Dear Friends,
We leave today for two reasons: to worship with the saints at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, and to attend the Music and Bible Conferences at Massanetta Springs Conference Center there. It seems we have hardly been home, and now we are going again. I do look forward to the enrichment of worship and the conference--there should be some really good preachers there, and the choirs and handbells ought to be glorious!
I know that some of you are involved with Ann Marie Conner's Bible reading schedule, as I am. It is proving to be a good discipline to have a set schedule, and it insists that I read parts of the Bible that I normally spend less time in. The Old Testament readings have been pretty gruesome, some of the time. Currently we are reading Joshua, and I must say that the descriptions of the MANY massacres perpetrated on the Canaanites by the Israelites as they entered the promised land keep my mind reeling. It appears that the Israelites truly understood the destruction of conquered peoples to be God's will, but I have trouble reconciling that with what I understand to be God's steadfast love for the world. I also ponder how easily we all are able to convince ourselves that God is on our side as we plunder through the world, trying to get our own way. Someone sometime said (I think it may have been Abraham Lincoln) that rather than getting God on our side, we ought to be about making sure we are on God's side. I think that I have a lot more reading to do on this subject. But it certainly is still a current issue in our world of many wars!
I continue to keep you all in prayer. I hope you will also pray for us. And, to quote a prayer I heard last night on a BBC vespers service, I ask you to "pray for those who have no one to pray for them."
Grace and Peace,
Linda
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Want to see my pictures?
Dear Friends,
We are enjoying being at home again after all our travels. I have had time to work on my photos, and want to share some with you. Here we are having fun with new
Nashville friends.
Destin was beautiful--in scenery and in people! Here are some sights from the Gulf coast: the view from our front porch, Doug and daughter Talitha, her children Ellen and Jacob . . .
It's been a wonderful summer! We have now managed to visit with all the children and grandchildren except Chris and Heather, and we are hoping to make it to be with them. It hasn't been easy to orchestrate, with all the job changes and moves they have collectively made over the last few months! We have also worshiped with six congregations so far--Presbyterian, Lutheran, Disciples of Christ, and nondenominational. I have been reading, reading, reading--about worship practices and the theology of how we worship God. I'm learning lots, and more importantly, having a "sabbath rest" from the daily routines. I'm grateful for this opportunity!
See you all in about five weeks!
Grace and Peace,
Linda
We are enjoying being at home again after all our travels. I have had time to work on my photos, and want to share some with you. Here we are having fun with new
Nashville friends.
Destin was beautiful--in scenery and in people! Here are some sights from the Gulf coast: the view from our front porch, Doug and daughter Talitha, her children Ellen and Jacob . . .
It's been a wonderful summer! We have now managed to visit with all the children and grandchildren except Chris and Heather, and we are hoping to make it to be with them. It hasn't been easy to orchestrate, with all the job changes and moves they have collectively made over the last few months! We have also worshiped with six congregations so far--Presbyterian, Lutheran, Disciples of Christ, and nondenominational. I have been reading, reading, reading--about worship practices and the theology of how we worship God. I'm learning lots, and more importantly, having a "sabbath rest" from the daily routines. I'm grateful for this opportunity!
See you all in about five weeks!
Grace and Peace,
Linda
Saturday, July 15, 2006
On the Road Again
Dear Friends,
We are traveling again, after leaving Destin and our time with Doug's daughter, Talitha, and her two children, Ellen (12) and Jacob (6). The weather was hot down there, although we were told it was a lot cooler than July usually is on the Gulf. We had no rain (they need some down there), but hot and muggy every day. Destin is a lot different from most of our Atlantic beaches. They build things a lot closer to the beach, and the beaches are mostly not as wide as Atlantic beaches (at low tide anyway). I can see why destruction from storms is so awful. Even in Destin, there were some places where the sand foundation and some parking lots had been washed away last summer--this was only on the oceanfront, though. We did not travel any further west, so did not see any of the real problems. It's hard to see how there could be enough construction workers to do repairs in Mississippi and Louisiana, because I believe they are all working in Destin, building new hotels and condominiums!
Last Sunday, Doug and I worshiped with the folks at First Presbyterian Church in Destin. This congregation is full of "snowbirds," who live in Florida only during the winter months, so their attendance goes from about 50 in the summer to 170 in January-March! We enjoyed spending some time with their organist/choir director, worship committee chair, one choir member/guitar player, and their pastor, Stephen Yates. Stephen is learning to play the guitar, and he did a duet with his teacher.
I'm doing some catchup on photos I should have included last time.
Here are two of the worship leaders at the Montreat Music and Worship Conference.
Here is a photo of Doug, his son Jeremy, daughter-in-law, Tammie, and grandchildren J.T., Emily, and Lizzie at the Parthenon in Nashville.
We are in Fort Payne, Alabama, tonight, and hopefully will be home tomorrow. It has been a long three weeks away, and we'll be glad to get back to our own place, and see our kitties! Wherever we are, we think of you all fondly, and are anxious to share with you what we have learned in our conferences, our church visits--and I have been doing a lot of reading, too!
Grace and Peace,
Linda
We are traveling again, after leaving Destin and our time with Doug's daughter, Talitha, and her two children, Ellen (12) and Jacob (6). The weather was hot down there, although we were told it was a lot cooler than July usually is on the Gulf. We had no rain (they need some down there), but hot and muggy every day. Destin is a lot different from most of our Atlantic beaches. They build things a lot closer to the beach, and the beaches are mostly not as wide as Atlantic beaches (at low tide anyway). I can see why destruction from storms is so awful. Even in Destin, there were some places where the sand foundation and some parking lots had been washed away last summer--this was only on the oceanfront, though. We did not travel any further west, so did not see any of the real problems. It's hard to see how there could be enough construction workers to do repairs in Mississippi and Louisiana, because I believe they are all working in Destin, building new hotels and condominiums!
Last Sunday, Doug and I worshiped with the folks at First Presbyterian Church in Destin. This congregation is full of "snowbirds," who live in Florida only during the winter months, so their attendance goes from about 50 in the summer to 170 in January-March! We enjoyed spending some time with their organist/choir director, worship committee chair, one choir member/guitar player, and their pastor, Stephen Yates. Stephen is learning to play the guitar, and he did a duet with his teacher.
I'm doing some catchup on photos I should have included last time.
Here are two of the worship leaders at the Montreat Music and Worship Conference.
Here is a photo of Doug, his son Jeremy, daughter-in-law, Tammie, and grandchildren J.T., Emily, and Lizzie at the Parthenon in Nashville.
We are in Fort Payne, Alabama, tonight, and hopefully will be home tomorrow. It has been a long three weeks away, and we'll be glad to get back to our own place, and see our kitties! Wherever we are, we think of you all fondly, and are anxious to share with you what we have learned in our conferences, our church visits--and I have been doing a lot of reading, too!
Grace and Peace,
Linda
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Fireworks in Tennessee
Dear Friends,
We are now "dead center" in Tennessee, in the city of Murfreesboro. We traveled from Montreat on Monday, after a wonderful week of worship and study at the Worship and Music Conference sponsored by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. You can't imagine how it is to worship every day surrounded by more than one thousand church musicians! On Wednesday evening, two orchestral ensembles played "dueling combos" from two balconies on either side of Lake Susan. The final concert was given by an adult choir of over 500, two youth choirs of over 100 each, a children's choir of about 150, a brass ensemble, and a choir of 244 handbells! We ate at table every day with some folks from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Columbia, SC, who were charming. They presented us with a CD and DVD of their choir's performances, and we are invited to worship with them sometime.
Sunday I worshiped with the followers of Jesus at First Christian Church in Black Mountain, NC. It was good to get to know their pastor, Joe Friddle, and to renew acquaintance, providentially, with the Rev. Jan Linn, founder of "The Jesus Connection." The Session is reading one of his books over the summer, and considering implications for our congregation.
Last night we celebrated the Fourth with a barbecue and fireworks with Doug's son Jeremy, his wife, Tammi, their children (Jay, Emily, and Lizzie) and a group of their neighbors. There were fireworks going on all around us, and it was hard to know which way to look! Today it rained HARD all day, but tomorrow should be beautiful, and we are going to go to Nashville to see the Parthenon (bet you thought that was in Greece!) We will be off to Florida on Friday to see Doug's daughter Talitha and her family. It has been five years since we have visited with these two dear families, and we are so glad to be able to do that now.
We miss you all. Time goes quickly, though, and in less than two months we will be worshiping and working together again. I know that you are faithful in your care for each other and your devotion to God.
Grace and Peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Linda
We are now "dead center" in Tennessee, in the city of Murfreesboro. We traveled from Montreat on Monday, after a wonderful week of worship and study at the Worship and Music Conference sponsored by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. You can't imagine how it is to worship every day surrounded by more than one thousand church musicians! On Wednesday evening, two orchestral ensembles played "dueling combos" from two balconies on either side of Lake Susan. The final concert was given by an adult choir of over 500, two youth choirs of over 100 each, a children's choir of about 150, a brass ensemble, and a choir of 244 handbells! We ate at table every day with some folks from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Columbia, SC, who were charming. They presented us with a CD and DVD of their choir's performances, and we are invited to worship with them sometime.
Sunday I worshiped with the followers of Jesus at First Christian Church in Black Mountain, NC. It was good to get to know their pastor, Joe Friddle, and to renew acquaintance, providentially, with the Rev. Jan Linn, founder of "The Jesus Connection." The Session is reading one of his books over the summer, and considering implications for our congregation.
Last night we celebrated the Fourth with a barbecue and fireworks with Doug's son Jeremy, his wife, Tammi, their children (Jay, Emily, and Lizzie) and a group of their neighbors. There were fireworks going on all around us, and it was hard to know which way to look! Today it rained HARD all day, but tomorrow should be beautiful, and we are going to go to Nashville to see the Parthenon (bet you thought that was in Greece!) We will be off to Florida on Friday to see Doug's daughter Talitha and her family. It has been five years since we have visited with these two dear families, and we are so glad to be able to do that now.
We miss you all. Time goes quickly, though, and in less than two months we will be worshiping and working together again. I know that you are faithful in your care for each other and your devotion to God.
Grace and Peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Linda
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