A Week Off

I had been planning to take a week of at some point this spring and go back to Indiana. I finally settled on Memorial Day week as the time to do it. I did take the week off, though going to Indiana didn’t end up happening. It was a really good week, nonetheless, and I’m glad I took a little time off to recharge the proverbial batteries. Here’s a little run down of the week.

MEMORIAL DAY
This was the first Memorial Day weekend I have spent away from the good ole Hoosier state with all its Indy 500 madness. There were lots of people in church here, unlike in Indiana where everybody takes a Sunday off on “race day.” We celebrated the day by going to a picnic at Susan’s house on Monday evening, where her son Kyle, who recently suffered the injustice of not being hired by multiple Kroger stores because he is only 15, entertained us by giving us a real behind-the-scenes look at NEP.

THE WEST WING
My primary goal for the week was to watch as many episodes from season 2 of The West Wing as possible. I think I made it through nine of them and saw some of my favorites, like “In This White House” where the delegation from Africa comes and discusses AIDS medication with US pharmaceutical companies, and “Shibboleth,” a great Thanksgiving episode that focuses on a group of Chinese refugees who arrive in the US to flee religious persecution, while parallels are made with the Mayflower pilgrims. The West Wing was my favorite show, and is actually one of the main reasons I ended up majoring in political science. One day my mom said, “You like watching the West Wing, why don’t you study politics?” And so that’s what I did.

"WOOT CANAW"
One episode of The West Wing that I didn’t get around to watching is the one where C.J. has to get the emergency root canal and can’t do the press briefings because she can’t pronounce anything correctly. I did have my own experience in the dentist’s chair this week. I actually had something called a pulpal debridement, which is the first step in a full root canal. I had been experiencing some tooth pain (enough that I didn’t sleep at all one night a few weeks ago and had to miss work), and went to see a dentist that Fred from work (a retired dentist) set me up with. This Wednesday’s procedure was actually very enjoyable, with no pain whatsoever either during or after. It was my first experience with nitrous oxide, which made things fun. I just remember, all while these two people were digging around in my mouth drilling and probably doing horrible things, hearing the TV that was on and they kept playing this commercial for Cirque de Soliel’s “Delirium” show that is coming to Nashville. At the end of it they would say “coming to the Gaylord Entertainment Center” and I would just keep saying in my head, “it’s the Sommet Center now! It’s the Sommet Center!”

AIN'T NO SMOGGY SMOKE ON ROCKY TOP?
Part of the week in Nashville included a lot of thick haze and a bad smell. It turned out there were some wildfires burning in South Georgia, and the smoke was drifting up here. It smelled very plainly like smoke and it was even hard to make out the downtown skyline from fairly close on Wednesday morning. Things eventually cleared up a bit, even though it’s just been plain old hazy like summer time.

VEV VISITOR
One of the best parts of the week was a visit from Rev. Jim Ellison from the Volunteers Exploring Vocation program of the Fund for Theological Education and the Lilly Foundation. He came to find out as much as he could about the NEP program. VEV works with ten different denominational volunteer programs (Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Mennonites, Jesuits, etc.). He had several meetings with people involved in NEP, and he toured each of our sites. On Thursday evening he took the four of us out to dinner at Bricktops, a nice place on West End. It was great to have a chance to think about the program we were in and do some reflection with him, since it is so easy to get bogged down in everyday life.

POV CPM @ LPTS
On Friday morning, after a meeting to plan our NEP worship service (which is on June 24 for those who are interested), I headed up I-65 to Louisville, where the Presbytery of Ohio Valley’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry was awaiting me for my annual consultation with them. I got there, got checked into my room at Laws Lodge at Louisville Seminary, and headed downstairs to wait my turn to meet with them. The meeting went very well and the committee seemed excited about the direction I am taking and about the experiences I have had this year. They took us to dinner, after which we went back to the seminary for a time with Mark Tammen, the PCUSA’s Director of Constitutional Services from the Office of the General Assembly. He talked to us about the inquirer-candidate-ordination process and also the implications of the Peace-Unity-Purity actions by the most recent General Assembly, which are actually very minimal. After that, we were led by Martha Friz-Langer in lectio divina, followed by a simple communion service in the lodge lobby. I then enjoyed a night in a queen sized bed.

NERVOUS CHARLIE'S
There are so many interesting things between Louisville and Nashville. The three hour drive is shortened by the anticipation of such fantastic things as seeing the signs for the various tourist attractions in Kentucky such as Kentucky Dinosaur World, where life-sized dinosaur replicas roam the hills of Western Kentucky. There are the numerous billboards reminding me to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and that “Hell is HOT.” I was glad that there was one with the Ten Commandments listed, because I was planning to break some of them and seeing them listed in 2-foot tall letters along I-65 stopped me from leading a life of sin. Just north of Nashville there are many signs for “Nervous Charlie’s: Fireworks, Gas and Beer.” I can understand why Charlie would be so nervous with that combo.

SECOND LIFE CELEBRATION
My week off will end in a big way tomorrow with the day-long dedication festivities for Second Presbyterian’s new facilities. The fancy bulletins are ready, dinner for 400 is being prepared, the grass has been cut, the Juget-Sinclair guys have returned from Montreal to put some finishing touches on the organ, and I’ve about got my pieces ready to play for the dedication recital. It should be a red-letter day for the church, as it ends a nearly four-year long process of recovery and rebuilding from the September 2003 fire.