Maundy Thursday 2009 at Providence UMC

We had members of all three churches join us for the Maundy Thursday service.

Brian Daniels read the scripture and sang a solo. Actually it seemed to me that Brian had more to do in the service than I did and I'm not complaining. He has excellent articulation and a fine singing voice. I'd rather listen to him than me.

We finished the service with Communion.

After the service we had refreshments and a nice time hanging out together.

Palm Sunday

The beginning of Passion week at the Mt. Airy Charge. All three of the churches have special services in the coming week. Providence UMC will have the Maundy Thursday service, Republican Grove UMC will have the Good Friday Tenebrae service, and St. Andrews UMC will have the Easter Sunrise service. Providence and Republican Grove will have their Easter services at their regular Sunday times.

St. Andrews UMC Has Spaghetti Supper

St. Andrews UMC had its annual spaghetti supper April the 4th. It one of the few times during the year that they trust the men of the church to prepare the meal.
I'm not sure trust was the right word. It's more of "they can't mess this up but so bad". I was entrusted with cutting the pre-buttered bread after it had been warmed in its bag. You're probably surprised they let me use a sharp utensil.

A.J. Nuchols, Bill Wyatt, and Dave Adams made the spaghetti and sauce. That was all too complicated for me.

We had a good crowd with a few guests. There was plenty of food with the salad and desserts. We all had a good time and a lot of laughs.

Its nice to hang out with friends and to just enjoy being together.

Jean just wanted to say, "Y'all come back next year. We actually may let Pastor Charlie cook something, maybe."

Huggling

One thing you miss being so far away from your grandchildren is hugging and snuggling with them. Joanne's term is "huggling". Sometimes you have to be sneaky about it, especially as they get older. It's almost like when you were dating and you'd fake an arm stretch to get your arm around your date. They get too smart to get their picture taken in such a compromising way
Sometimes its worth reading a book just to get them sitting beside you or on your lap.

There are times when you'll watch five episodes in a row of some kids program on TV just to get them to stay in your arms.

And there are those moments of genius when you say, "Let's each hold our babies". If it works its worth it, it just never lasts long enough.

He Knows My Name

On Sunday we went to church and heard Dave preach. That is always a treat. I try to get cassette or CD copies of Dave preaching and listen to them in the car. They have done a lot of work at the church since we visited last year.

Another Sunday treat was getting to hear Taisie practice a song she will be singing on a future Sunday. The title of the song is "He Knows My Name". Taisie has a pretty voice, but at times is very timid with it. She did have a couple of quality coaches.

She told me that she will video herself when she sings at the church and email it to me. Its times like that that makes me love technology. Not as good as being there, but it'll do for now.

Taisie Gets a Camera

Taisie bought a camera shortly before we came to visit. She saved almost $100 to pay for it, she's become quite a little miser. It is a really nice 8 megapixel digital Canon Supershot. She loves taking pictures. The truth is that the camera rarely leaves her hands. You never know when she'll be catching you and she takes pictures of everything. She doesn't worry about filling up the memory card, "I'll just download them onto the computer".
She has even started taking and making short videos with the camera. She was videoing the TV, I asked her why and she said to watch later.

She and Thomas made a video using their hands as talking heads. It was like some commercial I had seen on TV. I was very impressed.

It looks like another generation has been hooked photography.

Marmee Gets Pampered

While we were in New York, Joanne got some pampering. Taisie would sit and rub Joanne's hand where she had her surgery. I was funny watching them in church on Sunday.

But, Levi wanted to do something a little different. He wanted to paint Joanne's toe nails. So, he put some newspaper down and went to work.

You know some people pay big bucks to get this done and they they only get the polish on the the nails. I guess its like coloring inside the lines.

Hey, We Had A Long Weekend!

The churches I work with have a tradition that the pastor gets fifth Sundays off. I call it my "Fifth Sunday Sabbatical". It just happens that March had five Sundays. So, I had Monday off from the doctors office and I took Friday as a vacation day. Presto, we had a four day weekend. We were in need of a grandchildren fix, so we packed bags and headed off to New York state.

It takes about 11 hours each way with pit stops and getting something to eat. That gave us two whole days to spend with Courtney, Dave and the kids. The picture is Joanne and I with the grandkids. Thomas is 11 (will be 12 in July), Taisie is 10, Levi is six, and Lila is 2. You can't see it in the picture, but I am standing on my tip toes just trying not to look shorter than my grandson. Didn't work did it?
There was an event that Courtney mentioned on her blog, that I was fortunately taking a nap during. http://splashinggrace.blogspot.com/2009/03/picture-taking-3-act-plays.html There are times when a nap really does do a body good.

Visitors at the Parsonage

Since Joanne has not been able to join me on Sunday mornings, I have been leaving earlier and stopping at the parsonage for about half an hour. I sit in the living room, turn on the gas logs to warm the room, and take some time to review the sermon. It is usually a very quiet and relaxing time. This morning I heard this strange loud noise outside the house. When I checked, I found about a dozen wild turkeys making their way across the side yard.

As I watched them move off into the woods, I was reminded of one of the reasons why I love coming to the country each week. It gives me a sense of perspective, balance, and peace. While that isn't to say you can't get those inside the city limits, its just different and I try to appreciate those moments.

I Should Have Known Better

Providence UMC is my second of three churches that I serve each Sunday. Last Sunday was one of the few times that I arrived early from my first service. We had about five minutes and we were making some small talk when I noticed a newspaper cut out on the pulpit. I picked it up with a glance and got ready to put it in my notebook, saying, "Is this for me to read later?" Tammy Daniels told me that I could read it now. Since we had a few minutes I decided to read it out loud for everyone to hear.

About Those Church Hymns

A minister decided to do something a little different one

Sunday morning. He said, "Today, in church,

Iam going to say a single word and you are going to help

me preach. Whatever single word I say, I want you to sing

whatever hymn that comes to your mind.

"The pastor shouted out "CROSS."

Immediately the congregation started singing in unison,

"THE OLD RUGGED CROSS."

The pastor hollered out "GRACE."

The congregation began to sing "AMAZING GRACE."

The pastor said "POWER."

The congregation sang "THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD"

The pastor said, "SEX."

(AT this point I felt my face start to turn red and my pulse increase. I started sweating, with a trickle slowly going down my back. It was too late to stop so I continued reading.)

The congregation fell into total silence.

Everyone was in shock.

They all nervously began to look around at each other

afraid to say anything. Then all of a sudden, from way in the back of the church,

a little old 87 year old grandmother stood up

and began to sing "PRECIOUS MEMORIES."

With those last words, I and everyone in the church broke out in laughter. I'm still not sure if the laughter was for the story or the awkward look on my face. But, I had been gotten. It was one of those moments when I wasn't Reverend Johnson or Pastor Charlie; I was just Charlie and they weren't my congregation; they were just my friends. We were just a bunch of friends having a big laugh. It was wonderful. It was a moment when I see again how blessed I am to be serving as pastor here.

But, next time I'll read things silently first, before I them read the out loud. I really should have known better.