Late June rambling

Time for some old fashioned rambling thoughts and random writing! Yesterday I had two funerals. I also had two funerals on the previous Friday and before that I had funeral services on two consecutive Saturdays. That's 14 funerals so far this year. But with each service I do, I spend time listening to a family tell about their loved one. I guide them with a series of questions about the person's work, interests etc and then I ask: "What did this person teach you about life?" Maybe I ask that question for my own benefit as well. I hear some wisdom in each person and it is often something I need to hear.
Today I have a wedding in the afternoon and this morning I will open up the church so the choral ensemble "From Age to Age" can rehearse. They will be singing at both services tomorrow. Maybe, yet this morning,if it doesn't rain, I will mow the lawn again!

Here at the parsonage, all the carpet has been removed from the basement. That also means that we have basement furniture and boxes in the garage or the dining room or squeezed into a side room downstairs. All this was the result of a leaking shower drain but I am blessed with wonderful trustees who said this was just the excuse they needed to get rid of the dark wall paneling down there and add the new carpeting they have wanted to do any way. I am hoping it will all be done in time for my sister's visit in mid July.
Sara's garden is growing wildly. Nick has graduated from the Perpich Fine Arts High School, we had his open house, and he should be coming home soon from a great week in a Theatre festival in Lincoln Nebraska. Beth is in Michigan seeing her parents. Sara is keeping busy with her two jobs, as the administrative assistant at the Congregational church in the mornings and an Applebees server in the afternoons or evenings. She is still not sure if she will attend Iliff in the fall or wait until January.
Sara has also updated her writing blog so check that link out.
Rory

LET US BEGIN TO SEE beyond race, beyond culture, beyond gender, beyond sexual orientation, beyond religion, beyond all these externals and see each other as God’s beloved. When we relate to others as God relates to us, our sense of being God’s beloved deepens even more.

- Trevor Hudson
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From p. 25 of < em>The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005
(From Upper Room)