Getting to Know Me III

Are you saying, "Way too much information?" Well, there are more things I love:

1. The Zoe Group
2. Otter's current Sunday morning class on The Creator and Art. Speakers have
been songwriters, poets, artists, photographers, etc.
3. Tim's sermons on Romans
4. Powerpoint--the creative addition it is to our worship time together with its
graphics, art, etc.
5. Communion at Vespers.
6. Otter's offering of classes by Amy Jill Levine. She is a prof. at Vanderbilt's
Divinity School, an orthodox Jew and a world-renowned scholar of the New
Testament
7. Antiques Roadshow
8. 24
9. Most PBS TV
10. All Things Considered on NPR
11. Fresh fruit
12. A thick garlic-flavored steak at Joe Allen's in Abilene
13. Bluebonnets
14. Bradford Pear Trees
15. Publix Grocery Stores
16. Pictures of my grandchildren
17. The Puffy Muffin
18. Real Coca-Cola
19. Good children's books that are written for children and not adults, ones that
make sense, and that don't talk about poop and belches
20. Sam's developing vocabulary (you knew I would get to them eventually)
21. My beautiful, smart Maddie
22. My beautiful and funny Ella
23. Their mom and dad

Getting to Know Me II

Here are 20 more things I love:

1. Pink carnations
2. Matlock
3. Good movies (It's been a long time)
4. Broadway musicals (Except Cats--I never got that one)
5. Good poetry--Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, T. S. Eliot
6. Spiritual books--Anne Lamott, Frederick Buechner, Madeliene L'Engle,
Luci Shaw, Kathleen Norris, Eugene Peterson
7. The Message
8. Red
9. Purple
10. Eating at Mere Bulles
11. Lipscomb's Life Long Learning Classes
12. Rainy days
13. Fireplaces
14. Candles
15. Reading the Tennessean unhurridly
16. Crossword Puzzles
17. NBC Nightly News (I miss Tom Brokaw)
18. Mix 92.9 radio
19. Hallmark cards
20. Bluegrass music

Getting to Know Me

Here are 20 things I love (kids and grandchildren are a given!) Random Order


1. Turtleneck blouses
2. Matching socks for the blouse
3. Matching earrings for the blouse
4. Starbucks' Strawberry cream
6. Chili's chips and salsa
7. McAllister Deli's potato soup
8. Cracker Barrel's chicken and dumplings (I am hungry)
9. Netflix
9. Davis-Kidd Bookstore
10. Border's 3 for 2 paperbacks
11. Vespers at Otter Creek
12. The Gathering Room at Otter and the idea behind it
13. That funky worship leader at Otter
14. Some Bill Gaither videos (I am, after all, 69 years old)
15. My Buick and being independent enough to drive it wherever I want
16. Eating with my family
17. Movie night at 5405 Barton Vale
18. Sheryl's popcorn
19. Movies at the movie theater
20. My cozy house

More tomorrow--I love a lot of things!

National TV Turnoff Week

Since this is "turnoff the TV week", I thought I would list 10 things on television I can do without:

1. Reality shows
2. Most every sit-com (supposedly funny comedies based on sex and body function humor)
3. David Letterman
4. Daytime dramas
5. Wrestling
6. 10 minute commercials
7. Political pun-dits
8. Most religious programming (when will we ever learn how to do it?
9. The Cartoon Network (we have come a long way from Tom and Jerry)
10. Repeated, and repeated and repeated movies (How many times can one watch Dirty Dancing, Urban Cowboy and Cold Mountain) AND all those John Wayne movies (How many did he make anyway? 1,000?)

Rainy days in Nashville

As I returned home today, the extremely white clouds lay in three layers against a deep blue sky promising rain. This was white white, the pure white one thinks of when one speaks of The Lamb of God. It was a gorgeous sight, and as one who likes rainy days, it was a sight I appreciated for its beauty and promise--just as I appreciate Jesus for the beauty of His promise.

Tennessee is so beautiful.

Ella Visits

Ella came today. I helped train her for her future. She cleaned my bathtub ( from lint which accumulates from disuse--I am a shower person). As she cleaned she said, " I will be a "cleaner" when I grow up. And she did a very nice job too! My bathtub is too wide for me to reach to opposite side and if I ever got in it, I would never get out of it. So it was a real service.

We played restaurant and she delighted in being the waitress (maybe good training for the college years). Smart girl that she is-- since she can't yet write yet--when she took my order, she drew the items. Pretty good for age 4. I gave her a $50 tip (play money).

It is so good to be able to have the children in my home frequently. Sam was able to walk in today for the first time! He is getting so big! And is really into trains.

What fun!

11 things I think about late at night

1. What will the world my grandchildren live in be like?
2. Is the Bible correctly translated? Particularly those gender passages of Paul.
3. Why did Sam have to die so young?
4. Is there really going to be a rapture? Nahhhh
5. What will heaven be like? Yes, I have read Revelation.
6. What can I do to stop violence here?
7. What more can I do to serve God?
8. Will tomorrow come?
9. What will my grandchildren grow up to be like?
10. Why are there so many versions of church. And how does God really view that?
11. Where will I be in 5 years?

Bothersome things

Things that DIDN'T bother me as much before I approached age 70:

1. Two Story houses with steep stairs
2. Uneven terrain
3. Low toilets
4. How much time I had left to read all the unread books on my shelves
5. Driving at night in the rain
6. Driving at night to new places
7. The distance from the car to the front door of a store
8. The distance to a store in the middle of the mall
9. How long I had to stand in line
10 How much water I drank or didn't drink
11.How few handicapped parking places there are in some venues
12.How much light there is to read by
13.How cold the temp in a room is
14.How much stuff I have
15.Climbing ladders
16.How fast the days and weeks fly by
17.How long it takes me to do some things
18.How easily I forget things

Medieval Music

Doris Colvett and I attended a concert at Lipscomb on Saturday. It was the Chorale, the Reunion Chorale and the Early Consort Group. For many years, the direct Dr. Gerald Moore has been collecting medieval and unusual instruments from all over the world.

Saturday, the songs sung and played ranged from hymns and medieval madigral material to African, Australian, Persian, Palestinian and Scottish tunes. One African wedding song consisted only of the words: " I got him." The event was so good! There was even an early bagpipe.

It made me want to come home and read Shakespeare.

Good work Lipscomb!

Play Day

Maddie came over yesterday. We played with the Hot Wheels cars. We played Hide and Seek. We colored and made cards for Mommy and Daddy. And we ate Chicken Nuggets with Chick-Filet dips and Apples with carmel dip. Then we watched some of Curious George.

It was a good day!

Stars Shining in the Universe

I will be speaking at Vespers tonight on this wonderful verse in Phil. 2:14-16:

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you SHINE LIKE STARS IN THE UNIVERSE AS YOU HOLD OUT THE WORDS OF LIFE...."


How this world needs those who will hold out the words of life today--Bless those at Virginia Tech--I just wish those in charge would have listened to that English teacher's worries about Cho. The heart does spill over in writing, and the English teacher recognized that this young man was very troubled.

But back to shining like stars, wouldn't it be nice if when coming out of baptism a halo popped over our heads (as in the medieval paintings) or a luminescence would appear on our skin so the world would know we are children of God. But on the other hand, the world is supposed to know we are children of God by our love, right?

Book club day

Today was one of my favorite days of the month. The Church Chicks book club met. And today we met at my house.

The 11 people in my group are all Otter Members and all above 40 years of age.We have been meeting two years and have become a very cohesive group. While we don't all like the same kind of books, we all always have something to say about the month's book.

This month's book was Abide With Me by Elizabeth Strout. It is the story of a minister who almost loses his faith, his church and his children after his wife dies. Very good writing.

Sharing literary things, church things, and children things is very fulfilling, especially with this group which likes to laugh.

Thanks Ladies for a fun day!

Easter, 2007

What a glorious day! The worship on Sunday morning was outstanding with deeply affecting testimonies moving everyone. The huge cross covered with flowers was beautiful and uplifting.

Then lunch with Kevin Penna, Kim Girdly, Kyle Rigsby and Brandon, Sheryl and the munchkins. Honeybaked ham, orange salad, hashbrown casserole, Dot's potato salad, Candied Pecan Sweet Potatoes (from scratch by Sheryl) and Strawberry Pie. Yumm, if I do say so myself.

The Easter musical was wonderful and uplifting--we all had so much fun!

Thank you God for bending down and breathing new life into your son on this day.

Dogwood Winter

What a lovely name for what is happening this weekend==Dogwood Winter. The winter will surely ruin the dogwoods that are blooming as well as the tulips, pansies, petunias, etc.

I covered my small flowers with old towels and they seem to have weathered it so far. Last night the temp was in the 20's and today at 5:30 it is 36 degrees. Brrr. I guess we will all have wear coats over our Easter frocks tomorrow.

No matter, Christ has arisen. Hallelujah!

Revivals

I am taking a course in the Life Long Learning program at Lipscomb about American Revivals. We have studied the Puritan revival and the First Great Awakening. Key figures in the First were Cotton Mather and George Whitefield.

George Whitefield was amazing--His feat of bringing John and Charles Wesley to active faith counted for so much. He studied one of the great Shakespearean actors to see why people would pay to go to the theater, but would not attend church.

And then he incorporated what he saw into his oratory. When he came to America, church attendance was about 10%. He built his audiences to around 8,000 a night. Very itenerant, he rarely stayed more than one night in a place. When he died, the percentage of attendance in America had risen to 60% because of his expertise. What a man.

I remember revivals growing up in Hamlin. Actually we called them "gospel meetings". A rather well-known preacher would come and stay about a week, and we would go to church every night--always watching to see who would "come down the aisle" to salvation. Two of the preachers I recall are E. W. McMillan and Horace Busby. I remember enjoying it because the visiting preachers were always better than the resident one, and we kids got to play after church. Often there were pot-luck suppers too. You can see I was deeply religious at the time.

Harley Sadler Show

I don't know what prompted the thought, but I had a backflash of memory this week. Back to when I was about seven years old and got to go to the Harley Sadler Tent Show.

Sadler toured the show throughout West Texas in the 30's and 40's until the air-conditioned movie theaters put him out of business. The show came to Hamlin frequently, and wonder of wonders, they set up the tent across the street from my grandmother's house. I got to watch the tent go up and all the beginning activity, not thinking that I would get a chance to go.

I don't know how my folk afforded it, but we went and saw the show--much like vaudeville. Sadler played Toby the Clown. I don't remember any of the show, except the band and the music, but I remember what a treat it was to go. I think we even got cotton candy and popcorn. Maybe that is where I got my taste for Broadwayl

Sadler eventually retired his shows, moved to Abilene and ran for the Texas Legislature where he served three terms. Even then the Legislature was filled with eccentrics like Toby the Clown!

Texas Monthly

Reading Texas Monthly is like a visit home. The magazine is so thick and full of stuff to read, I usually put it at the back of my pile waiting for a longer span of time. Today, I just sat down and finally read the August '06 issue. Yes, I am behind on my other magazines too.

From the editorials to the advertisements, the Monthly shouts Texas and all it uniqueness. A review of the last governor's race and interview with an illegal immigrant who has been in Texas for 16 years lead the articles. My favorite feature now is a series of columns "Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch" detailing what it is like to live on a Texas ranch in the 21st century. The advertisements beckon one to Mexican restuarants in San Antonio and Austin, and try mightly to see buyers expensive condos in Horseshoe Bay. Texas furniture is displayed and lighted as if it were works of art. Paul Burka, another favorite writer, writes challenging columns on Texas politics which pretty well help me sort out my belief that no state in the Union has such strange bedfellows serving in state government. At least I thought that until I moved to Nashville!

Recipes for Southwestern dishes abound and make me yearn for Perini Ranch in Abilene.

Oh, well I am in the land of trees and gorgeous springs now, and I do enjoy that.

Vespers at Otter

Sitting in the darkened sanctuary last night, I marveled at how much Vespers means to me. John Catchings and Jonathan Vest, two master musicians, were playing "How Deep the Father's Love" on cello and keyboard. Dawn Whitelaw had just testified about her spiritual experiences while painting the Stations of the Cross canvases we have been using during the season of Lent. Our huge cross lay on the steps to the stage outlined by the canvases and candles. Talk about ambiance! And the various stations revolved around Mary, the mother of Jesus.

These quiet times each week have grown my faith and my appreciation for the many ways in which God can visit us.

Thanks Scott Owings, Matt and Mary Hearn for your work in guiding these Wednesday nights.

Children are the same

I have seen too many pictures lately of dead and wounded children in Bagdad. Why, oh, why can we not do something about this dead-end (no pun intended) war? It seems as if our administration were frozen in some Alice in Wonderland scenario--both weird and hard to escape.

Mem Fox is one of my favorite children's authors and critic of current education. She coined the term "to ache with caring" in regard to teachers in her book Radical Reflections. If we all ached with caring maybe we could stop the war.

I recently discovered one of Fox's latest books Whoever You Are in which the proposition (certainly no new discovery) that children all over the world are laughing and crying, playing and learning, eating and sleeping. While they may not look the same or speak the same language or live the same life--they are the same inside.. Kirkus Reviews said the book acknowledges in the simplest of terms our common humanity. I wish all adults could acknowledge that and quit trying to kill their young.

Amazing Grace

Hollywood these days seems to be in a downward spiral as it tiptoes in and out of the boundaries of PG and R toward the rating X. I really don't have words to describe the state of movies now. Tawdry, obscene and depressing seem apt--but they really don't get at the depth to which movies have sunk.

That is why all who raced to see Mel Gibson's Passion should race to see Amazing Grace now playing. It is what those of us who are Christians have hoped for on the silver screen: beautifully filmed, not preachy nor boring, unique in its subject, and certainly moving to anyone who has any decent emotions left after viewing the movies nominated for the Academy Award this year.

The story of Wilbur Wilburforce who almost singlehandedly (for a while) led the opposition to the slave trade in Britain is the story of an unsung hero that everyone needs to meet. John Newton, the former slave trader, who wrote Amazing Grace was Wilbur's mentor from an early age.
Newton is the one who advised Wilburforce to use his gifts and his zeal for God in politics rather than to enter solitude. The result was years of fighting, submitting bills, and failure until Wilburforce and his Quaker friends finally wore Parliament down. While the history may sound dull to those who do not favor history, the movie is never dull. One can wait for the DVD, but the scenery and setting of the movie need to seen on the big screen. You will not know any of the actors except Albert Finney who plays Newton, but they are all good.

Go see it and support it! The viewing I attended Saturday was full, but more person to person recommendations need to be given.

On the subject of the hymn, which is played by a bagpipe band at the end of the movie (chillbump time) Steve Turner's Amazing Grace, The Story of America's Most Beloved Song, is one of my favorite books and also deserves putting out a few bucks.