groovin' on a sunday afternoon...

We had a sweet day in worship: our new guest organist - a young player from Oberlin - was rockin' and bold, my wife sat in for our liturgist who has experiencing water damage problem in his basement from all the damn rain and one of my dearest friends and colleagues, Amy, was with us from Illinois. We even got to put together a great little "sacred harp" group for today's special music. It was a sweet way to celebrate God's grace and I was groovin' like the song says...

Last night, Amy and I went out for drinks. We'd worked together for nearly three years back in Tucson and it was one of those magic times that come rarely: great love and respect at church, the ability to bring out the creative best in one another and a drive to spread a radically new sense of Christ's grace and hospitality to people who had been shut out of the church for too long. We laughed and wept and worked harder than I ever worked before. And beyond a doubt, those were among my most cherished times in ministry.

She and her family were in town to visit family - can you believe it but her sister-in-law sings in my church band! Talk about a small world... she's singing the lead in this version of Coldplay's, "Viva La Vida."

After worship - and then a Sabbath nap with the rain returning and our thoughts turning towards Canada - it is clear that vacation time was finally here: a time for rest and renewal, a time for reflection and exploration, a time for fun and love and lots of surprises. Which brought to mind this little treasure that came my way last night from my man, Bobby McFerrin, who documents the universality of the pentatonic scale...

Isn't that incredible? God's presence is everywhere if you have the ears to hear and the eyes to see. Now on to Montreal...\