That traditional Christmas tune

Big Frog is a consistent supporter of Heart of the Triad Music, because he's a constant supporter of me.  He's a keeper.  He doesn't sing with HTCS, though.  That's ok; we do need an audience as well.  I occasionally poke him about joining, and sometimes others say he's a good singer and does he sing with me?

And then sometimes...

me <listing out the high points of this season's repertoire>: We're doing 3 pieces from Handel's Messiah!  And the Christmas song from Mame!  And Ding Dong!
Big Frog: The witch is dead?
me: Yes.  That traditional Christmas tune.

Come sing with us!  We rehearse Thursdays at Main Street UMC.  And our winter concert is Friday December 14 at 7pm and Saturday December 15 at 3pm, at Sedge Garden UMC, Kernersville.

That Book Lady

Scene: I am cleaning up the kids' area of Bookmarks, a job which is not difficult but, like nearly everything involving kids, is never done.  I have given a book rec to a small girl, approx 4yo, who is courteous in her refusal of it; she wants to find her own new favorites.  Then...

4yo: Mom?  Hey Mom, that book lady...
<Mom freezes>
4yo: She smells nice.
Mom: <audible sigh of relief.  Clearly this is the kind of kid who could say literally anything and you just have to roll with it.>
me: Thank you.

I'll take it.  (It was my current favorite seasonal Bath & Body Works, Love and Sunshine.)

Crazy Rich Asians

Caveat: I, like my family before me, am not a Crazy Rich Asian, although we are indeed Crazy Asians.

A short, unspoilery review of Crazy Rich Asians -- I LOVED it.  Went to see it in the theaters on opening day.  And I go to the movies about once a year, usually waiting for the DVD not only to come out, but to come available at the library.  

I loved the glimpse into how the 1% wishes it could live.  I loved seeing the family dynamics.  I think Awkwafina's character might be me, but with vastly better shoes.  And I simply adore Constance Wu, and here I love her in ways I never could in Fresh off the Boat because that character is meant to be tiger mom instead of a strong, independent woman.  Even if she is a banana.  Like me. 

Most importantly, having the entire cast and crew be Asians... wow.  You simply can't understand how powerful representation is and how under-represented Asians are until the entire screen is filled with people who LOOK LIKE YOU.  Not too long ago I saw a book that put in the caveat that although it was printed in color, the characters were left uncolored so people of all backgrounds could see themselves in the story.  I tell you what, that means they show up in white.  

I gotta read the book!

Like Quincy!

What did you do today?  (You mean while we waited in the ER?)  We made AirBnB res for our Hawaii trip!   To stay on a sailboat!!   Like Quincy!!!  “I know your husband was just murdered, but… are you doing anything after?”

Lacking a coloring sheet, I was forced to draw.

So if there's one post to skip, this would be it.

 Our pastor having had a hip replaced this week, we have the great blessing of dipping into the surprisingly deep pastoral pool from within our own congregation.

This week we were in Jonah 3 & 4.  The plant part of the story, not the whale part.  Please note I drew Nineveh too.

Missions sermon art

Today's pastor was a Japanese national who had been ministering in Quebec and is now heading to Nice, France.  I greeted Pastor Satoshi with, "Konnichiwa; Bienvenue," to which he not totally surprisingly asked if I spoke either language.  I don't, but I'm something of a polyglot in terms of greetings and thank-yous.

Sermon coloring sheet today from Matthew 9.

Pentecost

Pentecost is one of those neat holidays that doesn't get enough recognition.  When I was in high school (and high school French), my pastor did a neat bit in morning service he called Pentecost Revisited.  His point was that Pentecost reversed the Tower of Babel, because at Babel the LORD scrambled language so that people couldn't understand each other because they were trying to be like God and build their own way to heaven, but at Pentecost, thru the power of the Holy Spirit, all the nations heard the disciples speaking in their own languages.  Why were all the nations in Jerusalem in Acts 2 anyways?  It was for the Feast of Weeks, aka Shavuot, a pilgrimage feast celebrating both the wheat harvest and the giving of the Law back in Moses' time.  You count with great anticipation seven sevens starting from the second day of Passover, which is 50 days, thus the pente- prefix to Pentecost.

So in this dramatic reenactment, we had about 10 people read out a verse, I think Revelation 7:9.  If that's the case, the verse is

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

But we didn't read it in NIV; we each had a language we'd grown up with or studied or were learning in school.  Even read each in turn, it was something of a babble. 

But Pentecost reverses that babble.  And we read together the successive verses in English together (Revelation 7:10 & 12):

Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.

Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!

---

All that as a leadin... I'm just happy sermon art continued beyond Easter for me to color with Sharpies, even if calligraphic illumination (in the monastic sense) verses didn't necessarily.