A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

Greetings All, As part of the process of looking at our liturgy we are preparing a brochure about our services. Below is the description of the 10am service, any ideas to add or make it better? Make some comments! Thanks A+ 10:00AM Sunday Mornings : Lively; Family; Communion What do you think of when you think of Church? Music? Preaching? Families? Jell-O Molds? When you think of church, our 10AM the service is what you might be imagining. Steeped in Historic Christian Tradition, Gethsemane embraces progressive, all inclusive spirituality. There is great diversity of people at the 10AM service, all ages, and all kinds of families and we welcome people from every race, class and creed to join us in the Garden. As part of our 10AM service you will experience, music, prayers, preaching and other rituals. Music is choir led and accompanied by organ or piano, and on the fourth Sunday of every month Jazz Pianist Laura Caviani leads a Jazz Mass featuring Pete Whitman and Daryl Boudreau...

Well, Surprises never cease in the Episcopal Church, what will happen next? Talk about exciting, Katherine Jefferts Schori was elected on the 5th ballot in the house of Bishops and overwhelmingly approved in the house of Deputies to become the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA. Wow. What do you think Archbishop Peter Akinola is thinking right this very minute??? To be in Ohio right now, the spirit has to be alive, kicking, powerful and awesome, what an amazing thing! I didn't see this coming, it will be quite an amazing ride for the next 6 years! The Kingdom of God is like... Read all about wherever you can, all the news services are already reporting about it! Be well A+

So I had a little, teeny weeny surprise for people at the end of the 8AM service and the beginning of the 10AM service today. We used the little button that triggers the hammer that hits the Large Bell in the bell tower. ItT was kind of exciting to share that experience with the entire community. There is something about Church and bells, and to reignite these bells with electricity that will make them sing again is so very exciting. As many people have suggested in various comments, will it not be truly amazing to be called to worship by the peal of those magnificinet bells. God just keeps unveiling things that bring great joy and excitement to this beautiful and great community of faith! Be well, A+

While convention is going on there are a few blogs you may want to keep yourself apprised of: The Rev. Michael Hanley has a blog, he is the rector of St. Christophers in Roseville. And of course, Sara McGinley is blogging as well. Rachel Swan , also from the Diocese but particpating as leadership for the Young Adult Festival is also posting regularly! Click on their names for their blogs. Be well, A+

So I figured I had better get in and do some work at the Church so Mom and Dad have taken Eliot for the day, thank god. It has been quite an adventure to balance, this 50 hour a week job with a 24/7 single parent lifestyle thing and then try to take care of myself as well. I have completlely fallen out of that picture. But I have gotten another bike and am hoping to get it tuned up and ready to go so I can strengthen my hamstring. Sara returns next Thursday and I am both looking forward to it and not because it has been so awesome to have Eliot and spend so much time with him. Yes, he is even eating his vegetebles!!! He's back to carrots. I imagine there will be some adjusting when Sara gets back, we will have to see I guess. I hope someday I will get to do this with Naomi too! Back to work, I have to get a sermon done today so I can hang with Eliot the rest of the weekend, and watch some soccer, wait till you hear Eliot yell GOOOOOOOOOLLL!!! Be well, A+

So I figured I had better get in and do some work at the Church so Mom and Dad have taken Eliot for the day, thank god. It has been quite an adventure to balance, this 50 hour a week job with a 24/7 single parent lifestyle thing and then try to take care of myself as well. I have completlely fallen out of that picture. But I have gotten another bike and am hoping to get it tuned up and ready to go so I can strengthen my hamstring. Sara returns next Thursday and I am both looking forward to it and not because it has been so awesome to have Eliot and spend so much time with him. Yes, he is even eating his vegetebles!!! He's back to carrots. I imagine there will be some adjusting when Sara gets back, we will have to see I guess. I hope someday I will get to do this with Naomi too! Back to work, I have to get a sermon done today so I can hang with Eliot the rest of the weekend, and watch some soccer, wait till you hear Eliot yell GOOOOOOOOOLLL!!! Be well, A+

I love the Gospel stories that attempt to describe what the Kingdom of God is like. This Sunday's reading is one of them, it is the parable of the Mustard Bush. Yes, the Mustard Bush, that is all the rage now, to say bush rather than seed. You see, the fact that Jesus decided to compare the Kingdom of God to a bush was very intentional on his part. A bush! The Kingdom of God, this thing that is so wonderful and great and amazing and cool and overwhelming and glorious and beautiful is being compared to a BUSH!!! That has so many worrisome connotations in this day and age. The Kingdom of God is nothing like we expect, it is nothing like we would ever imagine. Which makes me, anyway, imagine harder about what it is like. I love trying to come up with modern day parpables of what the Kingdom of God is like, post some of your own in the comments section and lets see if we can come up with some fun ones. The Kingdom of God is like a goal scored in soccer. The development of the...

Sara sent in some stuff about Spirituality and Parenting to Speaking of Fiath and they chose her piece to read, by her on the show. Very cool. She has more info about it at her blog, click here.

So I have been busy watching the World Cup, taking care of Eliot and trying to get all my stuff done for work as well. A big oops goes out to men's National Team who got toasted by the Czech Republic. It is funny, a lot of people are screaming and yelling about the loss, but they are the second best team in the world, they were supposed to kill us. No if we lose to Italy in similar fashion, or just lose at all, then I will be extremely disappointed. Ghana, too we must beat them both so we can continue on. I think the boys will shape up and give Italy a great run and beat them in a crazy, intense game. I am preaching this Sunday so I will be blogging a little more later today and tomorrow to get my sermon up and ready, so here we go, again! Be well, A+

June 2nd, in a few months I will have been at Gethsemane for a year, September 1st to be exact. It is amazing how the seasons of the year seem to dictate the pace and the events that happen within the Church and maybe even the world. This Sunday, the 4th of June is Pentecost Day, a pretty important day for the Church... It is the birthday of the Church, the day when the disicples were called to go out into the world doing the work Jesus started and they were called to continue. It is the day when the Holy Spirit is given to us, a day when we are filled with the Holy Spirit in a way that only God can offer, a simple gift. Anyway, as we head into Pentecost at seemingly breakneck speed, the ministry and call of Jesus that we have been priviliged to continue, reveals itslef all over. This month the folks from Youthlink will be coming to the Bishop's Committee to talk about their programs and how they can join us in a relationship that will transform hearts, and this community. Th...