fire lit and typing begun

Some houses are just right. The basement smells like a basement. Everything in the kitchen is where it should be. The old dog curls up at your feet like an old dog. I'm in one of those now.

I'm dog-sitting for a friend from the church choir, and I'm just so happy to be doing so. Sitting by the fire in the morning with a cup of coffee and my work computer all booted up and ready to go. My emails are checked, the dog's been let out and I'm about to fire off a message saying that I won't be going into the office because all that snow is expected to melt by tomorrow, and I will go in then.

It is hard for me to express just how well I live. I eat well. I sleep well. I have warm clothing and people to laugh with. I am consistently overwhelmed by all of this, but this morning, as I got the fire lit and my typing begun it hit me a little harder than usual.

An outage and an outing

So here I was, cracking away at work on some particularly tricky work
when the power goes out on me. Bah. As a direct result my roommate and
I are headed out to participate in one of his odder hobbies: lifting
heavy objects. Except this time it is in service of someone else.

As roomie and I are sitting, discussing the logistic of fecal
elimination by candle light, he shows me the video he took from the
Dimmu Borgir concert he went to last night while I was at church. If
you know the thrust and tenor of Norwegian Black Metal you will know
why I think that's funny.

But, more seriously, I am well convinced that God loves good Metal. I
have much more to say on that, but it will wait until I am not typing
on my phone.

getting ready for a new year

The last great feast day of the year, The Reign of Christ, has come and gone and I have celebrated it well. Well, not as well (or rather, as grandly) as I would have liked, but I cooked a feast and shared my table and am happy to be getting ready for the austere preparation of Advent. Christ, the clown king, the mockery of power, sits on his throne rough-hewn from the woods in all his victorious attire: imperial red, royal blue and lush purple adorn his near-naked body. And as he reigns, we re-begin to wait for him to do so, equally fools, foolish and forgiven, to those who watched his ascent.

It's a new year coming up. First of advent next week. Lectionary year A, no less. A great time for beginning. Always beginning. Many things to begin:

1. Writing here: The impulse to write has resurged and will become a useful tool for me to warm up for my work day
2. The Daily Office: So difficult to maintain a practice on my own, but I may have found some folk for the exploration of it's use in the broad monastery of suburban life...so I'll have to check on that
3. Lay Ministry: I am learning not to wait for direction or permission from my parish to work in ministry while still remaining a faithful servant to my community there.

the drive home

A priest, an appliance salesman and a mental health worker walk into a bar...

walk out a couple hours later and go home to bed. This was my night, as it often is on a Tuesday. Luckily the service staff at the local have gotten used to seeing collared clergy in their establishment.

Tonight was made special by the two guys who seemed to have gotten lost on their way to the Legion. They were antiques, shouting at each other not because it was any kind of loud in the joint, but rather because everything is quiet to them there days. War songs and marching tunes were sung, laughter was shared, and a priest, an appliance salesman and a mental health worker looked on and enjoyed.

Hanging out with the Red Book

So I had some time to kill last week before work. Unsurprisingly, I used it to hang out in a church. It was recently emptied of its morning worshippers and the parish administrator was buzzing about locking up. Luckily, the Rector recognized me and told her "He can stay, you don't need to worry about him." I was initially struck by the selectiveness of that statement, but immediately after I heard it as the Rector telling her that I *didn't* require any special attention.
I grabbed a BCP and turned to the intercessions. There are some truly exceptional pieces of writing in there, as well as some odd ones (check out the prayers for specific industries). This one struck me as necessary, so I pulled out my cellphone and took a picture of it, which seemed somehow appropriate at the time