr picture

Though on the mend, I feel a bit like my friend here. It is sheer grace that is keeping me going. This song says it all. flickr foto

Do you think the seminary choir could use another bass? I am dying to talk to the choir director and see if he needs a new bass. He has a great sense of humor. That's what I sound like. If I see him at chapel or lunch tomorrow, I will definitely make the offer. Meanwhile, today I was still feeling awful, but now there's a cough in addition to the pain around my sinuses. I saw the doctor tonight (I love that they have night hours). I do have a sinus infection and I was wheezing, which I've never done before. So, I'm on Zpac, Advair, a steroid, and Coriciden. Hopefully this will knock it all out of me. I'm not having fun. flickr foto s

It's that time of year when everyone is sick. Last week Rural Pastor was sick and actually tried to chant part of the service, but that didn't work out too well. My classmates have been sick as well. Now it's my turn. A student who is a parish nurse referred to it as the "creeping crud." Wednesday night I started having a voice change. Let's put it this way, if I was in the choir, I'd be a bass. That is still the case voice-wise, but now I feel like I've been run over by a truck as well. I talked to Rural Pastor yesterday and assured him that though I could not chant the kyrie, hymn of praise, or do the prayers, I would nonetheless be in attendance today--or so I thought...until I I woke up this morning, feeling every bit as bad as yesterday. So, I'm home and not having fun. flickr picture

Rural Pastor had mentioned in an email that we were having a baptism this morning. That's always exciting and I made the assumption that the family was from the area. When I went to put on my alb, I saw a woman changing a baby and then realized they were the baptismal family. I greeted them and mentioned I was away last weekend at my granddaughter's baptism in Rochester, NY. The mother exclaimed, "We're from Rochester!" I was amazed. I then inquired where they live in the Rochester area. She said, "Penfield." I told her I graduated from Penfield High School--as did she. She mentioned she had attended St. Joseph's Church in Penfield. That is where I was confirmed. We even went to the same elementary school, though she's much younger than I. It gets even more amazing. I mentioned that my daughter lives in Greece, NY. That's where one of the godparents lives! This is in a small, rural, MD church!! They had family here though and that's why t...