New red altar cloth for Pentecost Day

At St. Antony's, we have a colonial style altar with dentils (a series of small rectangles) adorning the front and sides of the top. The altar is painted white, and we've traditionally had only a white altar linen on the altar. The wall behind the altar is also painted white.

All that white gives a very strong impression. It's clean and light, and it's not fussy, making it easy to focus on the big brass cross and the altar. But occasionally it might be nice to break up all that white space with some color or texture.

For Pentecost Day tomorrow, we'll have a red cloth on the altar in place of the white cloth. This isn't a huge change, but it will certainly be a departure from the plain white linen. On Pentecost Day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the gathered disciples, and we remember the tongues of fire that rested upon their heads. So red is the color for Pentecost.

It'll be interesting to see how the red altar cloth is perceived by the congregation. I hope it will be received in a spirit of goodwill and creativity.
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New electrical service to the barn

Today I helped the electrician who's going to put in the electrical service to the barn on St. Antony's property. We need new electrical service because Central Kitsap Food Bank is going to put a walk-in freezer in the northwest corner of the barn as an auxiliary freezer. The Food Bank is only a few blocks away, and they can re-supply their shelves easily from our location.

We discussed the electrical needs of the freezer. The power company will run a line overhead from the existing light pole near our driveway. They'll need to put in a pole near the top of our parking lot, then run the line with 220 volt service to the barn.

We tried in vain to find the electrical panel that feeds service to the barn at present. Of the three panels we looked at, none of them had a wire going to the barn. Maybe someone knows of another panel?
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Catholic priest caught in affair, wants to become Episcopalian

Here's an interesting post about a very visible young Catholic priest who has been a popular TV and radio preacher and personality. He wants to join the Episcopal Church after being seen in public places hugging a young woman he fell in love with.

Check it out by clicking on
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/28/florida.priest/index.html

It's not unusual for a Catholic priest to fall in love and want to transfer into the Episcopal Church. I know several excellent Episcopal priests who came to us this way. But....I have several questions about Fr. Cutie (koo-tee-AY)

• Is he doing this because he got caught in public, or because he really feels called to the Episcopal Church?
• Does he assume that the Episcopal Church will embrace him without asking any questions, or is he prepared to go through a lengthy discernment process?
• Does this say something about the problems with priestly celibacy, or does it simply show us the human side of a priest?
• How will this change him as a person and as a priest?
  

It's not easy to keep up a blog

It's not easy to keep up a blog. It means that you have to come up with something to say on a regular basis, and take the time to log in, compose the message, and send it. It takes a certain amount of discipline and dedication to maintain a blog over a long period of time.

I find it helpful to have a routine so that every day at the same time I'm nudged to compose something for the blog. Lately I've been thrown out of my routine because of our move to a new house. Or at least that's my excuse!

I'd forgotten how hard it is to move to a new house. Boxing up all our things, the actual move itself, cleaning the old house, opening boxes and finding new places for things....it's all very disorienting.

Plus we're now 10 minutes further away from church. That's not much, but it means I have ten minutes less in the morning for things like writing this blog. At any rate, I hope to get back into a routine and post on an (almost) daily basis.

O death, where is thy sting?

Tonight I'm singing "A German Requiem" by Brahms with the Bremerton Symphony Chorale. For this concert we have a guest conductor, Hilary Davan Wetton from England.

We've had lots of extra rehearsals this week (in the mist of moving and unpacking), and our guest conductor has been very inspiring. He's a lanky, garrulous British chap, who intersperses jokes with very serious commentary about the piece we're singing.

"I want you to sing your very best tonight." he said. "Because this is one of the greatest accomplishments of the human spirit, and I want you to communicate that to the audience."

He urged us to get in touch with the lyrics, especially the sadness and loss of death as well as the hope of the resurrection expressed in the lyrics from 1 Corinthians:

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. . . . then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:51,52,54,55

It should be a good concert.
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Living out of boxes

Thanks to a great turnout of people helping us, we moved from our rental house into our new home last Sunday. We had about a dozen people plus several pickup trucks to help us load the U-Haul truck. Plus we were given a pre-cooked dinner to warm up and eat the first two nights.

Now we're living out of boxes, trying to get organized in our new house. It shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that moving four miles is as difficult as moving four hundred miles...but it's a surprise anyway.

My blogging may be a bit sporadic until we get things organized again...and the internet re-connected to our house!

Cleanup day at St.. Antony's

Today we had a good turnout for the cleanup day, despite gray skies and a steady drizzle. We cut back the scotchbroom and the blackberries, mowed the grass, spruced up the barn and generally cleaned up the grounds. My thanks to all who came to help!