Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Family,
“Everyone gets to be young once,” said the pretty card. Then I opened it and it said, “Your turn’s over.” I shouldn’t be laughing but for some reason, it’s one of those cards that keeps me chuckling.
Thanks for all the good birthday wishes you sent in one form or another. There certainly is nothing special about 74. Perhaps I’m surprised to have made it. However, Sunday evening, when my family gathered, my brother Pete announced that he planned to go to 100... retire at 70 and direct deposit Social Security. Pete and his wife Carolyn are very sensible eaters so they well may make 100. I doubt that the cream cheese cake which I made for our event is on his diet very often. All things considered, I suspect that if I don’t make 100, I’ll have a smile on my face as I check out.
As I said last week, the best present was getting back into the Main Sanctuary. Please put up with me and the ropes. I hope you’ll get the point. We pray better, we sing better, and maybe even have a better sense of each other when we do a little gathering. Someone remarked they didn’t like to be told where to sit. Remember, I didn’t tell you where to sit; I told you where not to sit: there’s a difference.
The one exception we made was to allow “Tennessee” under the ropes. He’s the yellow lab who is in training to be a service dog. He’s really a great dog, but the problem is when he’s got his service jacket on, we’re really not supposed to distract him. As I said at 11:00, when he finishes his training next year, then we will have a party and he can take off the service jacket and play with us. Congratulations to Robin and Patty Murray for the work they do in training service dogs. It’s quite a commitment.
Today you are signing up for the parish picnic in two weeks (Sunday August 30th.) The Parish Council is providing this event for us, and we’ll gather for a little food and friendship between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. We gather in the parish center where it is air-conditioned and ant-free. (Ah, the good old days of sweat and bites…)
The Council is providing the food so all we need is you. The sign-up today is to get an idea of how many will come. There is no charge, but if you want to put something in a basket we will welcome it. If you wish, bring a neighbor. Just make sure we get a count.
Speaking of the Parish grounds (more or less,) I don’t think I explained here what happened to the kids playhouse and the slide. It seems we have an inspection from our insurance writers and the inspector deemed our playground equipment to be a possible source of malfunction and for safety’s sake asked us to remove it. The kids and their parents who used it didn’t seem to be having any problems, but then what do they know?
I’m trying to find a way to replace it with something that will fulfill all the codes and rules and you -name-it guidelines for playgrounds. Remember when we could put a couple of ropes in the big tree and make a swing?
The foregoing, and other interesting events in our recent parish history, may offer one explanation of how 74 year-old Kennedy Democrats become right-wing anarchists.
Not to worry. The hot dogs at the Parish “Picnic” will be from Hebrew National, and they will be well inspected, subject as they are to a “Higher Authority.” Now all I need is a kosher playground!
Indeed, “my turn may be over…”
In Jesus,
