Take My Hand

2007 and 2008

In 2007, I:

- Graduated from High School
- Began college at Agnes Scott on Scholarship
- Bought my first Mac computer
- Got my first car
- Preached a sermon at Annual Conference in front of +1,000 and half of them were clergy
- Conducted an entire worship service all by myself
- Started regularly attending a church other than the church I grew up in
- Took my first course in Philosophy
- Made a conscious decision not to run for General Conference
- Drove someone to the hospital for the first time, and picked someone up from a car wreck for the first time
- Became a caffiene addict, and began drinking tea as well as coffee and Diet Coke

In 2008, I will:

- Vote in my first election
- Be a college student, for the entire year
- Earn a black-belt in karate (hopefully)
- Have my first non-church related, and non-babysitting job
- Have my first paying gig as a speaker
- Take cello lessons for the first time

In looking at all this, I realize that there are many more things I did in 2007 -- things that are perhaps more important that what I mentioned -- and there are many more things that I will do in 2008. But, for some reason or another this is what ended up on the lists today.

I sincerely hope, though, that while much of what I have listed is 'me-centric', that I have done at least a little bit of good for others.

I hope that I smiled enough. I hope that I spoke words of hope and comfort to those who needed to hear it. And I hope that that's what I'll continue to do in the future.

I hope that I have the courage it takes to change the world, and the fortitude and grace to keep pushing on toward perfection even when perfection seems impossible.

I hope I have the wisdom to recognize that I alone cannot be Jesus, and that instead we all must be together.

Peace to you all in this year of 2008...

An Eventful Wednesday

I thought I'd share a story with you, as you might be amused by it...

This is a true story; this happened to me a few weeks ago:

I've always been fascinated with the Episcopal Church. So, I decided to check out Big Name Episcopal Church. I looked on the Church's website to see what time services were held, and noticed that there was a service on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Wednesdays at 8 p.m. are good times for church services for a college student like me.

Wednesday rolled around, and so I went.

I parked my car, and got out. The information online said that the service would be held in the Chapel. The night watchman was there in the parking lot, so I asked him where the Chapel was and how to get there. He pointed me in the right direction.

The gorgeous, tall oak doors squeaked when the opened to a small empty sanctuary. I sat down close to the altar. I noticed that there was a stand covered in the same cloth that the altar paraments were made of. It was too small to be a baptismal font; I figured that it must be an urn.

Soon enough, a few people came in, sat down and introduced themselves. There were three women and two men, plus me, there for the service.

One of the women, after introducing herself, wondered aloud what "that thing in front of the altar" was. The other church members joined in her musings.

One of the men said, "Well, whatever it is, we better move it." He got out of his seat to go and do just that.

I'm thinking, "Uh, you better not." But, of course, I don't say it because I'm a visitor. The priest hadn't arrived yet.

The man gets up to move it.

He slides it a couple of inches.

It tips over, and the urn falls on the floor.

Ashes go flying and are scattered everywhere.

The women shout, "Oh! Oh! It's a dead person!!" and run out into the nave.

The men start up saying, "I'm not picking it up! I'm not touching anyone's ashes!"

All the while I'm just sitting there.

One of the men finally gets up the courage to clean up the ashes. He scooped them up with a service bulletin. He slid the ashes back into the urn. As he put the lid on he said, "It says on the top her name is Barbara!!"

The women come back up close to the altar, and we all laugh until there are tears running down our cheeks.

Then, the priest walked in and we started the service.

Everything was going smoothly until we got to the Confession. The priest said, "Let us now confess our sins against God and one another..." We were supposed to respond by reading the printed confession in the bulletin. But!

The man who tipped the urn over busted out laughing. And then we all started laughing, except for the priest who was looking bewildered. The man then said, "Well we might as well tell her (referring to the priest)". He then looked at the priest and said succintly, "Barbara fell out of her container."

Immediately after he said that, the priest got up and ran out of the chapel. We all sat there laughing for a few minutes. And that was the end of the service.

One of the women said to me as we were walking out of the chapel, "Well, now you have a story to tell your friends."

She got that right.