Random Updates

[kayre]

Aches and pains are gradually diminishing. The finger wound is slightly infected, which worries me with a wedding and church to play this weekend, so feel free to send healing thoughts my direction!

The wedding rehearsal tonight was rather fun. The singer is as good as I expected from talking to him, but takes HUGE liberties with rhythm, so accompanying is a bit of a challenge. It’s my first wedding with the new pastor; I’m relieved to find that he runs a rehearsal quickly and efficiently.

I got to know all four of our “upstairs girls” at tutoring on Thursday. We were planning on doing most work in a group, but there are emotional and academic reasons why that’s not going to work well. Antionette is far behind the other three in reading; she has worked with Sharon for three years so they’ll pair off a lot. Neffeterra is clearly a very unhappy child, and it’s resulting in lots of acting out-- refusing to cooperate with the other children, fighting, etc. I’d love to work with her, but I’m not sure enough of my ability to get through to her-- so I’ll be working with the other two girls, Whisper and Mariah.

Sunday morning before church an older friend thanked me in advance for “being the kind of organist who won’t let ‘Sweet Hour of Prayer’ start slow and then drag slower and slower until it’s a dirge.” Uh-huh.

Quite a few folk at church have gotten involved in a raging debate over whether the American flag should be displayed in the sanctuary. Technically that decision is entirely the pastor’s, and he doesn’t want it there, but he’s understandably reluctant to wield that authority. Several of the older veterans will accept no compromise-- the flag MUST be displayed in the front of the sanctuary, not the back, not the narthex (despite the fact that there’s a flag outside one entrance!). They are demanding a congregational vote-- NOT an appropriate approach in a Methodist church. It is frightening and dismaying to see how incredibly important this has become to some folk. My guess is that one couple will leave the church, and the rest will accept one of the compromises the pastor has offered. What a mess for a new pastor to have to deal with.