[Magdalen] Anastasia Baptist

[Jay Weigel]

I was back at Reformation Lutheran after a prolonged absence due to the
nasty upper respiratory infection I brought back with me from Florida. As I
told the pastor, I didn't think it would be proper to contaminate the place
with alien germs.

I have noticed that the pastor is deeply committed to social justice issues
and this comes through in his sermons. I'm guessing from things he's said
that he is likely a fairly liberal Democrat politically, which is not
exactly in sync with the local political climate. However, it appears that
the congregation adores him, and they are quite active in social outreach
locally.

Changing the subject, yesterday's OT reading was one of my favorite
passages from Isaiah, "They that wait on the Lord". For some reason, that
always makes me think of a home health patient we had back in the early
90s. She wasn't my patient; she belonged to another nurse, one who trained
me, but I met her my first week, and the relationship between her and her
nurse was one of the things that bonded me to home health. Miss Lucille was
an African-American lady of considerable age and dignity and great
sweetness. She and her husband had had a small dairy farm and raised a
bunch of children through the Depression in rural Hamblen County, TN, and
she enjoyed telling stories of that time. The one that has always stuck
with me has to do with her going to look for a cow that had gone missing
during a snow, and finding that the cow had given birth, but the calf was
so weak it could barely stand and the cow wouldn't leave it. She picked up
the calf and carried it back through the snow to the barn, and the mother
followed. Her nurse, also a farm girl but from Mississippi, said she bet
that wasn't the first calf Miss Lucille had carried home, and Miss Lucille
allowed as how that was so, "and not the only one in the snow, either!" She
said God would always give her the strength, and quoted that verse from
Isaiah. Now whenever I hear it, it always brings up the image of (a much
younger) Miss Lucille struggling through the snow with a newborn calf in
her arms. Somehow I think both she and God would like that.


On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 11:12 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Concertos or Sonatas, Charles?
>
> On February 8, 2015, at 10:43 PM, Charles Wohlers <
> charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> And we went to a special choral evensong at Christ Church, Montpelier. A
> bit
> different than your experience, I expect (and a bit different than a normal
> service at Christ Church). The choir from the Cathedral in Burlington was
> supposed to join us, but they cancelled due to snow.
>
> Afterwards attended a concert of the final three Beethoven piano concertos
> by Michael Arnowitt, a very well-liked (and very good) local classical &
> jazz pianist. He did them all from memory - no sheet music, as he's
> practically blind due to macular degeneration.
>
>
> Chad Wohlers
> Woodbury, VT USA
> chadwohl at satucket.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ME Michaud
> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2015 3:19 PM
> To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
> Subject: [Magdalen] Anastasia Baptist
>
> A good time was had by all.
>
> Very quiet, fairly subdued service. We sang Amazing Grace, also a hymn
> I haven't heard since church camp (I have decided ... to follow Jesus).
> Two guitars, a piano (which I never heard, and given the quality of the
> sound system, I think it may have been intentional) and a cajon, played
> or struck by a glum young man with no stage presence whatsoever. There
> was a small group over on the side who signed the hymns, and an ASL
> translator on the dais. Florida School for the Blind and Deaf is about
> three miles to the north.
>
> Church seats around 600 and was 3/4 full. This was the Traditional
> service (missed the Contemporary service because I thought it was
> at 9:00, not 9:30).
>
> First address given by a young woman who said she was twenty. She
> did a fine job, actually. Second address by a young man with a scraggly
> red beard, who began with "heyyyy?"
> and then went on to describe a childish tantrum (panic attack) on first
> visiting the Jurassic ride at Universal in Orlando, then devolved into a
> thorough scolding of his friends who worship Tom Brady instead of Jesus.
> Charming.
>
> During the collection the singing group sang something that sounded
> very much like the creed rewritten in plain language (the BVM expunged
> for the occasion, but it sure was trinitarian).
>
> Met several lovely women (from Pittsburgh and Atlanta).
>
> I was in the car and waiting for the police to direct us out at 11:57, a
> new
> record for me.
> -M
>
>