chrysanthemum

A pleasure: sight-reading alto on Sunday's closing hymn with tenor melody on my left and tenor harmony on my right.

An ekphrastic poem that really works: at poems.com, J. Allyn Rosser writes about Judith Bearing the Head of Holofernes. [Here's the Palma il Vecchio painting that gets mentioned.]

Another pleasure: taking a peek at John Marin's paintings, such as City Movement and Sunset. I'd never heard of him until Saturday -- his face in an Irving Penn catalog made me curious.

A joy: my church has a lifetime achievement-type award it very occasionally gives to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the congregation, the community (in the name of the church), and the denomination. (We have many people who are strong in two of the areas; across all three is rare.) This year it was given to Ralph J. Cazort, whose 50th anniversary as a member of the church will be this spring. Dr. Cazort's accomplishments include serving as president of the congregation during the 1960s and as dean of Meharry Medical College... and posting bail for church members jailed for participating in civil rights protests.

Ralph provided one of the "testimonials" for the church's stewardship campaign two years ago. It began as follows:

In the early years of our marriage, Jean and I were happily un-churched. We had long and lazy Sunday mornings and liked it that way. One day a friend, himself a new Unitarian, suggested that we visit his church, which we did. And that is when "long-and-lazy" Sunday mornings gave way to "up-and-out" Sunday mornings: there were children to get to church school, and we certainly did not want to miss any of Bob Palmer's circuitous sermons.

Time passed. The children grew up, left home, and we reverted to long-and lazy Sunday mornings. But that has not changed our enthusiasm or commitment to the church.Unitarian tenets of faith expressed our own tenuous beliefs exactly. The phrase, "salvation by character," which we heard so often, became a guiding principle.

A sorrow: another congregant suffered a brain aneurysm last week and is now in hospice.

A romp: just read Vicki Lewis Thompson's Talk Nerdy to Me in one sitting.

A reason I love the 21st century: I can pick up a bag of frozen potstickers on my way home without going out of my way.

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2008-01-28 6:04 PM A list Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (0) Share on Facebook	A pleasure: sight-reading alto on Sunday's closing hymn with tenor melody on my left and tenor harmony on my right. An ekphrastic poem that really works: at poems.com, J. Allyn Rosser writes about Judith Bearing the Head of Holofernes. [Here's the Palma il Vecchio painting that gets mentioned.] Another pleasure: taking a peek at John Marin's paintings, such as City Movement and Sunset. I'd never heard of him until Saturday -- his face in an Irving Penn catalog made me curious. A joy: my church has a lifetime achievement-type award it very occasionally gives to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the congregation, the community (in the name of the church), and the denomination. (We have many people who are strong in two of the areas; across all three is rare.) This year it was given to Ralph J. Cazort, whose 50th anniversary as a member of the church will be this spring. Dr. Cazort's accomplishments include serving as president of the congregation during the 1960s and as dean of Meharry Medical College... and posting bail for church members jailed for participating in civil rights protests. Ralph provided one of the "testimonials" for the church's stewardship campaign two years ago. It began as follows: In the early years of our marriage, Jean and I were happily un-churched. We had long and lazy Sunday mornings and liked it that way. One day a friend, himself a new Unitarian, suggested that we visit his church, which we did. And that is when "long-and-lazy" Sunday mornings gave way to "up-and-out" Sunday mornings: there were children to get to church school, and we certainly did not want to miss any of Bob Palmer's circuitous sermons. Time passed. The children grew up, left home, and we reverted to long-and lazy Sunday mornings. But that has not changed our enthusiasm or commitment to the church.Unitarian tenets of faith expressed our own tenuous beliefs exactly. The phrase, "salvation by character," which we heard so often, became a guiding principle. A sorrow: another congregant suffered a brain aneurysm last week and is now in hospice. A romp: just read Vicki Lewis Thompson's Talk Nerdy to Me in one sitting. A reason I love the 21st century: I can pick up a bag of frozen potstickers on my way home without going out of my way. Read/Post Comments (0) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top
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