RWC Community Chapel

Roberts is trying something new this year. We are having community chapels on Mondays. The goal is for faculty, staff and students to worship together, to get to know more people, to share our faith and to grow in spirit wrapped around the same themes. September's theme is "Renewing Your Life in God." Initially, I believe this began as a comment from students that they would like to see more faculty at chapel.

Today is the first day for our experiment. I enter Hale auditorium. The place is abuzz with excitement and awash with conversations. Seats are already filling with a good mixture of students and faculty and staff. Our speaker is Jack Connell, my professor of preaching. He is always thought provoking and engaging. We find our way down front to empty seats (there is always room down front!) and sit next to the Provost. Ads are running for campus events on the jumbo screen on stage. Students are climbing over the back of seats to get where they want to sit - usually next to someone they know.

And then we begin. It feels a bit odd to be part of the congregation singing, rather than on the platform leading, but that's OK. Helps me remember what it is like for congregation members. The Scripture is read dramatically, and Rev. Dr. Connell steps up. I am not disappointed. He tells stories, uses humor, admits his own humanity, and along the way opens our minds to ask ourselves questions about what is hiding deep inside that really ought not to be there. Don't look too close yet. Just get the idea. You are not as perfect as you think you might be. No matter who you are.

People drink it in from the balcony to the platform. What better way to build community than to take a journey together and along the way, to help each other and share our stories. I am hopeful that this initiative will become entrenched, become part of the Roberts culture, the expected thing to do. Not because you are required to attend a certain number of chapel services every semester, but because wild horses could not keep you away. Because the value of being there far outweighs the call of the mattress. For a change, let's just be in God's presence because it is a wonderful place to be.

Season's End

Today is the last Sunday I will attend church at Community of the Savior. Summer is drawing to a close (even though it does not officially end until well into September), and I will return to my position at the United Methodist Church. I have been sending out information about rehearsals starting and repertoire we will be working on. The pastor has sent a wonderful detailed list of hymns for the next 3 months of Sundays, along with his topics and focus.

What a wonderful assist and leg up in my planning! Now if I could just catch up with him! I have met with the accompanist and we are working on finding ways to make the hymns more inviting and engaging. While her piano style is amazing and gifted, it is nice to change things up a bit now and again. She has a number of students who also play other instruments who might be willing to play along from time to time.

Besides that, a few new people have expressed interest in singing in the choir and will be joining us this year, and some of the choir members who were battling illness last year are well enough to rejoin. It is a shot in the arm to know that the chairs will not only be full, but we will add a few! I work with the music librarian to identify anthems that are SAB or 2-part for those important first few pieces. While they still need to be on topic, I don't want to assign something overly challenging until we have had time to ease back into our work.

It feels good to look down the calendar and have a good idea what we will be doing when, and how to prepare for what is coming. I like to work at least 5 weeks out for service music, and seasonally, start preparing for Advent in August.

As I reflect about this preparation, I realize that not all my transitions come this gracefully. Sometimes I have to make a switch on a moment's notice with no time to prepare in advance. Sometimes you go into a new venture without the necessary tools at all. Even with the weather, some years the transitions are gradual and other years it just clunks from one season to the next overnight without warning.

I pray that for all the transitions of my life, I will appreciate having plenty of time to prepare, and for those times when I don't even see the change coming, the grace and sustenance of God.

Garage Sale

My brother and sister have been minding the garage sale for two days already. They are old hands at it. Much of what is laid out on tables and in bins and about the yard came from my parents' home. When my sister was preparing it for sale, there was so much to deal with that she just brought it home and tucked it in all her storage spaces - garage, basement, shed and even in her dining room. Sixty years of house-holding reduced to a few hundred boxes. My sister patiently made sure each item was clean, in working order, and properly tagged. Lots of work.

Truthfully, I am completely useless. My sister answers questions, negotiates, and takes the money. My brother helps take stuff to people's cars, then readjusts the merchandise. I sit. And no matter where I sit, I am in the way. Besides, I have to stay out of the sun, and there aren't many places out of the sun. I think I could go get lunch and contribute in that way, but my sister already has stuff in her fridge. Finally, as much as I had promised to help, and as much as I would like to be supportive, I give up. My sister is irritated with my non helpful presence, and I finally tell them I have a few errands to run and will be back at closing to help put stuff away.

I can see the relief on my sister's face. She does think I am incompetent and lazy. I'm not, but when she is micromanaging and nothing I could possibly do would be right, she leaves me no alternative. And I do have things I need to accomplish. So when she starts kavetching and complaining about all the work and how tired she is, I smile and sympathize. I know it doesn't have to be like that, but somehow she prefers it that way. Perhaps it makes her feel like she is needed - and we all do appreciate her efforts. Or it just keeps her busy so she doesn't have to think about Mom and Dad being gone.

Whatever the case, the garage sale was a good success. I congratulate her on a job well done, all the while realizing that there is so much stuff not sold that either she will be able to take a huge tax break from contributing it to Good Will, or her storage areas will be crammed for some time to come. I guess there are benefits to living in an apartment with no storage space.