Sunday, October 14, 2012

Bad Beginning to a Good Day

I got up this morning and came into the kitchen to fix pb&j sandwiches for our lunch.  I had bought a new jar of peanut butter and some low sugar strawberry jam.  They were in a bag under the kitchen table with a few other items.  When I picked up the bag, the strawberry jam was missing.  I went into Daughter's bedroom and demanded to know where it was.  She ate the whole jar during the night. 

When we got to the church, I unlocked the office without turning off the alarm to the office.  Then I couldn't figure out how to turn off the alarm.  I called Administrative Assistant, who laughed at me, and told me how to turn it off before I even asked. 

The prayer class before worship went well.  Worship went well, though attendance was down a bit.  I think some people skipped worship and just came to the memorial service.  It's amazing to me who many people have told me how much they like this sermon series on the Lord's Prayer.  Next week will be the last sermon in the series.  Worship was over at 11:00, and the band for the memorial service started bringing instruments in at 11:15.  We'd told them they couldn't come before 11:30, but they don't listen well. 

The memorial service went very well.  There were over 240 people at the service.  The family was pleased.  I'm glad it's over.  The family continued to be a bit controlling, but we remained polite.  One of the members told me he'd lock up following the service, so I was able to come home a bit earlier.  Some other members had dropped Daughter off at her home. 

AA and I are looking forward to a quieter week.  Of course, the property guys have some projects they will be working on this week, and that always makes life interesting.  We're going to begin work on the newsletter this week.  AA knows she doesn't have jury duty this week, but she has two more weeks she is on call.  She has the bulletins for the next two Sundays ready for me.

This morning one of the men was talking about how the words of the last two hymns were perfect for the sermon.  He commented that the tune to the last hymn was familiar, but not the words.  I told him we hadn't liked the tune that the words were set to, so we had used the metrical index to find a tune we liked better.  He was amazed.  I told him it's easy, but he thinks we worked wonders.  AA thinks we should have let him think it was hard work.  For those of you who don't know, most hymns have there meter listed.  This particular hymn was 7.6.7.6.D.  That means there were 7 syllables in the first phrase, 6 in the second, and the D means it was double.  So 8 phrases that alternated 7 and 6 syllables.  Most hymnals  have a metrical index in the back, so we looked up 7.6.7.6.D and found a list of 7 or 8 tunes with the same meter.  We decided the second one worked well.  Most people have no idea the work that goes into putting the worship service together.  He was right, though, the words to the last two hymns were perfect.  When I first arrived, there were many who couldn't understand why I thought it was important that the hymns and such go with the sermon.  My response was I never heard anyone go out humming a sermon, and so I wanted the hymns to reinforce the message. 

I love my life, even when it is full to overflowing.   

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