Is Jesus Christ her Lord.

Period.

I realize that I've had a hard time blogging about the actual work of the commissioners this week. In fact I just now remarked to St Casserole to that effect.

We are both in our jammies, packing up our suitcases, watching bad cable TV, reading blogs and reviewing the week.

Some wonderful and wondrous things have happened this week. Most of them, for me, have not been about the work of the General Assembly.

I got to watch a composed young woman speak out in front of hundreds of seasoned adults. She then immediately went back to where her father sat, and I saw them hug. I watched him talking to her, and could tell by their body language that he was showering her with words of affection and paternal pride. It was a wonderful moment to witness.

I met a someone new, a woman pastor who used to be a friend of a friend, but now is someone I want to get to know. We made a pledge to keep in touch.

I got to reconnect with some old friends from seminary--some of them I had not seen in four years.

I got to worship with hundreds of other Presbyterians, and share the Lord's Table with them. Awesome in the true sense of the word.

I got to pray and sing with those same brothers and sisters in Christ, too.

I ate some excellent food: Salmon with crab, grilled striped bass, fried green tomatoes, grits, greens, crabcakes, and tonight a perfectly sublime shrimp and avacado salad with remoulade, and for dessert the best creme caramel ever. (Um...no. These particular meals were not served at GA.)

I got to get to know some of the minister members of my Presbytery in a new way, away from our usual context.

I got to see a great friend, and talk face-to-face. E-mail is convenient, but once in a while, in-person is good, too.

I got to worship at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and feel the vibrant presence of the Holy Spirit in that beautiful historic building.

I got to have a conversation with someone I have wanted to thank for a couple of years--someone who believed in me and helped me to rise above an awful situation that I could not see the way out of at the time. Sometimes we just need to let people know that the things they have done have made a difference.

But most of all I have spent this lovely week with our dear St Casserole, and some moments of it with NotShyChiRev. What lovely friendships have come out of our little experiment! St Casserole and I have laughed, cried, observed, pondered, evaluated, and given out fashion advice. (Okay, that last one we did secretly.) She is a treasure, an unexpected blessing in my life.

All in all, a pretty good week, I'd say.