Today I'm playing the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five meme. The topic is changes in life.
1. Share, if you wish, the biggest change you experienced this past year.
2006 was a year of many big changes for me. It's hard to choose just one. So I will choose the one that I didn't see coming this time last year and haven't blogged about before. El Jefe and I left our church home of nearly 20 years for this church this fall. We're very excited about its mission and ministry. Plus all of our extended family (including Portia and DK) are now attending here every Sunday. And I'm singing in the choir again with my favorite director.
2. Talk about a time you changed your mind about something, important or not.
Remember the energy crises of the Carter administration? As a young lawyer with a large Houston corporation I had the job of trying to explain the energy-saving regulations passed by Congress to the building engineers of our company. The head engineer was almost in tears as he explained to me that there was no way we could comply with the new regs because they were written for climate control systems of the Northeast and our systems in southeast Texas were so different that he couldn't make head or tail of them. That's when I changed my mind about the desirability of big federal government.
3. Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a controversial book called "Why Christianity Must Change or Die." Setting aside his ideas--what kind of changes would you like to see in the Church?
I'd like to see Christians behave as though their faith and the church were really important. I know if I did this more consistently I'd be a better Christian, and I think the church would be better if we all did. And by all means, let's set aside Spong's ideas.
4. Have you changed your hairstyle/hair color in the last five years? If so, how many times?
Yes, after lots of "encouragement" from Portia and Babs, I went to a new hair stylist and am letting (yikes!) some of the gray peek through. Now Babs isn't so sure she likes it and last night El Jefe was looking at it funny. So maybe I'll be changing again!
5. What WERE they thinking with that New Coke thing?
Quien sabe?
17 comments:
i like your churche's relationship buttons/emphasis (God, others, ourselves)! Very cool!
I didn't realize you had joined that church! Wow!
You certainly have had a lot of changes this year.
The church change is HUGE. Wow. Oh to worship in the congregation and not be or never was on staff...
Hard to tell how you feel about Spong though..
I like the new blog look.
And it was wonderful how much I could learn about the "tone" of your new church by looking at their very inviting website!
Blessings to you in all the changes that have been in your life lately. :-)
Agree about the church's website. And, OMG! I know exactly where that church is. I remember it from my earliest days because of those awesome big bells in the front.
My house growing up was just off of Beltway 8 (then called West Belt), between I-10 and Memorial Drive.
I visited your new church's website. What a blessing to find a church home that's a home.
And with the haircolor thing, would one count all the things that happened that turned it to gray?
Wonderful answers especially to three. And congratulations on your new church home.
Great play--I just peeked at your church's site, and it looks amazing! Blessings, Leah
wow- I've been to your church when we lived in Houston! Thats amazing....
also I'm gonna have to get brave and let the grey grow through...
ROFL... you made me smile big time on the Spong comment. And yes, a church that becomes family is a good thing...
deb
We are going to have such a good time when we get to meet for lunch someday (probably at some Presby thing where we are making opposite arguments LOL). Let's see...
I'm fascinated by your ability to be at home in a church of 4500. That's a story I would love to hear.
I was a young corporate environmental lawyer in the Dark Ages, and I had a similar experience. It didn't turn me into a Republican or anything drastic like that, but it did make me much more cognizant of the need for government to exercise restraint with respect to the details.
Oh dear, Spong. I have heard him speak a few times. He is so utterly arrogant ("only smart people like me have ever asked these questions and only dumb people like you have reached different conclusions") that I'm not sure I've ever caught the substance of his arguments.
My gray is here to stay. I so cannot bear to spend time in a beauty salon. I just wish it would turn white so there could be some flair to it.
Gee, I guess I did my entry in your comments. Well, someday: lunch with lots of Coke. The Real Thing.
Dear GG--
We so have to do lunch sometime--what a hoot it would be! And as long as we're planning it, let's have it at a wine bar with lots of tapas.
Please let me know if life ever brings you this way and I'll do the same!
Wow, making a change in churches is a major change. And one with that many folks! Like a small town.
A P.S.:
Hi QG....I conquered the profile widget!!!
Thanks,
You've had a big year!
I admire Spong for asking different questions. You can never accuse him of being "stuck"!
Besides, my grandmother taught him
Sunday School when he was a wee little boy.
Making the move to a new church after 20 years is HUGE, QG. I, too, like the website, and especially the new contemplative service w/Communion.
Blessings on this journey!
PresbyG
good play. It is hard to leave a church home.
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