3 minutes a game

[gurdonark]

We decided today to try a new church, as neither of the U/U churches in our area quite "hold" us. So we went to Suncreek United Methodist Church, which is not five minutes from our home. I was raised Methodist, so it's a very familiar place to me. We were very happy with this church, which suggests to me that we may well join it. The church/dating metaphor is amusing. One feels a chemistry with a particular group of folks. It's not what they say, or even, really, how nicely they treat you. It's some sort of sacred pheronomes. I can't quite say we have a crush on this church, but I can tell already there is a possibility for a long-term relationship.

After church, we went to the wonderful Persian restaurant at Alma and McDermott. The staff is always so nice to us there, and the food is always good. I had a sort of lamb shank in vegetable stew. It was tasty, but next time I'll have my usual two skewers of kebab on a bed of rice instead.

Our favorite waitperson told us she is three semesters from an industrial engineering degree. I remember being three semesters from a law degree, with the future beckoning ahead. In May that will be 20 years ago. I see corporate CEOs in the news who are younger than I am. My baby sister will be 40 this year. It's funny how time passes.

The weather went from 60 degrees yesterday to 40 degrees today. We bundled up in warm clothing and took an hour's walk down the Twin Creeks Trail, very close to our home. A pair of mallard ducks were in Glendover Pond, as well as a stray duck whose species is unknown to me. Nobody was on the trail, other than the one jogger who entered as we left.

I played on-line chess with mixed results. I can drop pieces like a beginner in one game, and then pull off a really stunning mating combination against a stronger player in another game. Of course, this is partly a function of playing at 3 minutes/game time controls, in which all chess is approximate, or, in the modern parlance, fuzzy.

I read some nice poetry by LJ folks. I've found that LJ is my own personal daily poetry review, refreshing itself daily for my viewing pleasure. It's funny how some days are the perfect days to read poetry, and some days are the perfect days to scroll right by. I have at least 7 hobby things to accomplish before I take on any "new goals", but I have a long range goal of getting a poetry reading group started in the Collin County area. I have this theory, you see, that words, like Confederate money, have little worth of themselves, but instead make for the most delightful conversation. But first I have too many long-delayed projects to complete.

I'm disappointed that sandstar deleted. I hope she comes back soon. My theory is that the dead of Winter and the dead of Summer are deletion times, while Spring and Fall are times when more journals are created. I wonder what the true facts are.

Next Saturday is my chess tournament. In three Saturdays, my Arkansas nephews come for a fishing weekend. In the meantime, work beckons, Things keep marching on.

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

sacred pheromones! you know, i think you're exactly right. sometimes a church would *appear* to be just the place, but it's not. i hope you continue to enjoy this new church, even after the first blush of infatuation cools down. :)

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did think about the way that a first date can be so full of promise, but not meet the need in the long run. That's why I think we'll go a few more times before we join. I'm reminded, though, of the Episcopalian in my small town who attended our Methodist Church for want of a local Episcopal Church, but never joined in some 40 years. I will shrink, though, from the "people you, ah, date, ,and people you marry" metaphor.

Methodism

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

I once asked Dean James Pain of Drew's
Grad School why he had added Methodist
ordination to the Anglican ordination he
never renounced(he also has a Russian cassock
and his most important publication was the
Bulgakov anthology) ...he said 'because
Wesley added Holiness to the 39 Articles'...
I do not know how common this perspective
is in the UMC, but it goes to a core of
the thing doesn't it? Certainly in Jim and
others I have known at Drew (I think of
Michael Christiansen who also has double
ordination, this time Methodist and Nazarene,
and directs the ministry program for one...)
it is alive today...and perhaps in some
way may be what you felt?
+Seraphim.

Re: Methodism

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

The notion that Methodism had its roots in a seeking of a holiness is part of its historical view, I believe. Of course, the Wesleyans go a step further, and then themselves feel the complacency of Methodism in the way that Wesley sought to make the Anglican Church less complacent.

For me, it's simpler. I like the church because I was raised in it and am familiar with it. I switched to the Unitarian Universalist Church because I like the idea of a creedless church. But now I am considering switching back.

[robertstheology.livejournal.com]

I named Carolynne and I's first child "Wesley", after the famous Methodist. I loved the thought of him riding the English countryside on horseback to proclaim the gospel.

Good luck on your chess!