Friday 5: Nothing But the Tooth

I haven't played the RevGals Friday Five meme for several weeks, but I have time to join in today's version--which is all about the tooth.

Please share your thoughts on the following:

1) The Tooth Fairy-- causes problems between siblings when one looses a tooth and gets a visit and the other one doesn't.

2) Flossing--I didn't floss much until the last few years. Now that I'm the proud owner of two dental bridges and don't want any more, I am Frannie Flossie herself. There's a great product out that combines a stiff flossing end with the regular floss in individual packets for FF's like me who don't like to use those loopy-thingie-me-bobs.

3) Toothpaste Brands--Crest. Force of habit.

4) Orthodontia for Adults--I say go for it if it makes you more comfortable or happier!

5) Whitening products--Wish they worked on my crowns better, but I think that those of us of a certain age look much older with super-white grins than we would with something more appropriate.

This Friday Five is dedicated to El Jefe, who went yesterday for what he THOUGHT was a routine filling only to hear the dreaded words "root canal". Poor thing!

Portia is Called to the Bar

Oh Happy Day!

Portia passed the Texas Bar Exam!!

~running off to celebrate~

(Thank you, Jesus!)

Watchman for the Lord

How often do you see Ezekiel quoted in the Wall Street Journal?

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;
so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
Ezekiel 33:7

Rusty Leonard read this verse and believed God was calling him to "watch" over the donors who sent money to religious organizations. The original WSJ story is only available to subscribers, but the AP picked it up and it is available in full here.

Leonard, a stockbroker, founded Wall Watchers, an investment guide for the religious donor. You may not be aware of this, but unlike other non-profit organizations, churches are not required to report their income, whom they get it from and how they spend it. Mainline denominations require churches to have annual audits or financial reviews and make them available to members of the congregation. But too often non-denominational churches lack responsible fiscal policies to prevent fraud, embezzlement and personal enrichment of those who control them.

Wall Watchers focuses on television evangelists and their organizations. A bunch of billboards sprang up around Houston recently touting the appearance of televangelist Joyce Meyer. I never heard of her, but back in 2000 Wall Watchers dug up property tax records and church financial reports showing Ms. Meyer's ministry bought five houses, a $ 6.5 million jet and expensive artwork. Leonard believes that donors should "stop being so dumb and start thinking like investors" and there wouldn't be so much fraud and misuse of funds in televangelist organizations. The Meyer ministry was included on the "donor alert" page of the Wall Watchers website.

He has a point, but I doubt many of the folks who are fans of the televangelists are going to use the information his organization gathers before they make their donations. Most of them preach the "prosperity gospel" and their followers think that their financial success affirms and authenticates that message.

Still, Wall Watchers provides a valuable service to the public. State and federal tax agencies and attorneys general are also reading the information. The county tax assessor went after the Meyer ministry resulting in a negotiated payment of back property taxes. Meyer's salary was cut from $700K to $250K annually. Wall Watchers took the ministry off the "donor alert" list and now praises the financial disclosures her organization makes voluntarily.

With more than 500 ministries already in its database, Wall Watchers is on its way to being a "watchman" that brings some accountability to the religious "entrepeneurs" of the airwaves.

Halloween 2006

Witch QG with her "familiars":
Baby Bee, Biker Chik, Princess and Cleopatra.
Have fun tonight, y'all!

Best Off-Year Election Quip

Comes from El Jefe, who after hearing one too many political ads touting the candidate's record on improving education remarked in disgust:

"You'd think they were all running for principal."

A New Time of Life

One of the blessings of blogging is reading other bloggers and discovering that they are having some of the same experiences in life that you are. A couple of days ago I came across a post by Gannet Girl, who was musing about whether or not to move from the big old house where she and her husband raised their family.

One of her conclusions was: "I know that what we really need to do is re-think our lives. They no longer center on children, and they haven't in a long time." El Jefe and I have been having the same discussion recently. With the marriage of Portia and the passing of our beloved Gretel The Noble Dog, it finally occured to us that it is time to make some changes. For years after Babs left for college I found myself reflexively returning home at the same time every afternoon that she came home from high school. Only in the last year or so have I begun to break myself of that habit.

What kind of changes are we thinking about? Like Gannet Girl, we decided not to trade in the now too-big house for a smaller one until after El Jefe retires, if then. We like it, we love the location, it's paid off, and we do use it to entertain large groups from time to time. There's plenty of room for Babs and we expect her to move home for some period of time after she graduates from her master's program while she finds a job and decides where she wants to live. Portia and DK can come back and spend the night for a holiday if they want to.

But what other changes might we make? Some of them may be small changes in routine. Some may be more significant changes in where we put our time and energy. Where is God leading us now that our girls are grown and don't need us to focus all our attention on them anymore? It's something we're thinking and praying about in this new time of life.

Early Voting Report

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. The 12 machines were occupied when I went in to the early voting place near my house this afternoon, but no line had formed.

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. There seemed to be a lot of writing-in going on.

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack.

I'm just saying.

A Big Fat Mess

Within the next 10 days, I will be involved in two elections. The first one is a pleasure and concludes tomorrow—the election of the first board of directors for RevGalBlogPals, Inc. The email “polls” will be open until 10 am tomorrow morning, but so far we have received 45 ballots from the 49 members eligible to vote.

We won’t see that kind of turnout on Tuesday, November 7. No, gentle readers, what we are going to see is a BIG FAT MESS in Texas Congressional District 22. As one of the election workers for my precinct, I'll have to deal with it.

I’m not talking about the four-way gubernatorial circus: Governor Rick Perry vs. Carole "One Tough Grandma" Keeton Strayhorn vs. Kinky Friedman (of Kinky and the Texas Jewboys) vs. Democratic candidate Chris "Who?" Bell. That’s a state-wide problem. I’m talking about the write-in wrangle that is sure to develop in the congressional race to replace Tom DeLay.

Since the courts ruled that the Republican party could not put a substitute nominee on the ballot after DeLay resigned from the race, there is a big write-in campaign being mounted for the party’s choice, Houston councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. The Democratic candidate, Nick Lamson, normally would be the sacrificial lamb in this heavily Republican district, but not under these circumstances.

We have electronic voting machines, so technically, you don’t WRITE in, you type in. But not like on a keyboard. It’s not a touch screen system, it is an e-slate machine with a tracker ball. The ballot will contain the candidates for this race plus a “write-in” option. If you choose “write-in”, then a new computer window comes up and you use the tracker ball to laboriously spell out the name, then click on “accept” and then click on “vote”. Got that? I didn’t think so.

If you misspell the name you are trying to write in, or try to use a short-cut, like using the initials or last name or first name of the write-in candidate it will PROBABLY be counted. But there’s an election commission that will have to review each deviance from the exact spelling and determine what the voter meant. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is not going to be easy to spell for our many English-as-a-second-language voters (or the native English speakers either). Plus there is no hyphen on the pad. Hanging chad deja vu anyone?

Oh, did I forget to mention that there are TWO races for this position? Yes, indeedy, Tom DeLay’s unexpired term must also be filled –from November 7 to December 31. The Republican candidate Sekula-Gibbs’ name IS on the ballot in that race. But Democrat Nick Lamson’s is not. He chose not to run in that race. I can just hear the Democratic voters asking why he’s not listed, because this race is the FIRST one on the official ballot. So Sekula-Gibbs could win the unexpired term and then loose the race for the full term.

Here’s my point: Texas has very liberal early voting laws. The polls are already open in the early voting locations. There are evening and weekend hours, too. Everyone needs to vote early and bring their patience with them.

A.BIG.FAT.MESS. No doubt we’ll be on the national news again. I’m not predicting anything else. I gave that up after the March primary.

Update: Mission Presbytery Candidacy Case

Classical Presbyterian posted an update on the Mission Presbytery case in which the presbytery voted to admit an openly acknowledged lesbian to candidacy for ordination as a minister in the PCUSA. The General Assembly PJC (the highest ecclesiastical court in the church) granted a stay of enforcement and will take jurisdiction of the appeal of the presbytery's action (the Synod PJC deadlocked on the case). At issue: whether or not presbyteries may admit sexually active homosexual persons to candidacy.

Stay tuned.

QG On the Links

Today was one of Houston's finest days--coolish, a breeze and bright, bright sunshine. It was also the first time I ever participated in a golf tournament. Or played golf other than putt-putt. This despite the fact that I have lived in a golf course community for nearly 20 years.

St. Betty needed a fourth for the Pink Lady Tournament at one of the many Sugar Land area golf courses. As you might guess, the Pink Lady Tournament benefits Breast Cancer research. (Theme: Stroking for the Cure.) So St. Betty, her daughter, our neighbor the Election Judge and I donned our pink shirts and headed out.





No, this isn't our team, but this team was kind enough to let me get their picture and it gives you an idea of the spirit of the day.







A LOT of the teams dressed up and decorated their carts with pink boas, big pink ribbon-shaped balloons, pink inflatable flamingos and pink bedazzled accessories. I even found a pink golf ball on the course!

I learned new meanings of words:
A Mulligan isn't necessarily a stew.
A divot may not be a dance step.
A fairway isn't always fair
A scramble doesn't always involve eggs.

I also learned:
To drive a golf cart.
To tip the caddies who shot our mulligans with the pink beer tickets. (The caddies were male members of the golf club who were stationed at every hole and were having a great time chatting up the ladies and showing off their powerful swings. )
That I need longer clubs than the ones St. Betty loaned me (I'm about a foot taller than she is!)
That I have an "eye" for the green (according to the caddies and St. Betty.)

How'd we do? We shot a two over par. Of course the mulligans helped. Still the Judge and I were TOTAL newbies, while St. Betty and daughter are pretty good. It evened out.

Golf is not necessarily a good walk spoiled. Particularly in a good cause. Maybe I'll take some lessons. Here's the view on the sixth hole. Just gorgeous!

My Own Illuminated Bible

This morning there was a lovely acknowledgment of my service as Director of Christian Education at both worship services. Besides the many good wishes and support for my new "job" as Moderator-Elect of our presbytery, I was presented with two volumes of the St. John's Bible: The Pentatuch and The Gospels and Acts.

I've always loved illustrated manuscripts. I remember saving money from my first summer job to buy a beautiful hardbound copy of a Book of Hours that I still have in my library. When Portia was about four I took her with me to an exhibit of illuminated manuscripts from the British Museum that came to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. She loved them, too, especially the fanciful animals and birds the monks drew around the edges of the text.

Although I had heard about this project which involves modern scribes writing the entire Bible and illustrating it in a modern style at a monastery in Wales, I'd never seen it. It's gorgeous. It's stunning. I'm amazed and very grateful to have these two volumes.

"Bet you can't read this Bible in 90 Days!" the clerk of session told me. Oh, no. It will take a lot longer than that. Thank you all. For everything.

Connecting From the Ground Up

Pastor Lance did a great job of examining presbytery from a minister member point of view in his series "What If...the Presbytery?". His suggestion that connectionalism comes from relationships that need to be built outside of presbytery meetings made me think further about how to build relationships between elders in different churches.

There are some ways that attendance at presbytery meetings benefits elders. Of course, participation in the larger connectional body of churches is important. But elders also discover that other churches have the same problems as theirs--and some of them are much worse! On the other hand, no matter how great your church is doing, you will hear about even better things going on at some other churches. Getting out of the "bubble" of your own congregation can be very enlightening for elders and can benefit their churches if the experience is effectively shared with the home congregation.

Pastor Lance suggests that this can happen outside of presbytery meetings. For most elders, I think it will have to. In my experience it is almost impossible to get elders to attend "equipping" opportunities provided by presbytery that encourage exchange of views and experiences scheduled outside of presbytery meetings.

But what if, as he suggests, pastors meet periodically with other neighboring pastors for relationship building and mutual support and then encourage the elders in their churches to do the same? What about meeting for before work or lunchtime Bible study together? Or just meeting occasionally for breakfast or lunch to exchange problems and joys in their work in the church? Or creating an email group to discuss problems or topics of interest?

I meet monthly with a couple of educators for lunch and chat. The relationships we have developed have been very helpful and meaningful to us. We didn't wait for presbytery to organize this, we just did it. What if some kind of "matching" service were provided at presbytery meetings for elders who are interested --a signup sheet for breakfast, lunch, Bible study or email groups, for example, with elders from other churches in the same vicinity? Could this encourage elders and pastors to build relationships and true connectionalism from the ground up?

2008 GA Theme Announced

The theme for the 2008 General Assembly has been announced, but I think the one suggested by Presbyblogger and GA General Council member Michael Kruse is more prophetic.

Close Enough

What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday we were deluged with torrential rains--over 12 inches in some areas--and streets were flooded everywhere around the Houston metro area. El Jefe sent his secretary home early and made a run for the house in between rainbands. He found the high-ish water at the end of our street. Then he called Portia and admonished her to be careful driving home from her office reminding her that years ago we were overcome by rising water in the downtown area and had to abandon our car and hike home through waist-deep waters.

Most of us down here have kept a wary eye on developments in the Gulf of Mexico during this hurricane season. Katrina and Rita really got our attention. Now we get wacked at the tail end of it--no hurricane has hit this area after October 16. So it wasn't a hurricane. Or a tropical storm. But it was close enough.

Today there is beautiful blue sky and sunshine. I'm looking forward to November 1 (the official end of the 2006 hurricane season). Stay dry!

Presbytery Imponderables

Pastor Lance ran a series of thought-provoking posts for those of us Presbybloggers interested in PresbyPolity called "What If...the Presbytery?". He invited discussion about the purpose of Synods and Presbyteries in today's world.

A recurring theme in the comments was frustration with the format of most presbytery meetings. Meetings that last an entire day, never mind the ones that span a two-day period, exclude most elders from consistent participation as commissioners because of work and family conflicts. Many pastors find the meetings tedious as well. One suggestion was that more of the business of presbytery should be done by internet, thus cutting down on the time commitment required.

That could be a good option to investigate. But presbytery meetings also serve an important purpose that requires personal attendance: the development and nurturing of personal relationships between pastors and elders. Many ministers are solo pastors in smaller congregations and do not have peers to associate with on a daily basis. Presbytery meetings offer the opportunity to develop those peer relationships that help pastors feel less isolated and provide support and mentoring. As an elder, I have also found it useful to meet elders from other churches who provide me with a wider perspective on the church than I would otherwise have.

We do need to find a way to include more of our elders and not have attendance limited to those who are retired or who have flexible employment situations. But how do we find a balance between a new, possibly electronic format, for presbytery meetings without losing the benefits of the traditional style of meeting? Or am I overstating the benefit of personal interaction between pastors at these meetings?

Bush Administration Prevents 2nd Coming

It's Friday the thirteenth, and time for another report from Houston on the doings of our local religious fringe leaders.

Houston-based evangelist Dr. (of what???) K.A.Paul , speaking at a rally in Cleveland, accused the Bush administration of delaying the Second Coming of Christ.

Hmmmm. So does K. A. Paul believe that the election of Democrats will hasten the coming of Christ? Somehow I don't think the Democratic Party will be campaigning on that platform.

Thank You

El Jefe, Babs, Portia, and DK join me in thanking our friends and QG readers who have emailed, commented or called us expressing their sympathy for the loss of Gretel The Noble Dog in the last couple of days.

We have been touched and uplifted by your prayers and kindness. Thanks to each one of you! You are also a blessing in our lives.

Gretel The Nobel Dog 1992-2006

It's a very sad day here. This morning it was clear that Gretel's tumor was growing and her condition deteriorating rapidly. El Jefe and I took her to the vet who has taken care of her since she was a puppy. He agreed with our difficult decision to release her from pain and return her to her Maker.

Let the bunnies in heaven beware! Thank you, God, for the companionship of this wonderful dog for these past 14 years.

Whither Synods?

Pastor Lance at Full Court Presby wonders why we have Synods in the PCUSA today. I've asked the same question myself. I agree with his conclusion Synods are a relic of the horse-and-buggy era that only add expense and bureaucracy to the denomination. What do you think? Join the conversation at his blog.

(Gretel update for those of you kind enough to ask: no change in her condition this morning.)

The Ministry of Skidboot

My brother sent me this video clip from a San Antonio station. It's about a cowboy in Quinlan Texas, his amazing dog Skidboot, and the ministry he didn't know he had. There are glimpses of everyday grace in this story--it's about 8 minutes long, but worth it. I'm dedicating this to Gretel The Noble Dog, who's not famous but just as beloved as Skidboot. I just took her to the vet because of a mass on the side of her head. The vet put her on antibiotics in the hope it's an inflamed lymph node. If it doesn't improve in 48 hours, then it's a tumor and bad news indeed.