Just Don’t Call Me “Reverend”!

It’s taken a very long time to reach this point, but at long last, I was ordained yesterday as a pastor (the technical term is “teaching elder”) in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

I was just remarking to Brandon last night, it seems like you really have to be a little crazy to want to become a pastor. In fact, I’m pretty sure that every single pastor I know is at least a little bit crazy. Yes, every single one. But then again, probably every person I know, period, is a little crazy. Still, it’s a nutty sort of job. One’s primary responsibility is loving God and loving people. And really, what the heck kind of a job description is that? It’s nebulous, it can’t be quantified, you’re never going to be able to do it perfectly, and it’s just plain difficult.

But it’s exactly what I want to do. So I have now joined the ranks of those both determined and crazy enough to spend years in study and submit to all the many other requirements of the denomination to be ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

I will say, I am not filled with glee, in the that way I am, for example, upon seeing the people I love, or while contemplating a beautiful work of art, or recalling happy memories—but I feel a kind of completeness—I have a sense that I “fit” better into something (hard to say what, exactly). It’s just a sense of rightness filling me. I am happy in a deep, soul-pervading kind of way.

The only irritating thing is that find it theologically inappropriate that pastors are addressed as “reverend”—as if they were holier than other folks. Of course that’s not right at all. So now I’m going to have to tell people all the time—please—don’t call me “reverend.” Unless, as Brandon points out, it's meant ironically!

Yoshitoshi

 

Several weeks ago, walking by the Asian art museum near our apartment, I stopped short and stared for a moment, being quite taken with the image on their advertisement, a man playing a flute on a windy night. Being a forgetful sort, I only just barely made it to see the special exhibition before it moved on. The artist is Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, woodblock printer of the late 19th century. A few favorites (click on the images to view larger size):

This one may go up on my wall: it's a monk doing penance under a waterfall. The story is that he stays in so long, he falls unconscious and those fantastic figures watching on the side have to fish him out.

 

Here is the full triptych of the flue player--the guy behind him is an assassin. He decides not to murder the flute playing aristocrat because he is so enchanted by the music. This one is definitely going to hang in my office.

 

And this one I did not see at the museum (sadly)--but I discovered it on the internet--found it quite charming/amusing. 

List of Fantasies (from myself at 15)

Preparing to move, I've been trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible. Going through old papers, I found this list I made at age 15 of all the jobs I'd ever fantasized about having. I spent a lot of my childhood daydreaming, as you can see:

- police officer
- architect
- veterinarian
- mechanic
- cartoonist
- astronaut
- lawyer
- housewife
- teacher
- psychologist
- philosopher
- neurologist
- physicist
- wildlife photographer
- singer
- movie director
- jewelry repair person [sic]
- carpenter
- painter
- claymation animator
- archaeologist [I may have meant paleontologist]
- artist
- writer
- custodian
- seminary professor
- missionary
- plumber
- magazine editor
- used car salesperson
- truck driver
- minister
- politician
- chef
- inventor
- electrician
- actress
- screen writer/playwright
- Supreme Court Justice
- marine biologist
- cosmologist
- undertaker

41 items on that list, in case you were curious but didn't want to count.

Which Is More Fair ... ?

A small person and a tall person are seated next to each other on an airplane. Is the tall person entitled to sprawl into the small person's space (since it was only by chance and not by any virtue that the small person has enough and the tall person not enough space)? Or should the tall person feel confined to their own seat space (since both paid the same amount of money for the same amount of space)?

I'm not at all sure there's a definitive answer to this question. I only know I'm grateful when the tall person seated next to me takes the latter view rather than the former.

10 Songs That Make Me Happy

It's been a hectic week--and even the weekend has already been so busy I've hardly had time to sit down and do something frivolous like this--but of course, at such times a little frivolity is most needed. I've been meaning to do this for a long time--ever since I was looking for lists of songs that make other people happy and came across this fun video (it was my introduction to Scatman John!).

So anyway, here are 10 songs that make me happy. Hope anyone who reads this has had a happy Saturday--and that your Sunday will be happy, too. Wishing you much happiness ... 

10. El Poeta, Chino y Nacho

"Muy feliz, feliz, feliz, feliz ..."

9. Te Amo Tanto Tanto (Version 2011), Grupo Extra

Drippingly sweet--but it's in Spanish, so that's okay. (-:

8. Arrasando, Thalia

English translation here--"arrasando" could also be translated "triumphing" or (my favorite) "sweeping to victory." Seems esp. fitting since the chorus reminds me of the theme for the star power up in Mario Bros. Great words in the chorus, too.

7. Ai, Se Eu Te Pego, Michel Telo

You can really hear in the recording the happiness and excitement of all those people at the concert. I also thought it was fun to read the words in Spanish and listen to the Portuguese. Fascinating ...

6.  Firework, Katy Perry

Kind of cheesy, I know, but ... I like it.

5. Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield

4. Variations 1-4, Andrew Lloyd Webber/Julian Lloyd Webber/Paganini

3. Desiderata 

A friend from Mexico told me about this lovely song, having remembered hearing it on the radio many times in her childhood.

2. Nutbod (Houseboats of Kashmir Remix), from Baz Luhrmann's album, Something For Everybody

1. Time of Your Song, Matisyahu

I can't even tell you how much I love this song or how it makes me feel. Beautiful.

[These aren't actually my top ten--I'm saving some good ones for future lists of 10 ... (-: ]

Something Beautiful To Look At (Part II - Two Hearts)

A couple facebook friends posted these images yesterday--I don't know for sure if they'll go up on my wall in the future, but they are lovely.

Yellow and Blue

As I've mentioned before, I love calendars. I have seven wall calendars up right now, four of them in one corner of the dining room area (hereafter "Calendar Corner"). At the beginning of the year, three out of four calendars in Calendar Corner agreed on blue, red, and white as the colors of January. This is the first month that all four calendars in Calendar Corner agree: yellow and blue as the colors of July.

Perhaps it's because people associate July with going to the beach (yellow sand, blue ocean) or early summer in general (yellow for sunlight, blue for clear skies). Anyway, I thought that was interesting. And I wonder how what results I might get from a larger survey.

If only I had more calendar pages to look at ... (-;