i’ve heard we’re getting between 2 and 10 inches of snow tonight. i am blessing a house tonight and am enjoying the afternoon at home. this is the perfect life, right now, hot chocolate with peppermint marshmellows. yum!
This is what our parish hall looks like right now. No, not the dogs. The candle and the red checkered table cloth and the spaghetti. Sacristan is so sweet. He has made pasta & sauce (with mushrooms, and without for Senior Warden, who does not like to eat fungus!), bread and salad for dinner tonight. Moreover, he’s transformed the room with a few table clothes and some candles. It looks so charming. It’s very dear, just like him.
Meanwhile, I continue to obsess because while I purchased my new Mac on Ebay, I forgot to update my Ebay address book, so the Mac is, I think, going to Hyde Park to my old apartment building. I’ve called and they’ve said they’ll sign for it and I can pick it up, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve tried to get in touch with the seller, who is frustratingly silent. UGH! Doesn’t he know I’m anxious!! I’m ready to get it and get going. My PC gets worse by the day.
Do you ever feel like there’s a million things that NEED to be done, but you’re just not quite sure WHAT they are and what you should do first? That’s been my week this week. I feel like I’ve done nothing. It’s not true–I’ve done quite a lot, but it just feels like I’m not moving forward. I have an hour before mass starts. I should write some thank you notes, work on numbers for the annual report and start my sermon. But my mind won’t slow down enough to do that right now.
I did, I’m happy to say, register for the Festival of Homiletics in May. I can’t wait!!! I’m hoping I might get to see The Snarky Squab as she lives (I think) somewhere in that neck of the woods. The last time I saw her, we were about 8, and she, along with her family, was in a giant U-Haul, backing out of my drive way in Athens, GA. A visit is long past due, eh Squab?
yesterday we had lessons and carols to celebrate the epiphany. organist, who was beyond cute, got sooo into making chrismons this year. we made them in advent and then had people return them on epiphany to hang on our epiphany tree (thank you wal-greens after christmas sale–6 foot pre-lit for $9.25). we sang and heard carols, i read some of my favorite words in the bidding prayer and the house was packed. lots of newcomers and newcomer cards today. i slept for 3 hours on sunday afternoon and it was that sleep that comes from the mixture of exhaustion and joy.
today two amazing people (who happen to attend st. pete’s) came over and with the help of sacristan, we took down christmas. the wreathes, the poinsettias, the epiphany tree. last, but not least, we put away the new creche. there is something sad to box it all away. the safety of the story goes away with it too. now is the time when the family will flee to egypt to escape herod’s wrath. and soon, all too soon, the journey to good friday will come. the soft red light bulb which makes a pretty light on the little stable was replaced with the standard milky white one, tape and bubble wrap cover the holy family until they can reappear once more next year. christmas is over and the work begins again.
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers and sisters,
To make music in the heart.
—Howard Thurman
The Caffeinated Priest 