Sunday, September 20, 2009

It's About Time


It has been so long since I posted anything and why is that? Some sloth, some naval gazing, some musing on the future; all have managed to impede my being a little more faithful. Which of course becomes a bad pun on the blog title. Oh, well. I have finally decided to stay in the area for the next several years. I want to do a picture book on the local Umpqua Valley Wineries. They are very up and coming, deserving my best. I am planning to get a medium format film camera to assist in that endeavour. There are currently twenty-some wineries and more opening every year. The variety of wines is large, the climate is excellent, the soil is superb; in my opinion: the next Napa Valley.
Then, I would like to go to Europe for a year or two. I would probably go to a language school in Prague, Czech Republic, then stay and teach English for a year or two. Czechoslovakia is so beautiful. Largely untouched by the Second World War, many cities are still, at least in city center, very medieval. Another book? Mentioning teaching, I am reminded that I will be teaching a class on Liturgy beginning October 10. This is something I have been studying off and on for years, so I am probably over prepared and must strive to not be too pedantic.

Dave and Sabra Horn swept into our church family this weekend like a welcome rain on a summer's day. We are an older congregation and often fairly set in our ways. I have joked that I am the acolyte because, at sixty-two, I am the youngest. That is only a slight exaggeration. They were a revitalizing change. In some ways, Rev. Horn is our Pastor's protogee, and he was very much the proud parent. The Horns are traveling Lutheran missionaries and contemporary Christian musicians. His voice and style remind me of John Michael Talbot. Talbot is part of the Church of Rome, but I could easily live and work at Little Portion Hermitage. Magically, I seemed to know one of their songs, "No Angels," but why? Like deja vu all over again. (I just revisited his site and now know why I knew the song. I had listened to it about a month ago while researching him. It obviously made a deep impression, so much for deja vu.) I very much liked both of them, they have sweet spirits and much love for the Lord. I, too, love Jesus, but it never feels as if I manifest it very well or obviously. I often wonder if I am just playing church. I still feel called to ministry, but am such a bad example for others and so won't make that commitment. I still live in fear someone will discover the real me and, yet, I'm not even sure what that is. Sixty-two years old and still living in Catcher in the Rye. How ridiculous is that?