If you want to hear the story behind my nickname of “Lepicat”, let me know in the comments section and if enough people ask, maybe I’ll post it. 🙂

The past few days have seen me baking bread, making lasagna portions to freeze (it’s cheaper than frozen dinners and much healthier), making fruit salad, and doing other miscellaneous things around the kitchen. We got a new blender after our old one (which someone had given to us because they didn’t want to take it when they moved) started smoking while blending my chai shake on Tuesday, so I’ve been having fun with it.

I also finished a lap throw/afghan last night that had been sitting in my crocheting/mending pile for 6 months because my wrists were so worn out from working on it. (Note to self: two-ply afghans are just as bad as three-ply ones and can cause major “carpal afghan syndrome”.) I decided to just finish the row of double crocheting around the edges to make it look pretty and it only took me 45 minutes to finish. I washed it (mostly to get the cat fur off since my cats have both nap-tested it numerous times) and I put it in my big black suitcase to give to Mom when I head to the Promised Land in two weeks. (Well… the icky deserty land surrounding the Promised Land — can you tell that I hate L.A.?)

My next project: squares for a patch work afghan. I’m hopefully going to have it done by Christmas though I think it will be finished when it’s finished.

I’ll blog on a news article I found later when I’m a little less tired (i.e. when I won’t get ultra-reactive).

The comments to my last post on worship were really what I was going to address in this one so I’ll address them one-by-one. The comments are bolded and my commentary is regular text.

Lone Aggie writes:

Due to people being people you can never make everyone happy, but that is also how people grow… usually being exposed to new ideas. Our church has transitioned to a fairly non-traditional worship, and we have an alternative worship for young couples on another night.

I know that you can never make everyone happy but… you also have to do what the majority asks for. In this case, the majority is pretty happy with the status quo. They had a contemporary worship service years ago but it wasn’t successful.

I would vote for an alternative service on a different night… if we had the resources (i.e. another pastor) to do it. Bill is already running in about 50 directions during the week. The other problem is that this creates cliques within the church and that’s not healthy for growth.

Worship is one of the most criticized parts of any church, and that’s something I’ve never really understood. People will tolerate horrible preaching, but get upset if the right hyms aren’t sung.

The reason it is so criticized is that it is usually the one interaction people have with the church. The church might have Bible studies, but those are not usually as well attended as the Sunday church service. A church’s worship is also its means of evangelism, which means that it’s a pretty important thing in the life of said church. Good worship combines preaching, music, and prayer and there should be a balance. My church sings much of its liturgy and badly sung liturgy can really destroy the balance as well.

I think the reason people tolerate such horrible preaching at times (and believe me, there have been times when I have been tempted to get up and leave because the preaching has been so horrific — and this was the former dean of the chapel at my seminary) is because preaching might be instructional, but music moves our spirits on a level that preaching doesn’t. Music works on two levels: the words which can be a form of edification and the actual music which appeals to our aesthetic sensibilities. If one is off, it ruins whatever effect the other might have.

Rick writes:

Your points as pros and cons are usually true of *both* styles of service. I hate the label “contemporary” when it’s usually just an uptempo version of “traditional”. What’s needed is depth and meaning in worship, a re-training for all of us. These labels get us into a consumerist I-want-it-my-way thing that detracts from the real purpose of the thing – honor and praise to God.

The “I-want-it-my-way” attitude really irritates me because church should not be like a rock concert — you are not going there to be entertained. You are there to worship God. This is why I hate the whole mega-church movement: in their desire to up their membership, they’ve missed the point of church. I understand the need for people to gather outside of church for fellowship but adding a McDonalds and a gym is not appropriate.

One of the reasons I am such a liturgy fiend is that liturgical worship is sensual worship:

(list borrowed from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Prayer by Mark Galli and James Bell Jr.)

The fact that it is sensual (in that it appeals to 4 our ot 5 of my senses as I am *VERY* allergic to incense) actually helps me focus and experiencing all of these things actually puts my mind on God. Singing the liturgy is something I love doing and something I miss about not getting to go to Morning Prayer daily. Worship isn’t about what you get — it’s about giving to God.

OK… I have one of my tiger cubs (the bengal one) rebuking me and telling me to go to bed (it’s only 10:45 pm!) and the other one (the siberian one) chewing on my hand. Methinks it is time to get off and give them some attention. Part III will be up within 48 hours and will probably focus on how I acquired my preferences. Comments are *always* welcome.

We talked to our mechanic and they can’t seem to figure out what’s up with Sable. Their diagnostic guy works on Volvos and thinks it’s the fuel pump under the gas tank, so they’re going to drop the fuel tank and see if they can replace it. Bottom line: we’ll probably have Sable back on Monday and repairs are going to be an arm and a leg. I miss driving and I miss Sable, so it’s worth the cost.

My friend Jill called to thank me for proofing her sermon for her and I told her about our predicament. So… she came and got us in Newark and drove us to Columbus and taught Jon how to drive her spare car (Toyota Corolla with a manual transmission). Her car runs well — Jon is just having to get used to driving a stick shift. It was really scary yesterday when she stalled on 270 while getting on 70 to go home. Then… we stalled on the onramp getting on 37 to get home and kept going backward down the ramp. We finally got up the hill and into the turn but Jon isn’t sure how he did it. One of the nice things about Ohio being relatively flat: very few major hills. I don’t think Jon could be doing this if we lived in San Francisco.

So… we have wheels this weekend — and for $70-200 less than it would be otherwise.

It’s 0100 here at Casa K-M and I can’t sleep. Therefore, I’m blogging some things out to clear my mind.

Operation Change Pat Robertson
This was inspired by Rick. Basically, I think that Pat Robertson’s 21-day prayer offensive against the Supreme Court is a bit on the LAME side, so I think we should have “Operation Change Pat Robertson”, which would be a 21-day prayer offensive to change Pat Robertson and make him a compassionate human being instead of someone who needs to be cured of “foot-in-mouth” disease. I’ll make the site if anyone wants to make me a pretty graphic or two.

Unexpected Thank You Note
I got a thank you note in the mail today from the people whose car I dented two weeks ago. Apparently, they were very touched by the fact that I left a note with my contact information so that if there was damage, it could be easily fixed. They praise my “[having] a conscience” and being “mature and responsible”. Ummm thanks… but really I was just covering my butt legally because if I hadn’t left a note, it would be hit and run. Still… I was very surprised to get the note and I am thankful that the people whose car I dented were so gracious. (They actually ended up with a better car than they started with — the body shop even fixed some stuff that dated before me hitting them.)

Car Problems
Sable (our Volvo) has been in the shop for the last few days. They haven’t had a chance to look at her until tonight and the consensus is that it’s probably a bad fuel pump. Please lift some prayer/good karma/pleasant thoughts our way because we’d really like to have her back. I miss driving and it’s also cut into our mobility and freedom a bit. If we can’t have her back by Monday, we’ll have to rent a car because Jon is on call for 3 pastors next week and *needs* wheels.

I am currently being rebuked by my killer attack lemur, so heigh ho heigh ho it’s off to bed I go! *whistles the rest*

On Saturday evening, we were driving to the store after church and Sable (our ’84 Volvo 240 GL) started sputtering. We made it about another 50 feet before she died… in the middle of the street in heavy traffic. As soon as traffic cleared, I jumped out and ran down the street trying to find somoene who was home. A couple was and they stopped traffic in the lane closest to the curb and helped us coast into their driveway. We called AAA and were able to get a tow truck. They towed us to our mechanic and I dropped the keys off there this morning. (It’s a block and a half from where we live.) We’re hoping to have Sable back by Friday — otherwise, we’ll have to rent a car or something because Jon’s in charge at church next week and we have to be able to get around. I’m not incredibly worried but I’d like reliable transportation again.

Mass in Nature’s Cathedral
On Sunday morning, Bill picked us up and I did my morning surfing and devotions during the 8:00 service. After the service, we packed up everything we’d need to celebrate Communion and have the church service at Flory Park and went over there. I’d written out the prayers the night before and Jon had used them in the 8:00 service, so all I really had to do for prep was print out the readings. We went through the skit for the Gospel with the kids and got the mics adjusted and started the service. It went well other than Jon’s guitar continually going out of tune. Afterward, we had our church picnic and I saw the nice rock on the finger of one of our college people. (She and her fiancé got engaged on the 4th of July.) They’re pretty much the only people in the church my age and it was fun hanging out with them. I also got to know one of the teenagers in the congregation and her mom and I have a feeling that our stock just went up because R is the kind of person that I would have hung out with in college and it was probably good to have people who understood as pastors for her.

I got bills paid (without crying or having to dip into savings) today and I also got the lawn mowed. Right now, my office assistant is demanding attention, so off I go to scratch a kitty belly.

Wonderful/Magnificent/Awesome Thing That Happened Today: My father-in-law had offered to help us out with the $3000 in medical bills that have mounted this year. I thought that he might help us with a payment or two. Yeah… he paid off 3 of our creditors in full and paid 1/4 of one of the other bills. All that’s left are the two that we are contesting with the insurance company.

Thing That Is Icing on the Coffee Cup Cake: Finding out that Blair Hornstine’s offer of admission to Harvard has been rescinded. There is justice in the world. Now… let’s hope she loses her frivilous lawsuits and has to pay court costs for the school district. Oh yes… her valedictorian victory was even lamer because she didn’t even show up to give the friggin’ speech that she sued to have. (Thanks to my favorite right-wing fundamentialist Mac for the news. *sighs* The guy prays for my immortal soul and sends me wonderful news briefs. If only he was a liberal…)