Thoughts on the eve of Annual Conference

Annual Conference starts tomorrow....whipee!

Conferencing is a certainly a Methodist tradition, but we sure do it lots of different ways.

The first Annual Conference that I remember was in 1979 in the South Georgia Conference. I was in ninth grade and the conference was being held at my home church. I worked as a "page"-- my most vivid memory of the week is of making crank phone calls from the "phone bank" where we were supposed to be taking messages!

After that year, we moved to Ohio and I was elected a youth delegate in my jr. and sr. years of high school....what an experience. the Ohio conferences meet at Lakeside: the Chautauqua on Lake Erie. What a great place!! What is so wonderful is that clergy families come along and get to know each other--PKs get to know each other. OK...so my most vivid memories there are of sending donuts to the Bishop during the business session and perhaps more scary...having a yacht pull up at the pier and several of us deciding that there was safety in numbers and getting on board! (with some college kids driving the boat that had us sign a release form as soon as we got on the boat!)

Eight years later, this is the conference where the RevHub and I were ordained...deacon and then elder...my most vivid memory there was of those ordination services....

well.....this is longer than I expected....it is getting late and I have to finish getting ready......will write more later....

the puppy

I don't think that I shared this before but we do have a new puppy! About three weeks ago, a church lady found seven puppies in the cemetary while walking. someone had obviously dumped them there. It was late in the afternoon, so we decided to put them inside the fenced backyard of the parsonage. I suggested this, thinking that we would call animal control or take them to the shelter on the following day....

Little did I know what an adventure would begin! The fact that they would probably have euthanized the puppies in a week kept us from taking them to the shelter...So....could we find homes for all of these?

Within a day, people were "fighting" over the puppies and the RevHub and LoudTrumpetGirl had decided that one had to stay at our home! As it turned out, both the worship leader and the youth director at the church have each kept a puppy!

Our little girl pup is know called Gracie....if she had been a male, she would have been "marvin" since she was found in Marvin's Chapel cemetary!

How does my garden grow???

Saturday, the UMW had a "garden tour" with eight of the woman sharing their gardens with everyone for the purpose of raising money for remodeling of the church kitchen...As one gardener's husband reflected, "they might have raised more money if they had just donated the money that they spent on their gardens!" maybe...

The surprise of it all was how much the RevHub enjoyed it! It took us over 5 hours to visit all the gardens and it really was an education for me! I have not really been much of a gardener over the years--mainly because it does take some $$ to really "landscape" but the lesson I learned Sat. was that good gardeners LOVE to share!!

I came home with several "clippings" and then overnight there appeared three flats of other plants! My problem--I didn't know what they were or whether they needed shade or light!

But, the funniest moment of the day was when one of the older gardeners (89 years of age!) asked if the RevHub would like a cucumber. In the warmth (think HOT--very HOT) of the day, he thought a cucumber might be very nice...He was handed a little cucumber plant!!

Well, I did come home and dutiful plant the cucumber plant and several others in some lovely planters here at the parsonage. They sat on the back stoop in the shade for a couple of days, but Yesterday, I decided to move them to the sunshine on the deck. When I arrived home at the end of the day, I was very dismayed to find several of the plants (including the cucumber plant) and MUCH dirt all over the deck! I did try to put them back into the planters, but alas, I'm afraid the one plan that really didn't survive was the cuke!

RevHub told me that at one point yesterday, he found the puppy asleep in the planter.....I've decided to plant the rest of the plants in the front yard--away from the puppy!!

Not So Newly-Weds

Seventeen years! On Saturday, it was seventeen years ago that the Rev Hubby and I said our vows. For us, this was actually a big milestone! We are quite glad to have "made it" this long.

Most fun this year was participating in the "Not so Newly-wed game" at the RevHub's church on Sunday. It's a tradition--this was the third annual event...after the pot-luck we participated in this down home version of the old game for those of us who have been married more than just a few years! After learning that previous questions had included, how many chairs are in your home and how many windows do you have, we decided that any question requiring a number we would answer as "17"--figuring it wouldn't matter whether it was right or not--just that we gave the same answer...ok, so maybe that's on the line of cheating...but they never asked us a "number" question....

As it turned out there were four couples, and seven questions...The one question that we missed was one that I had to answer first and then RevHub was to match my answer. This question was, "You know the honeymoon is over, when your husband brings a ____to bed." My answer was, "a sleeping mask." Other answers included "the TV remote" and "a book"--the biggest laugh of the night was when the answer given by the longest married man was, "another woman"! At the end of the regular questions, there was a tie--us and the youngest couple! Oddly enough, apparently this is common--the couple who usually has won has been married the shortest time...

While after one more question, it was still tied. Then, one last question, "What would you say was the happiest day that you have spent together? The day you met, your engagement, your wedding day or some day since?" This question was actually rather difficult....
The day we met, the RevHub and I were in seminary and neither of us was very impressed with the other...our engagement was a bit of a fisasco---it's a long story---so it was between our wedding day and some day since. Our wedding day was probably very happy, but also I would have to say there have been MANY happy days since....finding out we would receive our child was one! also, our fourteenth anniverary spent in England was wonderful.

so, I finally decided to answer what I thought he would say, "our wedding"-- I could tell from his reaction to the question, he had the same response--trying to figure out what would be my response....Unbelievably, the RevHub and I won!

Here's the thing..l answered wedding because I thought that would be the "right" response--isn't our wedding day supposed to be "the happiest day of our lives." But, from standing on the other side and walking couples through the process of planning a wedding ceremony, I've come to see what a stresser that day is and how couples don't always recognized the "religious" nature of the ceremony.

The RevHub hates when i say this , but I'd rather preside at a funeral than a wedding. Not because I would wish death on anyone, but with funerals there is more often an immediate recognition that it is a worship service. However, with weddings, there seems to be so much more "cultural" baggage. As folks stand up to say vows at a wedding, there isn't always the recognition that it is a time of worship.

But, I in going back to my "happiest day" thought....so often weddings are not seen for what they are...just the beginning --not an end...Anyway...seventeen years since my wedding, there have been many happy days.....lots of tough ones too, but I'd say that I'm continuing each day to learn what it takes to make a marriage!

so back to biblical interpretation

so, I never did explain why I had posted that silly piece about "God's Word" when I was thinking of The DaVinci Code....

I'm afraid that too many average pew-sitting Christians think that somehow that Bible just appeared in its current form. Or at least, that it was translated from a very complete version in Hebrew and Greek. And many had no clue that there are "other" Gospels out there.

I know more about the New Testament than the Old, but I would assume that it is probably similar. When I took Greek, I was amazed to find out how many fragments of all of the New Testament books are out there.

Bart Ehrman, from the University of North Carolina Religious Studies Dept. has written a book called "Misquoting Jesus" (which I haven't read yet, but I have heard him speak about it on a couple of Radio Shows ). This book takes a look some of the "corruptions" to the text that have happened place as the Bible has been translated through the years. (Here is the link to Bart Ehrman's website that has more information about all the books that he has written).

Anyway, the point is that a lot of "average" Christians may not really understand how the Bible came to be what it is and so The DaVinci Code has opened this up to them and for some that creates a crisis of faith. How to believe the Bible when it was not what you thought? For others, it makes faith more "believable."

Finally!! saw the movie

The Rev. Hubby and I finally got to see the DaVinci Code on Saturday night...I'm still thinking through what I think of the movie.....Haven't had a chance to go back and look some things up in the book. My initial impression is that the movie follows the book fairly close, with some changes for the sake of time. Some flashbacks are interspersed in the film and I've heard that these are a little confusing if you haven't got an idea of what they are (this is one of the time-saving/storytelling techniques used to condense the book). BUT, I think that there were some changes made to the movie to make it more "palatable" to religious folks.

It seemed like they softened the character of Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks). I read the book with the sense that he was more of a lapsed Catholic--probably agnostic or at least more of a humanist than a religious person. Even though he studied religious symbols, he was academic in approach and not motivated out of personal faith.

The main thesis behind the book is that Mary Madgalene was "the Holy Grail," that she had a baby fathered by Jesus and that the Priory of Scion protected this secret over the last two centuries. In the movie, the Langdon character becomes the one who argues against this theory and when it appears that this is true, he says, "so what?" It doesn't change who Jesus was. This seemed completely against what I remembered from the book, but as I said, I haven't checked back in the book (which I read last year). This just seemed "out of character" for the Robert Langdon of the book.

For me, the book was like any other mystery novel--about the mystery and the search. I think that the movie did a fairly good job of keeping the mystery and suspense.

The bottom line is that it is FICTION. It's a movie based on a book that is based on faulty scholarship.

Here are what I understand the problems are

1. the Priory of Scion seems to be a hoax--there were documents that seemed to show the existence of this organization, but it has since been proved that these were not authentic.
2. so much of the plot is based on DaVinci's Last Supper and the argument that what was in the painting reveals the secret is based on DaVinci's participation in the Priory of Scion. Since this is not true, it would follow that what DaVinci painted was his own interpretation. The representation of John that is interpreted as Mary is merely DaVinci's representation of a young man.
3. the texts that are used to "establish" the relationship between Mary and Jesus are fragments and the interpretation of them stretches beyond reason what is actually in the text.

Here's a link to a great source to find more info and links to more "debunking" http://www.beliefnet.com/story/167/story_16783_1.html

So, if you love a good mystery, read the book (it is better than the movie) or see the movie if you don't want to read. But, know that it is a work of fiction.....

BUT, I have to say that my feminist side, is loving the attention to Mary of Magalene and the opportunity to look at the place in of woman in Jesus' ministry and their place in the early church. Elaine Pagels has written some good scholarly works on this--the Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief.

Check out my new counter in the SideBar!!

more da vinci thoughts

ok so that previous post really wasn't about DaVinci....we haven't gotten to the movie yet...(I'm not sure what time this will post has--I haven't quite figured this thing out yet...I think it might post as Thurday because that's when I started writing this...but it's actually Saturday...)

Anyway, hopefully, we will get to the movie today--celebrating 17 years of marriage with the Rev. Hubby who safely returned from Atlanta yesterday afternoon. He had a great week and I can tell he feels "refreshed"--perhaps a better word might be "re-spirited"!

OK, so far this post isn't able the Da Vinci code either really.. Here is why I posted that ?poem? (have to come up with a better word--it's not poetry--just thoughts..) Anyway, here it is.....Dan Brown's book takes it's thesis of a relationship between Jesus and Mary Magalene from the Gospel of Phillip. But, the scholarship is very poor....

OOOPS..the Rev. Hubby called and I have to go meet him to do some shopping and see the movie!

will finish my thought later....

RevGalBlogPals

There is a really cool blog!

revgalblogpals

I have enjoyed reading it this week especially because Rev. Hubby is at the "Festival of the Homies" that several of them are blogging about. It's fun to see what these women are saying about the same event that I am hearing about from Rev. Hubby.

Haven't joined yet though...little hesitant to make my blog so public...(see previous post)

Blogging--Public vs Private

Trying to think about blogging every day as a way of writing in a more disciplined way; I would like to make this one of my habits.

This blog thing is strange because it's pretty public, yet it feels awfully solitary. Also, it seems a bit dangerous to put too much identifying information on the web---you never know who might find it! What if I wanted to rant about the Bishop or my boss? I wouldn't want that to find it's way back into their computers.....

Then there's the issue of who to invite to read your thoughts? If you're actually going to tell people that you are posting things, then perhaps you ought to try to write things worth reading creating a "pressure to perform." Or what if you are posting things that people never knew about you--like my Democratic leanings (yeah, no one ever knew that one! Well...I try not to let my politics enter my work-life.)

Ok...so this is a "making it up as I go thing" without much purpose or focus....maybe in the course of writing, I will find more focus....

Moulton vs. Stratford-on-Avon

Recently, my Rev. Hubby and I went to the graduation of our nephew from a community college. This was an interesting event because of the "mix" of folks in attendance. Many of the graduates received 'certificates' in vocational trades, while others were receiving two year degrees that will move them into a profession. Then there were still others like our nephew who are completing degrees but transferring into four year degree programs.

The commencement speaker was an English professor at the school and I must say, with as many graduation speakers as I have sat through, he was about the best--short and point. Recognizing that most of the students come from the surrounding small towns and "crossroad communities" nearby, he gave some examples of world changing folks who came from small towns.

In the course of this, though, he mentioned Stratford-on-Avon as Shakespeare's hometown. He called Stratford-on-Avon the "Moulton, Alabama of England." At this point, the Rev. and I were seated at opposite ends of the row, but both of us leaned forward to "catch the other's eye." We spent our 14th anniversary in Stratford-on-Avon. And then, on another afternoon, we sat by the River on a bench and read Shakespeare's sonnets.

(I don't think that I could have imagined Moulton being anything like that English village. I guess he meant that Stratford in Shakespeare's day was like the Moulton of today.)

Anyway, right then and there I said a little prayer of thanks for my husband of almost seventeen years (this Saturday!)..... There we were in the middle of a strange commencement service and sitting a good distance away from each other, and what the speaker said caught us both and made of think of each other--and the beautiful days we spent in Stratford-on-Avon!

I am grateful to be married to the other Rev. Gonia. We laughed over this little instance because we always think that we are so different, and yet the longer we have been married, the more we seem to think alike!

thoughts of my mother on Mother's Day

This was written about the time that my mother died....over 13 years ago now.....

She lived her life so fully
exemplifying virtue,
never limiting my dreams.

Showing me Your way,
answering questions,
kissing boo-boos
and chasing away nightmares.

Welcome her home
to the place You prepared
that she might hear the words,
"Well done, good and faithful servant."

Poetic thoughts?

I've often found that writing can be good therapy--even if it's not good writing... Poetry or not....it's just my way of writing. So, I may post a few of those theraputic writings...here's one written a few years ago...

Child of My Labor

You are not the child of my flesh
But you are the daughter of my labor.

The pains have come from
Contractions of my heart
Squeezed by your tiny hands

The pain of your loss
Cannot be understood
No mother’s milk for you
To soothe, to settle
To still your stomach and soul.

No sweet mother’s voice
To hush and lullaby your fears

But now, you are born to me
On the wings of angels
And our labor begins

And I shall nurse you
With my mother’s heart
I shall soothe, settle, and still your soul
With my lullaby

Hushaby Baby, you are the child of my labor.

Can I be this old?

I remember when I was 12 years old and thought I wouldn't even live to see 16...can I really have lived 30 more years?! Gosh the black and white pic really reveals the changing color of my hair! OK...so I posted this picture just so I could upload it to my profile--it's too big of a file!! I really wasn't trying to be vain...just wanted to see if I could actually manage the technology!

When I thinking of getting older, I wonder at what technology will bring next. My grandmother was born before the automobile and lived to see people walk on the moon. My hope is to always be curious enough and confident enough to engage myself in learning the "new" technology.

My daughter has an I-pod--it is the coolest thing!! I remember having a "walkman" and only wanting to carry one cassette tape along because I didn't want to have to hold on to the others! How wonderful to carry 1,000 songs in a little device!

like I said ....mundane ramblings.....

A Tentative Start

Having recently discovered various friends with blogs, I have decided to enter into this cyberspace and take my chances. Hopefully, this will be a place that I can leave thoughts--mundane and perhaps less mundane....