conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form: thirdsdey re-flexions

February 10, 2005

thirdsdey re-flexions

Have you ever burned out on your own earnestness? Yeah? Well, me too. There is something about sharing ashes with 3,587,492 people that can make you a little punchy. Heh. Actually, yesterday was very cool. At one point I was standing in a hallway of the hospital dispensing ashes. I had my collar on and someone asked about if we were having a service in the hospital or not. I told them we had just had the service and that I had some ashes with me if they would like to receive them. The person said yes. Within moments there were twenty more people in line waiting to receive ashes. Someone suggested that I was a drive-thru church. At some moment or another each of us chaplains felt that way, I think. There were many tired expressions around.

In other news, this is the fourth anniversary of my sobriety. Yep, four years ago I stopped drinking. Life. Death. Rebirth. Theosis. Welcome to recovery. Maybe if the Church had a twelve-step program people would understand it more easily. Does anyone know if the mystogogical catechesis contained such steps?

Boy, I am punchy.

Brothers and sisters, I hope you all have a blessed day and that your Lent (if you observe such a thing - check out Noz Esquire's post on ritual) serves you all well. Today is a grand day. The cats are getting along as well as we can expect, I have one of the newer Bobby McFerrin cd's playing. I am in no hurry to be off to work. The coffee is strong. My wife is a stellar human being and easy on the eyes. I am a grateful man. And to top it all off, the US beat Trinidad-Tobago in its opening World Cup qualifier 2-1.

The United States is now in superb position, with nine qualifying matches remaining this year in home-and-away series against Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. The top three teams from the North, Central American and Caribbean region will qualify automatically for the World Cup, to be held in Germany, while a fourth team will enter a two-game playoff against a team from Asia. link

This is when I become a jingoistic dweeb. Something about that glorified game of kickball that brings out the nationalist in me. Why is that? Anyway, Eddie Johnson, the current US star, came out of the same soccer system in Daytona Beach that made me the soccer superstar that I am today. Needless to say, he is playing for the US national team. I, on the other hand, am an armchair midfielder. Eh, whatever. GO USA!!!

I will post the ordo from last night's service at Reconciler. We used the ECC service order. It was lovely and I thought some of you guys would be interested. So, I'll post that and my sermon. The sermon was a very personal reflection on fasting and death. I spoke a lot about my recovery and my current struggles trying to get at this whole Lenten devotion thing. Sometimes my faith still feels foreign to me. Farther up and farther in, then.

Y'all be good.

Posted by tripp at February 10, 2005 05:55 AM

Comments

Living in NYC, I have some very wealthy friends.
Like, one of my friends makes a little over a quarter of a million each year and he's 4 years younger than me.

We tease each other unmercifully about the other's financial status.

I send him emails on "How to Succeed at Being Poor."

We went to a concert together and I lost my earmuffs. He found them and said, "Oh, Teresa! These are dreadful!"

I tell him to stop rubbing it in my face that he has money. chuckle.

My latest lecture to him on the middle class is called the Waiting List.

I just recently got a raise and was able to subscribe to Dance Magazine which has been on my Waiting List of things I want to do for 4 years now.

I have been with Mr. Money Bags on several occasions where he can spontaneously buy whatever he wants.

I refer him to my Waiting List.
I will get to it, I tell him. It's a matter of when Prosperity decides to grace my checking account.

It is a lot of fun to tease.

He likes to pay for my dinner all the time.
I won't allow it sometimes. I tell him, I do not want his money; I have every intention at getting my own stash! ( or I insist that I pay for the milkshakes, at least. He lets me do that.)

I hope I am not being irreverent. I just remembered that it is lent.

Posted by: teresa at February 10, 2005 11:15 AM

Question from a clueless Jew. Where do the ashes come from? Church supply catalog? Or do you burn something yourself? What are they actually made of? Are they sifted and/or ground up to be superfine?

Posted by: Ariel at February 10, 2005 05:51 PM

May I ask what missal you used for the distribution of ashes? Was it the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC?) "missal"? (I really wasnt aware that we had one!) Or is the distribution ceremony just something that they teach you in Pastor Factory?

Posted by: Karl at February 10, 2005 05:52 PM

Ariel,

You burn the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. At least, this is what is usually done. Now, the ashes go a long way so you don't need much to accomplish this.

I do think that you can buy ash if you need to, but that strikes me as a little absurd. C'mon! Is ashes people! But that thar is tha answer to your question.

Karl, I will post the liturgy.

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