Julie’s News from Maryland

Some things I’m thankful for this year:

• My kids: Justin, Nicholas, and Ella
• My wonderful, loving, and supportive husband
• Getting to live near and spend time with Jay and Daniel
• Being in New York
• Going to seminary (and having finished my first exegesis)
• The faithful covenant community at St. Tim’s that encourages me to be all that God has created me to be
• New friends in New York that are becoming our community helping us to feel less lonely
• God’s graciousness and faithfulnes

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I finished my exegesis this morning and it doesn’t suck.  Well, I think it doesn’t suck. It remains to be seen what my professor will think.  But, overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out.  Now on to the serious business of taking a break. 

We’re having 14 people for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  Jay and Daniel are doing most of the cooking and everyone is bringing something, so it shouldn’t be too much work for us.  I got some yummy cheeses for appetizers and I’m going to put little cherry tomatoes and mozarella balls on toothpicks too.  I think it will be a full day of yummy food.

Friday we are going to Long Island to see some friends that we haven’t seen in a couple of years.  We’re really looking forward to that.  It should be a great mini-vacation.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I went on a field trip today to the Seamen’s Church Institute at the port of New York and New Jersey.  They are an organization that ministers to the men and women that work on the ships that come into the New York and New Jersey ports.  Before 9/11, the ship workers could get a ship visa that would allow all of them to leave the ship when it was in port.  But now, they each have to get an individual visa (which can be expensive, so many don’t) and some, even with visas, aren’t allowed off of the ships.  The chaplains that work at the Institute go onboard the ships and visit with the crew.  They bring cell phones so that the workers can call home since they don’t have telephones on the ship.  They also check on their conditions and often advocate for the workers if there are labor disputes.  It is a harrowing ministry.  I can see that it is very draining, but all of the chaplains are very passionate about it and really feel called to do this ministry.

It was a miserably cold and rainy day today.  It was really moving to watch all the workers on the docks unloading and loading the ships.  The chaplain told us that 18,000 trucks come in and out of the port every day.  We saw lots full of imported cars - 30,000 cars come in each day.  We also saw the “Orange Wave” a giant ship that brings thousands of gallons of orange juice from South America.  They estimate that every 9th glass of orange juice that we drink in the U.S. comes from South America.  It is really eye-opening to see that all the things that we consume come to us from over the sea somewhere as a result of the back-breaking work of the seafarers.

I’ve been working on my exegesis for a few hours now.  So far, I have written four pages that include about 10 footnotes.  Yippee.  Of course, I’ve only written the easy parts: the introduction and the section about the themes that I’m not going to explore in this paper.  Still, it’s a good start.  I feel like I have a good idea about what I want to write about and I have a clearer vision for how the paper should look.  Most of my writer’s block has simply been a lack of vision for what the thing was going to be.  Now, I just have to do the research and get it written.  If I keep up this momentum, I’ll easily have it finished by Wednesday.

I must say, word processing software has come a long way since my college days.  I don’t think I’ve added a footnote to anything for at least 12 years.  I was shocked and amazed when I discovered that Word has a footnote feature that automatically numbers and formats them.  It was like a little miracle.  It is such a huge time saver not to have to do all that work manually.  I’m feelling very empowered.

Today we celebrated Ella’s birthday with a princess tea party. Ella’s friends, Chi Chi, Sara Kate, Macrina, and their moms came over for a tea party. The girls were all done up in their best princess attire. We had muffins, scones, fruit, tea, and chocolate cake. It was really darling. I posted some photos, see Albums in the right panel

I’ve had a cold for 2 weeks.  I’m so tired of being sick.  It has fluctuated in intensity randomly since I got it.  Some days I feel mostly ok, other days I feel terrible.  Today was the worst day so far.  I woke up with a terrible cough and a bad headache.  It really hasn’t improved much all day.

I was hoping to get a lot of work done today on my exegesis that is due on Monday.  I sat down to try to write and nothing would come out of my head.  I finally realized that there is no way that I’m going to get this paper finished by Monday.  Between my cold and Rick being away for part of this weekend, I just don’t have enough time. Fortunately, my professor is wonderful and it isn’t a problem at all for me to give it to her on Wednesday.  Most classes were cancelled early next week, so I should have plenty of time to get it done, provided I am well enough to really do it starting on Sunday.

I’ve been having fun with Final Cut Pro (a film editing software) lately.  After Nicholas’ birthday party, I decided that I’d make a short film about it for my parents.  His party was a Star Wars theme, so I created a mini-Star Wars movie, complete with the theme music, the scrolling text, and the starfield background.  It turned out really cute and Nicholas was really pleased with it.  I got so enthusiastic that I also made a little movie about our trick-or-treating experience.  It turned out pretty cute as well (how can it not with such cute subjects?).

For one of my classes, our professor asked us to make a “spiritual map” of the neighborhood.  Our small group divided Chelsea into segments and we each took a section.  We were supposed to walk through the section and make a note of any place that might be spiritual.  Since I’m in the movie making mode, I decided to make a little movie.  I headed out to my corner of the neighborhood with my movie camera.  At first, my neighborhood seemed devoid of any sort of spiritual place.  There were a couple of churches, but I mostly encountered wholesale shops with cheap purses and junky toys.  As I moved further across my section, I discovered the Fashion Institute.  I realized that I had a whole “spiritual” culture of fashion in my neighborhood, so I started taking footage of clothing stores, shoe stores, and fashion sorts of things.

When I edited the footage, I started showing images from the churches: steeples, crosses, signs, carvings, etc.  The music was soft and spiritual (“Nearer my God to Thee” by Always Emmanuel).  Then, abruptly, the music switched to “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred.  The images were of the shops, clothes, a wig shop, a spa, the fashion institute, etc.

It’s been a ton of fun to make movies again.  It’s such a creative outlet for me.  Some people knit, other people scrapbook, I make movies.  It was great to stretch my brain like that and produce things that are fun and different.  Helps me to remember that there is more to life than writing papers.

The theme of this year’s women’s retreat was Surprise and the first suprise was me.  Holly talked me into going last month, so I’ve had to keep it a secret forever.  But, I managed not to tell too many people and most people were surprised that I was there.

It was a great retreat.  The music was fantastic, the worship was Spirit-filled, conversations were meaningful.  The team worked very hard and it was evident in the event that they created.  It was also just a ton of fun!  It was so good to be home.  I feel renewed and encouraged.  Everyone was so loving and supportive.  And, we talked about Jesus.  It was so nice to be in a place where Jesus’ presence is acknowledged and sought after. 

As a bonus, I got to stay late enough to go to the 5:00 Service.  It was so great to be in the sanctuary and worship in a way that makes sense to me.  It was so nice to encounter the Holy Spirit in worship and to feel his presence among us.  Now I remember why I’m doing this.

This week has just been miserable.  First, we had the whole “remedial acolyte training” debacle that left me wanting to get as far away from chapel as possible.  I looked into my options and learned that I am required to serve in the chapel, so, like it or not, I’ll be serving there.

Then we had the worst church music class ever.  We watched a movie about hymns and hymn singing.  The professor then asked for questions.  The first question went something like this, “I really like traditional singing in church and I’m concerned about the shift away from that.  How can I combat this move towards non-traditional singing and help keep my parish from going that direction?”  I’m sure you can imagine where that went.  The next question focused on a parish that had added a new “contemporary” service and how divisive it had been for the parish.  The professor proceeded to talk about how the advent of fast food and the “have it your way” idea had corrupted church music because we are now just giving people what they want whether it is good for them or not.  He made several points about how there are too many musical choices out there and that we need to remember that our religion wasn’t invented yesterday and that the prayer book and the hymnal are there for a reason.  He also pointed out that we shouldn’t be meeting people where they are but rather we should help them come to the place that we are.

I would have walked out of class but I was sobbing too hard to get out of my chair. Seriously.  I just couldn’t take it.  Are we really going to create priests that insult their acolytes and that think they shouldn’t meet people where they are? sigh.

Fortunately, I have very smart friends that reminded me that it is not about the acolyting, or the music, or the religion, or the Church but it is about preaching the gospel.  I’m here because God has called me to preach the gospel.  So, onward I go.

Lucky for me I have a very special and secret vacation planned for this weekend!  I know that God will renew my spirit on this trip.

The Chief Sacristan sent email today to my group of acolytes. We are scheduled to acolyte again this week and have served at a couple of services so far. (I don’t serve until Tuesday night). He said that he thinks that there is some confusion about what is supposed to go on and he wants us to meet tomorrow for remedial training. The liturgics professor followed up with an email stating that he supported the request because he is “concerned that the ceremonial movements be executed with the dignity and order fitting to the liturgical worship of God.”

Remedial acolyte training.  sigh.