Grateful for friends

We have been back from our trip East for several weeks. So I have been engaged mainly in work in the church. Jean and I did go to a Presbyterian conference for pastors and educators. It went from Sunday dinner through Tuesday lunch. We had some good conversations and a little bit of rest also.

During the last couple weeks we have had phone calls and email from several of our friends. This means a lot to me. When I am wearing my "pastor" hat around the church I find that I have a few interactions that fall in the category of friendship. It does seem, though, that most people need me more as a pastor than they do as a friend. So I rely on family and friendships from earlier years to sustain myself.

Jonathan, Emily, and Samuel visited Chicago from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. Jonathan had a professional meeting in downtown Chicago. The trip provided an occasion for the Seitzes and Grubens to meet Samuel for the first time. It is a blessing from God and a deep joy to see another generation enter our lives. Jean and I find much happiness in seeing Samuel, Holland, and Hope. Our parents (one generation older) seem equally pleased.

Joan Netherwood, wife of Jean's brother Paul, will have bypass surgery this Friday in Baltimore. We hope this gives her new strength and more good years of life.

This has been a good year for family visits and we feel in touch with most of the family. We have not been able to see many of our friends. Hopefully, next year will be better for that.

Mid-October

We just returned from our week of vacation. We had good visits with Jean’s family in Williamstown, Mass. and with Jonathan and Emily in Hackettstown, N.J. Between the travel days we had two plus days in each place. Dad Netherwood continues to do well as he faces the health challenges of being 96. Jean’s sister Judy and her husband Larry provided hospitality and good company. Our visit to Hackettstown was our first and we had a lot to see. Emily and Jonathan’s apartment is somewhat larger than what they had in the past. They appear to be well settled. We also spent time touring Centenary College where Jonathan is teaching.

One highlight of our trip was attending Samuel’s baptism on Sunday morning. Jonathan and Emily continue to make journeys back to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey. The church means a lot to them, and it is easy to see why. The congregation is inner city and multi-cultural. The people are extremely kind and friendly. What a great place.

Several weeks ago the engine on the van died. We retrieved the van a couple days before our trip, and I am happy to report that the car performed great and seems to have a new lease on life. I like the van and hope it will serve us for several more years.

The focus and purpose of this trip was people we love. Samuel, now about six months old, is a source of happiness for his parents and all the rest of us. Life is God’s great gift and we are grateful for Samuel and all the other people in our lives.

Traveling Plans

Today is Thursday and on Monday Jean and I will head out for a week of vacation. The first destination is Williamstown, Massachusetts, Jean's home town. We will stay with Jean's sister Judy and her husband Larry, and we will visit with Dad Netherwood. Dad is now 96 years old and still of clear mind. He hears with greater difficulty now, and he cannot walk long distances. We always enjoy the days with him, trying to see him a couple times a year if possible. Judy continues to teach, so we hope to see her and Larry mainly in the evenings.

On Friday of next week we will head for Hackettstown, New Jersey, where son Jonathan is now teaching at Centenary College. We will see him, Emily, and six month old Samuel. Samuel will be baptized a week from Sunday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey. We are happy we can be there. We will have several days to watch Samuel and talk about everything with Emily and Jonathan. Good times.

Midweek

It is Wednesday afternoon, a little more than halfway through my work week. In my mind my week starts with Monday morning. I work through Thursday and Friday is my day off. Sometimes I use Saturday morning for personal business, but by noon I am gearing up for Sunday morning. I often work in my home office most of Saturday afternoon and evening. If the sermon is completed I write emails and make phone calls. Then I get up early on Sunday morning and work for another hour or two. I like to have everything fresh in my mind for the Sunday worship service.

This week I am a little off balance. I was supposed to drive with a member from the church to a presbytery meeting (regional church meeting) in a town over a hundred miles away. We left around midday and got one hour up the road and the car broke down. I spent the next three hours making cell phone calls, having the car towed, arranging for repairs to be done, and riding back home with Jean, who came and rescued us. The one positive in the day was that I was home by 5:30 p.m instead of 11:00 p.m. Jean and I will share her car until my car is diagnosed and repaired. It is in Lancaster, Ohio, where it broke down.

I have several meetings today. I had lunch with college kids around noon. I met with the church stewardship group during the noon hour. I had spent most of the morning getting things ready for that group. The property committee meets at 4:00 p.m. Jean has the car now and she will come get me when I call later in the day.

Last night we talked with family and friends. My old friend Ray Leonardson phoned from Wisconsin. We talked with son David, and Jean talked with son Jonathan while I was on the phone with Ray. Later in the evening we talked with the folks in Des Plaines.

I will spend the next couple hours writing emails and letters. I also need to prepare for the monthly church board (Session) meeting tomorrow night. I will finish planning the worship service for Sunday also. Then tomorrow I will try to take a break for a couple hours in the afternoon. It's a typical week -- start slow, go fast, slow it down, day off, prepare hard on Saturday, and busy Sunday at church. It is a rhythm that is familiar and comfortable for me. I am pretty happy doing it too.

Keeping in Touch

The last week has been a good one. There has been lots of communication within the family. Today we had a phone conversation with Jenny, Jean's niece who lives in California. Yesterday I was contacted on Facebook by an old high school friend. We use Skype regularly to see the new grandson in New Jersey while talking with Jonathan and Emily. I am now running two blogs, this one and a new one more related to people in the church and Ohio University students who attend the church.

For the past year or so I have listened to several podcasts about computers and the internet. The casual listening has deepened my understanding of the possibilities of the internet. If I had more time for this it would be even more fun.

The other blog can be found at ideasandhopes.blogspot.com
Check it out in a couple weeks. (It has only two posts on it now.)

I plan to start adding some pictures soon. Some of these will come from the slide copying work I am doing lately.

Fall Start-up

I am writing this the day before our fall start-up at the church. I had a rough August, with a prolonged cold and allegies that affected my breathing. For the past week I have been back at full strength for the first time. I am feeling the pressure of completing many of the tasks I was able to do only half-heartedly during the last weeks of August.

The sermon title for tomorrow is "Deliverance" and it is based on the Passover story and the beginning of the escape of Israel from Egypt in the book of Exodus. We also have communion tomorrow, so the sermon text and the service fit together nicely.

Tonight I hope to do a lot of writing and preparation for tomorrow. I spent a number of hours this week repairing the church's new website. Those who designed it never finished the last part of the project, and I was feeling embarrassed for the church at the sad state of the website. I want to feel proud of what we do, and I sometimes find it easier to jump in and do things than to have the prolonged discussions with people necessary to get a task completed. This is the time of year when people use the website to decide if they will give us a visit on Sunday.

I am slowing doing yard work that was not handled when I was feeling ill. It is great to have the little yard tractor that cuts most of the grass so quickly.

Dad Netherwood (Jean's father) is celebrating his 96th birthday on September 8th. Many family members gathered in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to be with him. We were represented by Jonathan, Emily, and Samuel. After two great granddaughters, Dad is meeting his first great grandson. Reports are that all the family are having a wonderful visit.

Late Summer

I am finishing a busy summer, and I am back home for a couple months. We saw most of the family at one time or another. In a few months we will make a visit to Williamstown, the one place we missed during the summer. One of the new places we saw this summer was the Chautauqua Institute at Lake Chautauqau in New York State. Jean and I were there for a week, with me serving as Presbyterian chaplain. It was a good time.

Now I am gearing up for the start of a new school year in town and at the church. We had the church board meeting for August a couple days ago. That helped me solidify what I will need to do this fall. I am looking forward to September

Spring

I disappeared for awhile, but I'm back. During the past month we made a trip East. We saw our new grandson Samuel and visited Jean's family in Williamstown. Our grandkids are a major source of happiness in life. For now we are settled into our routine at home once again.

I do a lot of writing for the church, including articles for the newsletter. I am not going to be shy about repeating some things here. Like many ministers, I spend a lot of time thinking about the church and all the changes that have been happening. At our church we are trying to create some new structures and patterns that are more responsive to the needs of younger people. These new efforts are add-ons, not replacements, for the traditional services and groups. So it takes a lot of energy -- or some people who are excited about planning and leading the new things -- to break through with something different. But it is worth it when a new program takes off and people are helped.

I am trying to make more use of the internet and electronic communication to stay in touch with people. My skill levels keep going up, and I am making it a priority to learn a bit more each month. I have always loved technology, and I will be thrilled if I can find better ways to stay in touch with people

Thaw

We had a big snowstorm in Ohio at the end of last week and into the weekend. Where we live it looked like about six inches of snow. To the north and west of us there was a snowfall of over twenty inches. Someone asked me how I was planning to get the snow off the driveway. I told them I intended to wait for it to melt. Most of it did melt on Sunday, and a lot more disappeared today.

We had church on Sunday with less than half of the usual numbers. In our county there was a level 2 snow emergency (only essential driving). I put a message on the church answering machine saying that services would be held, but asking people to come only if they were sure they could travel safely. It is, of course, almost impossible for a minister to cancel a Sunday service. Only a huge groundswell of concern from the members will allow a service to be cancelled, and those voices are not often heard. So I carefully made my way down the snow packed hill near our house on Sunday morning. There were no cars driving on the main highway, but I saw a few people moving by the time I got to town.

I used all my minister jokes for big snows. My favorite one is: "We Presbyterian ministers have the same motto as the Coast Guard. 'We have to go out, but we don't have to come back.'" Someone actually Googled this a couple years ago and told me I was wrong. I did further research and learned that it is the unoffical motto of the Coast Guard. Whatever it is, it is fun for me to say to people when I have been driving at a time I should have stayed home.

By Sunday afternoon the thaw was underway. It is feeling a lot like the end of winter. A few flowers (crocuses) are emerging, and we may have seen the last big snow. It is a good feeling. Easter is less than two weeks away (very early this year).

Life is busy now, but most of what I am doing seems worthwhile. I hope you feel the same.

Doing Life Together

Jean and I returned on Wednesday from a trip to visit David and the grandkids in Alabama. It was a smooth trip and a very good visit. On this trip we met several of David's friends. They are wonderful people.

Today I was talking with my sister Nancy (who is recovering from shoulder surgery) about the ways in which our churches help us get through life. She used a couple great phrases which I plan to use myself. One is "doing life together." We all need one or more "affinity groups," groups of people with whom we share our life journey. The second phrase was "honest and safe." The two adjectives describe the qualities that our groups must have if they are to help us. A group must be honest, or we never reveal what is really happening in our lives. A group must also be safe. If it is not safe our confidences will be betrayed and our struggles will be turned into cheap gossip for other people,

A good "small group" or "support group" (or whatever you want to call it) lets us share the joys and the burdens of life. When one is struggling he or she gains strength from others. At a later time that same one will have resources to help others who face hard times. People find affinity groups in many places, but the church is in a good position to create these groups and to nurture them over the years.

I have a collections of friendships and people who provide support, but I can see the importance of having a few places where these are true groups rather than loose networks. We all need people to journey with us, groups of friends with whom we can do life together.

Good Energy

I have been enjoying life a lot lately. My usual view of winter is that it is a quiet time when everyone slows down. That has not been the case this year. A number of groups at the church are active and alert. We have an ecology group that is hard at work. The small group we attend had a great meeting yesterday -- we talked about our assigned topic (alternative worship) and discussed a number of other things also. We have a college senior who is beginning the process of becoming a Presbyterian minister. The committee planning the 200th anniversary for our church next year has decided to give all the funds we raise to a local agency that helps abused women and to a neighboring church that needs renovations. There might even be money enough to help a couple other groups.

I have changed my working schedule and I think I like the new way of doing things. I am spending my full mornings at the church, with the door open to visitors. Then I am getting away from the office in the afternoons -- to visit some days and to write and study other days.

This week we are headed for Alabama. We will visit with our son David and our two granddaughters. David's birthday is this month. We won't be there on the exact day of his birthday but it will be close enough for a good celebration. David and the kids have a long weekend because of President's Day. So we expect to have a long weekend visit. Next week we will be back in town around the middle of the week.

I have found a couple of my old friends are making good use of the internet, including Facebook. It is fun to see the pleasure that comes from learning and using new skills.

End of January

It is almost the end of January.  The month has gone flying by.  At the church we go directly from Christmas into a flurry of startup activities for the new year.  We have finished filing statistical reports for the presbytery and General Assembly.  New officers at the church were installed.  The first meetings of the new church boards have taken place.  We gathered, published, and distributed the annual reports.  Today we had the annual meeting of the congregation.  All in all it has been a race.

I am revising my work schedule.  I will be spending mornings at the church and will try to work away from the church in the afternoons.  On some days this will be for meetings or home visits.  Other times I would like to be able to get to a quiet place where I can work without interruptions.  I will see how it works.

I still have times when the regional church work requires long trips that take up major hunks of time.  Tomorrow I will be spending a major portion of the day driving to Columbus for a three hour meeting there.

The other big concern for me is how to be a better follower of Christ.  The start of the new year (with the possibility of changes for the good) and the approaching season of Lent both give hope.