Landscaping Completed!

I'm excited that we completed the landscaping in the back yard of our new house just in time for Thanksgiving!

Since I miss having a pool here, I designed this "water feature" that was completed a couple of days ago. Beatrice thinks it is her personal drinking fountain and a worthy replacement for the Pool Dragon that she used to chase at the old house.

This type of fountain is called a Bubbling Pot, even though these are more like big Southwestern style urns. Woo-hoo!

Who Wore It Better, Redux

Over at Portia's blog, Olivia is demanding a recount!

PresbyBloggers Adult Bible Study Post

Go over to Presbyterian Bloggers today to read my post about the Bible Study Discussion program at my church and hopefully, a good discussion in the comments about what makes a successful adult Bible study program.

Striving To Be a Starfish Presbytery

(From Rev. Mike Cole's State of the Presbytery address last Saturday available at www.pbyofnewcovenant.org)

THIS WORLD IS:

• tired of war and needs a people committed to peace
• weary of fearfulness and needs a church which is courageous
• jaded by self-serving charlatans and needs people who hold fast to that which is good and renders no one evil for evil
• frustrated with survival of the fittest and needs those who will strengthen the fainthearted and support the weak
• fatigued from all the “isms” and needs a church which helps the afflicted and honors everyone
• tired of bad news and needs a church which loves and serves the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit

THIS WORLD NEEDS A RE-FORMED/RE-FORMING CHURCH AND PRESBYTERY WHICH IS:

• starfish-like in character
• decentralized in its power and knowledge
• able to regenerate new life even when losing part of its body
• Flexible and fluid
• where relationships and trust matter more than structure and statutes

To which I say, Amen!

Dachsie Holiday Fashion Quiz

Portia bought Olivia an outfit for Christmas this weekend, so of course Beatrice had to try it on, too.

Who wears it better?

OLIVIA?

or

BEATRICE?

Sailing Retreat

Last Thursday and Friday I was on retreat with fellow Bible Study Discussion leaders from our church. Our leader was my good friend Mary Marcotte, who is also an Associate General Presbyter for our presbytery.

Mary's theme was Sailing Lessons for Leaders and I'm still pondering all the implications of it. Mary talked about how the sailboat was a symbol of the early church: the mast is in the shape of the cross; the boat is the church itself which is tossed on the seas of worldliness, disbelief and persecution with its precious cargo of human souls which it transports to our heavenly home.

The power of the sailboat is in the wind--and the power of the church is in the Holy Spirit which is known as the ruah or breath of God. We spent time discussing how often we are furiously trying to row the boat of the church with our own power, ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then we wonder why we get frustrated!

It was a powerful retreat and I was doubly blessed by being with the wonderful BSD leaders and being led by my good friend. Now I'm going to try to find a place to store those oars and see if I can leave them there for a while. My arms are pretty sore!

Presbytery of New Covenant Report: Overture and IKE

Our presbytery had its last meeting of the year today. Attendance was the highest we have seen in a long time, perhaps because of the overture brought by First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Here is the text of the overture:

The Session of First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood, Texas, requests the Presbytery of New Covenant to overture the 219th General Assembly (2010) to:

“joyfully reaffirm the historic, biblical and Christological teaching of the Church on the topic of marriage as a gift from God to bless humankind. As God created man and woman, so does God call some men and women to live together as husband and wife. God’s very order and design defines the institution of marriage.”

It passed by a written vote of 107 to 86. There was a good discussion before the vote. This overture will now be forwarded by Presbytery of New Covenant for consideration at next year's General Assembly. There is no doubt there will be other overtures on this subject on both sides of the issue that will be sent from other presbyteries.

The presbytery also showed an outstanding video about Hurricane Ike recovery (or lack of it) in southeast Texas since that storm hit just a little more than a year ago. You can view the video on the presbytery's website here. Then if you are inspired to come assist, here is more information about bringing your team down to this area to help with the rebuilding effort: Bring your mission team to Texas!

Donations for Hurricane Ike relief have been LESS THAN 1% of what was contributed for Hurricane Katrina relief. Yet Ike was the third most destructive hurricane in American history. It hit Galveston Texas with force 2 winds but a force 5 storm surge. It is estimated that it will take at least four more years to complete the recovery effort.

At lunch today I visited with a woman whose daughter and son-in-law had left Galveston and relocated to San Antonio after Ike because there was so little infrastructure left in the community. Now she is trying to establish a medical practice and he is trying to establish a law practice in a new town. There are many more stories like this one.

It was a good presbytery meeting--the music was provided by the Calabash Choir, an African group that is part of the church hosting the meeting. They had the frozen chosen moving around more than a bit!

Honoring the Nisei Vets

Monday at the CE Chicks luncheon, we discovered that the father of one of our group was a member of WWII's fabled 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up of Americans of Japanese descent.

That unit broke through enemy lines and rescued survivors of the First Battalion of the Texas 141 Regiment (the Lost Battalion) and led them to safety after they had fallen into a trap of Nazi forces in the mountains of northern France in October, 1944.

Last week there was a big dinner honoring the surviving members of the 442nd and 441st in Houston. I read this story in the Houston Chronicle about it, but didn't realize that one of the men quoted in the piece was my friend's father. The photo here is from the Chronicle's story.

She attended the dinner with her father and said it was a wonderful evening. Recently a couple of journalists from Japan came to her parents' home to interview him about his experiences during the war and take pictures. Like many veterans, he never talked about his wartime service so she heard new stories about this time in his life.

God bless him and his comrades for their service to our country during a time in which Japanese Americans were interned and treated with suspicion and discrimination.

Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!

Book Review: Mennonite In A Little Black Dress

You can't blame a girl for going home to Mom and Dad after suffering a botched hysterectomy; having her husband leave her for another man; and being seriously injured in an auto accident within a few weeks' time. Rhoda Janzen returned to her Mennonite roots (her father is a Mennonite pastor and seminary professor) used her skills as a poet and teacher of creative writing at Hope College to write a memoir about growing up and away from her roots in the Mennonite community.

When I was offered a review copy of Mennonite in A Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen, the publisher's marketing folks highlighted the rave review from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of one of my least favorite books.

So I almost declined, but then was intrigued with the Mennonite angle since some of my father's family were Swiss Mennonites and I don't know much about them. For the record, Janzen is a WAY more sympathetic author than Gilbert and there is very little similarity between their two books.

Janzen wants us all to know that Mennonites are Not the Amish. They are too liberal for the Amish who split off to go their more conservative way back in the day. But the Mennonites are definitely much more like the Amish than most of us are, and Janzen offers some very witty and wry observations that made me laugh out loud.

I particularly enjoyed the top 5 Shame-Based Foods for Mennonite lunches, which included Platz and Borscht. Her ancestors were from the Ukraine, but I bet if they had been Swiss like mine she would have had cheese and chocolate instead!

Although the book has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, it also has thoughtful reflections on how her upbringing shaped her later life and that of her siblings. Interestingly, Janzen says that she once applied to a Mennonite seminary to study theology but changed her mind after hearing from the only female student there. She writes that she still believes in God but questions much of the conservative theology she grew up with. Becoming thoroughly secular in her marriage to an atheist, she never replaced that religious viewpoint with anything else. Nevertheless she portrays her Mennonite family, community, religion and culture with sympathy, affection and loyalty.

Mennonite in A Little Black Dress is written in a conversational style that is witty, insightful, thought-provoking and never whiney. I really enjoyed reading it and would like to read more from this author.

How about a Mini-Tree?

It's still two weeks from Thanksgiving, but my mailbox overfloweth with catalogues featuring Christmas decorations. And that made me start thinking about how to decorate the new house for the Christmas season.

I threw out my old spindly fake tree when we moved. Portia and Babs had made fun of it for years because they said it was shaped like El Jefe--tall and thin. But it fit perfectly in the living room at our old house!

The new house is so Mediterranean/Texas Hill Country in style that I'm rethinking my traditional decorations. I don't think I want to have a large tree anymore, so maybe a tabletop size would be a good idea, something like this:

Family allergies prevent bringing in a real tree, so it has to be fake. But I could use a rosemary bush if I wanted something real. Like this:

Luminarias would be pretty at the front entrance and down the loggia, particularly if I can find battery-operated ones and not have to use the candles that will make El Jefe very nervous that the house will burn down!

It will be a very different look! Are you thinking about making changing your Christmas decorating this year?

Honoring Those Killed at Fort Hood

The Texas Governor ordered all flags flown at half staff in the state in honor of the soldiers killed yesterday at Fort Hood by one of their own officers. (And yes, he has the authority to do that.)

Yesterday we also learned that my nephew, who is a surgeon in the US Navy, will be deployed to Afghanistan early in January. His wife is expecting their first child in mid-December. We are proud of his service and will do everything we can to support his family while they are gone.

My prayers are with all of those families who had loved ones killed or injured yesterday.

Whither Synods?

~PresbyPolityGeek Alert: this post is about synods~

Two interesting overtures and one proposal about synods emerged in the last couple of weeks.

An overture from Rocky Mountains presbytery would restructure synods so that more responsibility is returned to presbyteries, while the overture from New Hope Presbytery calls for the elimination of synods altogether so that the PCUSA would have three levels of polity rather than one.

Meanwhile Presbyterians for Renewal are calling for the formation of
a new non-geographic synod for the conservative/evangelical wing of the denomination.

That's a lot of early focus on synods. When I attended Moderator Training a couple of years ago, I heard many stories about synods that are not able to function well, or at all, because of lack of funding and lack of interest in participating in their work.

It seems to me that synods are a relic of the nineteenth century. Back when travel depended on horses or trains, it was expensive and time consuming to gather on a national level and the "super-regional" grouping of the synod made some sense.

I don't think it does any longer. Not only is air travel fast, safe and generally affordable, but more and more connections are made via the internet, email and cell phones than anyone ever dreamed when synods were first created.

Isn't it high time to eliminate synods? Their functions can be assigned to presbyteries, General Assembly, seminaries or other organizations within the denomination.

As for the PFR proposal, although I am often sympathetic with their viewpoint, I think it would be a mistake to perpetuate synods for the purpose of allowing the more conservative churches and pastors to withdraw into their own subgroup.

Withdrawing into an "affinity synod" without leaving the denomination doesn't make any sense to me. If we had a "conservative" synod, then why not create "liberal", "progressive", "centrist" and "emergent" synods. That would be a polity nightmare, wouldn't it? Aren't we called to be salt and light to each other? And doesn't that mean we won't always agree on everything?

More overtures on synods will probably be submitted before the next GA. So far I like the one from New Hope.

Heart-felt Thanks

Going through the mail after being away for the weekend, I opened a thank-you note from a recent bride who is a long-time friend of Portia and Babs and the whole family.

The details are unbloggable for a lot of reasons, but suffice it to say that it was a powerful reminder of the truth that St. Paul wrote in Galatians:

" let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

I'm verklempt. Talk among yourselves. I'll give you a topic:

The little things we do for others are neither little, nor just things.

Discuss.

Lincoln in Springfield

Here are some photos from our weekend trip to Springfield with El Jefe's Civil War Aficianados group.

The wax figures of the Lincoln family greet you at the museum adjacent to the Lincoln Presidential Library. The exhibits there are very well done. I was very impressed with the replica of the White House (its 3/4 scale) and the video presentations that have been created for the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

We found this bronze statue of Abraham and Mary Lincoln just outside the building where Lincoln had his law offices with his partner, Herndon. The statues are life-size, so the group had El Jefe stand next to it to show that he is a bit taller than Lincoln was.






This is the home the Lincolns lived in while in Springfield. They rented it out while in Washington, DC because they planned to return there after he left office. Most of the furniture in it is their original furniture and the colors of the house are carefully matched to the original. It is a comfortable 4 bedroom home that would have been very luxurious for the day--despite the lack of running water or indoor plumbing. There was a "necessary" out in the back yard.

We also visited New Salem, about 20 miles from Springfield, where the young Abe Lincoln lived for a few years and kept an unsuccessful store. The site is a reproduction based on documents from the original settlers there. El Jefe observed that people living there in the 1830's led lives that resembled their ancestors of the 1530's more than their descendants of today.

Across the street from our hotel was the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield where the Lincolns worshipped. Mary Lincoln was a member but Abe never formally joined. There is a pew in the sanctuary marked as the "Lincoln" pew. We had hoped to attend Sunday service there but had to leave early to drive back to the airport in St. Louis. This is still an active congregation today.

Lincoln and all of his family (except his oldest son Robert who is buried at Arlington Cemetery at the behest of his wife) are buried in this impressive tomb in the Springfield cemetery. The structure evolved over several decades. The interior is covered with marble and decorated with bronze statues. Because there was a ghoulish attempt to kidnap Lincoln's body some years after his death, his grave is many feet below the surface in a steel container.

We were all very moved by our visit. We learned a lot of details about Lincoln's life and times that I have never heard anywhere else. For example, Stephen Douglas who lost the Presidency to Lincoln had a man from Georgia as his running mate. Douglas died 6 weeks after Lincoln was inaugurated, so if he had won his vice president would have been very different from Lincoln in his policy and point of view. Although if Douglas had been elected, the civil war may have been delayed it is doubtful it would have been avoided. What would have happened if his running mate had then been president? Would he have adopted Douglas' views on popular soveriegnty and let the South secede? We'll never know, but it gave us a lot to think about.

Halloween Wishes

Land of Lincoln Tours

El Jefe and I are off tomorrow at o'dark thirty with a crew of fellow Presbyterian Civil War buffs~known as the Civil War Aficianados~to tour the Lincoln Historical Museum and other sights in Springfield, Illinois like his law office, the site of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the Lincoln family's burial site.

The Aficianados read and discussed A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White before the trip and they focused on Lincoln's life as a lawyer and his spiritual life. I've got the book safely stowed on my Kindle for the trip!

It will be Halloween weekend, so I wonder if we will see goblins dressed as John Wilkes Booth or poor, mad Mary Lincoln in the historic park there. If so, I'll post photos.

Talking About Jesus

Our Vice- Moderator, Rev. Byron Wade, puts his finger on one of the causes of the decline of the PCUSA with his recent blog post: Is It Just Me or Are We Supposed To Be Talking About Jesus?

Hat tip: Presbyweb.

It Is Finished!

After about 6 months of effort the church's policy and procedures manual is finally finished! The session approved it at yesterday's meeting. There were a couple of last-minutes changes, but nothing substantial.

So the great opus will be posted on the website and the master copy will go to live in the church office.

Will anyone ever look at it again? We will make a "reader's digest" version to show the new elders at their training meetings. But its just too long to go over in any detail. And that would be a real MEGO (my eyes glaze over) experience anyway. I do think the revision is more "user-friendly", relatively speaking, and hopefully will be easier to update in the future.

It was a good exercise for me since I am relatively new to this church because it forced me to learn a lot about the way it is organized. Now the challenge will be keeping it current because there are sure to be changes big and small to procedures and policies in the future.

But for now, I'm just glad it's done!

Great Reviews for The Diva!

Friday night's performance of The Elixir of Love was fabulous! The Houston Grand Opera production was very entertaining and fast-paced. The singers were great and we all had a wonderful evening.

My niece Catherine Martin, a/k/a The Diva, is indicated with the blue arrow on this photo. They put her in a truly heinous black 40's style wig and a dress that looked like it was from the sale rack at St. Vincent de Paul. (The Diva is really a blonde.) And let's not even mention the shoes. No, let's not. But as you can see from the photo, that was the vision of the set and costume designers.

I was amazed at the number of people in the chorus that fit on the stage and how well they moved around without falling over each other. The acting was also superb.

And now, a look at the early reviews. You'll pardon my auntly pride as I post the excerpts about Catherine, you can go to the links to read the whole review. Drumroll, please:

Catherine Martin’s Gianetta was also beautifully sung..

(from ConcertoNet.com)

Rounding out the cast was HGO Studio Artist Catherine Martin in a small but worth noting role. Her beautiful mezzo-soprano voice in some ways outshone her leading lady with its crystal clear quality and focused, rich sound. She is sure to have a promising and prosperous career... Houston Examiner

And no, neither her mother nor I wrote that second review!

Opening Night at HGO!

We're all all-flutter Chez QG about the Diva's debut tonight. She will perform the role of Gianetta in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love in Houston Grand Opera's production.

Her mom and sister will be on their way from San Antonio to join El Jefe and I. We also get to go to the Opening Night dinner afterwards and will be all dolled up in our black tie duds which we hope we won't burst with pride!

I'm not sure we'll be able to follow the convoluted plot of the opera, even with the English subtitles that HGO projects during performances. The Diva tells us her role is small (about a two page solo) and she is the "head chorus girl", but she is the only one in the cast from the Young Artists program, so we think she is the star!

Review to follow....stay tuned.