General Catchy-up-ness

Yeah, so I haven't been so much with the typing this week, have I? Except for my whingey-spew last night. Well, I'm done with that.

So the last time I posted with any substance was...last Thursday? Jeez-o-Pete. Okay. Friday I hung out at Tim and Ray's, and we probably watched Tim play Grand Theft Auto and laughed a lot. Then there was sleeping, and work on Saturday, during which time I did something I'm sure, and then, uh. Saturday night which I don't remember at all.

Sunday I barely scraped myself out of bed to go to church. Oh, yeah! Saturday night we went grocery shopping late, and then were too hungry to cook, so we drove a half hour to Boulder to go to the IHoP (it made sense at the time, I swear), where we ate a lovely meal briefly interrupted by a bunch of guys in glittery lizard suits. I eventually wandered over to ask what that was about (odd to be the ask-er, instead of the ask-ee) and they said they were kineticists. I contemplated retreating at this point with what information I had (the glittery lizard suits included inflatable tubes atop their hats, which, well, let's just say the were very happy to answer my question, or so they claimed and demonstrated) but persisted, eventually finding out it was about a race. With human-powered vehicles. Over land, water, and the occasional mud pit. More to be found here and here. At which point I did retreat.

So we get out of the IHoP at one, thence home at about one-thirty, thence to discover that I've left my purse in the restaurant. Wouldn't have cared so much except that I was taking care of Dwen's dog Inga, and I needed my keys to get into her apartment. So, bless them, Tim and Ray put me back in the car and drove me back to IHoP and I think I got to bed at about three.

So. Up and found clothing and off to church. Much more comfortable with it this time. I sat in the center of the congregation and felt very included. A lot of people said hi and thanked me for coming back.

The priest wasn't the same guy as last week, which I did feel a little uncomfortable with -- not that I was worried about him in particular; I just tend to cling to the familiar when I'm in an unusual place. He gave one of the best sermons I've ever heard, though, and when I talked to him afterwards he was really nice.

He did the lamb sermon, which I know a lot of people on RevGalBlogPals were planning to avoid like anything. But he started out with a time he was in Guatemala on mission, and most of his group went on to the next village but he stayed behind to help a couple with wedding planning, and when it came time to catch up with the rest they offered him a horse and a guide, and he accepted the first but turned down the second...

Any sermon which includes the phrase 'never do this' is one I'm gonna like.

So as you've probably already guessed it didn't go well. He didn't get lost; the horse just made a big circle and came right back to the village. But that was his segue into 'sometimes you need a guide; no, really'.

It turned into 'standard lamb sermon #5.3' for a bit there and I'm afraid I zoned out. But he got me back when he said that, really, most people these days don't have a lot of experience with sheep. If Jesus had come now, he proposed, He might have used a different way of explaining things altogether. At this point the priest pulled a baggie out of his pocket, crouched down, and made c'mere noises, and up the aisle came bouncing the Most Adorable Tiny White Fluffy Poodle Evar. And my brain melted.

I did pay enough attention to catch the rest of the sermon and it made a lot of sense. Training and taking care of a dog is, I suppose, a pretty good parallel to the good ol' sheep-shepherd thing. And I certainly know dogs better than sheep.

And then there was communion. I went up for it this time. It was nice and a little odd, not familiar but still somehow comfortable. Actual unleavened bread as opposed to squooshed-flat dry cracker, real wine instead of grape juice. And it felt...sort of quietly real. Not the great transformative experience I've always wanted but as someone pointed out to me recently, sometimes those don't happen because we're not ready for them. God doesn't want to break us, after all. And I appreciate not being broken.

Sat back down and had a good pray until communion was done. Sort of floated through the rest of mass, talked to the priest afterwards and admired his woven-in-Guatemala stole. Then got me a good puppy-fix with the poodle.

The rest of the day was supposed to be gardening and putting up the new tent Tim and Ray got at the Salvation Army. Well, we entirely failed in both; I passed out on the couch at their place and in fact basically kicked Tim off so he couldn't play Grand Theft Auto. For which I later apologized.

Ray made dinner (nearly all by himself!) and that was it for the day. More catchy-up later, I suppose; and more thoughtful posts to come as well. Just been a bit with the babbling yesterday and today...