I Can't Get There From Here

Well this trip is off a really, really bad start at Philadelphia airport.  And, it has nothing to do with the clocks moving ahead one hour.

My travel voucher gave me a United Flight Number.   So arriving at the airport I pull into garage D, quickly found a parking space and move into the very short security check-in line.   When I get to the FSA  person, I am told that I do not have a boarding pass.  I need to leave the line and go to US Airways.   US Airways  is the carrier operating the United Airlines flight.  And they are Terminal C.

Lord help me.

So, I dutifully leave terminal D by exiting and walking over in the brisk air into Terminal C.  I check in and discover that I will have to go to Terminal A for the actual flight.  Gate 22 to be precise.  And, the woman behind the counter tells me to utilize one of the moving vehicles the rest of the way.  It is almost at the end of the airport, where the international flights leave from.

So, let me repeat.

I am parked in Terminal D parking and am leaving from Terminal A.

Now you might think that this means maybe I should have had someone drive me to the airport.  It  would not have mattered.  I still would have headed upstairs to the Terminal D United check in and been in the same situation.  The walk across the concourse was the easiest and fastest part of the morning.

Now, I am sitting and writing this while waiting for takeoff .  There is no one else in my row, so I am spreading out.

OH, I forgot.  I usually travel Southwest.  You k now, no baggage charge (US Airways is $25) and you seat by number and pick your seat.

So trainable am I that I utilize the first open compartment space near an aisle seat and sit down.  Did I forget to mention that there are assigned seats?  So up I go and find my seat 6 rows back. 

So spoiled am I that I now am cringing about my return trip via Piedmont and Continental.  What nightmares will I have about marching around between terminals.

So Gary, you asked me to come back rejuvenated and inspired.

My inspiration is to drive or take the train.

Kathryn, I know that you are laughing at your Mother.

Oh, now they charge for any snacks.  You gotta love flying US Airways.  Thank goodness for my granola bar.

Sometimes Time Marches Too Quickly

This is the first time that I have gone to my blog to write in a long time.  So, I am now encountering new changes that Google has made to Blogger.  I probably will be spending time understanding what they are and how it will affect habits formed since 2008.

And, the new "simple" privacy policy? 

The past couple of months life has been hectic but rewarding.  Lots of things going on around me.  In February, the Diocese of Delaware held it's 227th Convention in Dover.  This event, the auditors and other pressing work had left me brain dead, figuratively and literally.  So, I followed that event with 10 days of visiting family and friends in Florida, staying on both coasts and enjoying great weather.  I am determined to make this an annual two week trip for the next couple of years.

Prior to leaving on vacation, The Rev. Canon Simon Mein passed away from complications from injuries received in a car accident returning home after convention.  Simon was a friend, colleague and mentor for the 17+ years that I knew him.  He and his wife Nan shared many conversations, though not as many as I now wish.  In fact, it is Simon's blog Simon Surmises that has a place on the Source of the River. Sooner or later, I will have to remove this link, but I am not in a hurry to do so.  Simon's Memorial Service was held in the chapel at St. Andrew's School while I was away.  Headmaster Tad Roach's memorial can be found under the chapel tab.

While I was away, the Rev. Jeanne Linderman  passed away.  Another friend and colleague that I have also known for as long as I have worked in the Bishop's office.  Her obituary in the Wilmington News Journal and the eulogy by The Rev. Canon Lloyd Casson are recommended reading.  Jeanne's work as the first female priest ordained in Delaware, her social justice work as a lay woman at St. Andrew's, the major role she played as a bridge in the coming together of the folks from St. Matthew's and St. Andrew's and the mother of six are just a few of the major accomplishments of this woman.  I was lucky to have known her.
 
I also attended the Memorial Service of my former boss, friend and colleague Chuck Elter.  The years I spent at McBride, Shopa and Co as a CPA were made the better by knowing Chuck and I will miss him.  It was bitter sweet to come together with old friends and reminisce about those days.

A week ago, I attended the Order for the Burial of the Dead for Anne Eldredge Harris, the mother of The Rev. Canon Mark Harris.  Mark, for those of you following my journey the past several years, was one of my three wise men who persuaded me that I should go to Sudan and work for The Episcopal Church of Sudan.  I never met Anne, a former practicing doctor, though Mark spoke of her often, of her art work and her poetry.  Her service was wonderful.  What I learned about Anne's computer generated artwork can be found at her website The Computer Generated Artwork of Anne Eldredge Harris.  Please visit  because you can not fully understand without going on line.  What is more, is it began after Anne came to like at Cokesbury Village over 25 years ago.  Both her professions of doctor and artist were well known at the Baylor College of Medicine.  Imagine a life where re-incarnation is possible while still living!

So, with all of that I am looking forward to a mini-working retreat at The Kanuga Conference center in Hendersonville, NC outside of Asheville, NC.

What was I thinking?

I found myself back in my hometown again, dreaming of the house my father’s second wife lived in before she married him, a duplex, and the other half housing her sister’s family.  There are many times that I end up at that house, rarely inside, but more often than not doing something with the yard.  Last night it involved cutting the lawn while the house was being repainted maroon with white trim. 

I usually find myself dreaming of my hometown, my home or the high school whenever I am stressed, or at a time of decision making.  Why my mind settles there, I do not know.  I am sure that Freud would have an opinion as to why I am never inside the house.

Two gentlemen were watching from the adjoining yard voicing lots of opinions on the grass cutter, me, and the painter.  I remember magically see the house change to blue and white, immediately brightening the house and all around it.  Color, or the lack of it, plays an important part of our lives.

I had spent part of the day trimming away the dead parts of plants in the garden.  Perennials that will sprout again next spring and summer.  When I look out the front window it is a different view now, not brown, but filled with ever green plants and shrubs which compete with all the vibrant colors of the spring and summer, always present but sometimes hidden.

Men voicing opinions are always around me.  Lots of opinions, most of them I ignore, but some of them know me well, and those I keep with me.  I am more inclined to listen to women, women who understand what is at the heart of a subject, if the soul might be wounded, if courage is needed.

So who or want is waiting for me to decide, to notice?  How long will I gaze waiting for another sign?  How might the universe choose to communicate?

Possibly by needing to replace a hard drive which temporarily forces me off the internet and back to quiet and the time needed to ponder.

Movies to have your soul smiling and laughing

 I have not been writing much lately, and I like to blame it on the fact that my keyboard hates my fingers.  I can be typing along and the keyboard will make random keys stick or place the shift key where the enter should be.  It is infuriating.  So much so, I hate to use the damn thing.

However, there are times when I really want to share, to give in to the temptation and somehow manage to confuse the keyboard as to whose fingers are pounding away.

Before Christmas I came down with a cold that transformed itself into bronchitis.  Sent home from work, twice, I finally went to the doctor, received "drugs" and was told to rest, sleep, drink fluids and get well.  Oh, and to have a Merry Christmas. :)

What is one to do when confined to bed, alone?

Netflix and On Demand Movies, life savers they truly were.  And my taste is all over the map.  Just think 24 hours a day of not sleeping due to coughing and hacking.

It seems like I watched hundreds these past ten days.  And considering the plethora of holiday and Christmas movies, etc.  it was amazing that I could find anything else.  Some movies I have watched twice: Stage Beauty, Bran Nue Dae, Legion, The Mechanic, Lars and the Real Girl, Cedar Rapids, Hereafter, The Young Victoria, What Doesn't Kill You, and the Dr. Who Christmas Special - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.


Some it pained to watch once due to the raw emotions on the screen  ; The Road, Edge of Darkness.

My two favorite during this period had to do with transformational love in two different settings.  Check out  Joshua  and Nativity!

Finally, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Season of Creation

Each Fall the Episcopal Church ofSts. Andrew and Matthew (SsAM) in Wilmington, DE celebrates with services entitled Season of Creation.  The Season of Creation liturgies focus on biodiversity, land, water, climate change, need not greed, and caring for God's creation.  Join with us in praying that this resource may deepen our comprehension of God as Creator and broaden our understanding of our calling to be faithful stewards of creation.

Refashion our mind, O God, to a new way of thinking, that seeing the peril of our failure to halt the desecration of the planet and its creatures, we commit to the promise of life for all that lives.

Reconcile our hearts to one another across all boundaries, that human diversity may be experienced as enrichment, and differences honored as leading to wiser action.

Sensitize the governments of the world to the folly of violent conquest, that has led all of history's adventures in empire to ultimate decadence and demise.  And teach all who aspire to leadership of nations the enduring wisdom of collaboration and servanthood.

Strenghten the movement for nonviolence that has emerged in our time, that human ingenuity may be turned to the preservation of the earth, and that our economies be reordered to the urgent needs of the human family.

Kindle in each of us a resolve to dismantle our own private arsenals of violence: our greed and thanklessness, our rage and grievances, our hatreds and all of our shifting of blame.

Enliven the faith communities of the world with a rebirth of welcome for all sorts and conditions of humanity, moving us to reorder our lives and our loves to such simplicity and goodwill as to preserve the each and make for peace.

Paul, Martin and Peace

This is what Bishop Wayne P Wright has written in our weekly eblast newsletter this week.

This coming Sunday is September 11^th– the tenth anniversary of a day that none of us will ever forget.  For weeks, even months, we have been preparing.  I am impressed by the many observances taking place in our churches and schools.  They are obviously the fruit of much reflection, study, and prayer.  Each carries the potential to invite healing, deepen faith, and strengthen love.  Our hope is always that the future may learn from the past. Thank you.

I have been reading about the events happening this weekend at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan.  Trinity is only a few hundred yards away from Ground Zero. St. Paul’s, just across the street from the World Trade Center, became a place of rest and respite for rescue and recovery workers in the days following the attacks.  Our Presiding Bishop will preach at St. Paul’s on Sunday morning.  New York’s Bishop Mark Sisk will be the celebrant for the principal service. Many other events at Trinity and St. Paul’s will add to a week of commemoration and observance.  You can read more on the website: www.trinitywallstreet.org

I was especially struck by the theme the parish has chosen to guide its anniversary observance: “Remember to Love.” 

This phrase brings to mind Paul’s sturdy and deeply challenging admonition about Christian love:  “Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

Before September 11, 2001 I am sure that I always took this passage too lightly.  Seeing burning fragments from buildings and airplanes literally falling from the sky, I came to realize how seriously I had underestimated the need for what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the strength to love.”  By choosing the theme “Remember to Love,” the members of Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel have placed this challenge and an opportunity directly before us.  It is important to remember the past.  But, it is not enough simply to remember.  My daily prayer will be for the Spirit of Christ to reconcile and heal us and for the love of Christ to make us instruments of his much needed peace.

Faithfully,

Wayne Wright,
Bishop of Delaware

Leaping

The other day I re-watched a movie called Leap Year staring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.  I am a sucker for anything filmed in Ireland and has relationships similar to Tracy and Hepburn or Clark Gable Claudette Colbert in In Happened One Night. 

The plot of Leap Year is that "when Anna’s (Amy Adams) four-year anniversary to her boyfriend passes without an engagement ring, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Inspired by an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men on Leap Day, Anna follows Jeremy (Adam Scott) to Dublin to propose to him. But after landing on the wrong side of Ireland, she must enlist the help of the handsome and carefree local Declan (Matthew Goode) to get her across the country. Along the way, they discover that the road to love can take you to very unexpected places."

Now besides the great accents and the scenery the happy endings always present in Hollywood films, what stuck with me was the scene when Jeremy in an attempt to find some common ground, asks Anna what one thing would she grab if her house was on fire.

Of course, remember Anna is American and to think that that someone would know the one thing they would grab is ludicrous.  As she scoffs and taunts Jeremy, he calmly tells her it would be his grandmothers clatter ring.  That is the only thing he would take.

What came to me as I watched this movie for the umpteenth time, late at night in my bed. is that I had finally made the great leap over things.

I realize that what I wanted to make sure made it out of the house were the three cats.  Everything else did not enter my mind.  Things had lost their value.

Of course, remember that I have insurance.  What I would need to have in my new abode I would be purchasing.

I realized that the furniture that had been handed down to me, were no longer important.  My daughter has no interest.  She had her own style.

So, what I have put in my " fire bag" is a dvd of when my aunt told the history of the Gregory family from Scotland and the dvd's my daughters father made as she was growing up.

What else?

Not much.