The wind...the wind!

 The Wind was so strong today that as I was coming out of Cheshire's Post Office after mailing a package, I thought the door was locked until I pushed with both arms and realized it was the wind holding the door shut.

Then, when I came out of Stop and Shop and tried to shut my door after getting in my car, the wind tore the door away from my hand and made it really hard to close it.

On my little trip, the wind was amazing.

I didn't like it but it amazed me and made me thankful (again!) that I have a house to live in and not the streets.

Sitting at my desk, before I went out, I looked out the window behind my computer and the twelve trees I can see from that window (Cheshire is full of trees) were swaying wildly.

The wind will have it's way, my friends.

The wind will....

 

A first Ash Wednesday

Yesterday at Trinity Church, Milton, we did Ash Wednesday with ashes and holy oil and communion around the table where we have Bible study.

People told me it was the first Ash Wednesday service they remember at Trinity.

Bill Starr, who does the wonderful on-line newsletter for Trinity had a special edition today with the Ash Wednesday service as the high-light.

"First Ash Wednesday" shocks me.

Besides Christmas, Easter, Maundy Thursday and Epiphany, I can't think of any Holy Day more important than Ash Wednesday.

So, I am delighted we did it.

And I welcome Lent.

I don't 'give up' anything for Lent.

But I 'take on' something.

This Lent I'm 'taking on' bringing food for the food pantry every week to church.

I'll let you know how I do.

 

Where did she come from?

 Maybe from  under a rock in Georgia.

Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested in a tweet that we 'need a national divorce.'

She apparently thinks the Red states (where Republicans rule) should secede from the U.S. and become their own country!

Seems like she comes up with something ridiculous every day.

But more than just 'ridiculous' this strikes me as treason.

Marjorie, don't you know we fought a Civil War over that kind of statement.

You're in Congress and don't know states 'can't' secede?

Someone take her away....

Maybe to a mental institution or a federal prison.

I'm a gravy guy

I love gravy of all kinds.

Part of it was where I grew up--in Southern West Virginia, south of Richmond Virginia. Gravy abounds in the south.

The other part is the families I come from.

My maternal grandmother, Nomi Jones, fixed gravy for almost every meal.

My paternal step-grandmother, Cleve Bradley would fix amazing sausage gravy when we visited her when I was a child.

My father's mother died young and his father remarried Cleve, who talked constantly when we would visit her in Waitville, WV.

We'd leave at dawn and get to Dad's childhood home for breakfast.

There would be home baked biscuits, eggs, sausage, bacon and that amazing gravy.

Biscuits and gravy is all I would eat, having slept most of the way there.

I buy gravy in jars. I can't fix it. But we have it many times when I cook dinner.

Tonight it is chicken gravy and mashed potatoes. 

I love that.

We'll have chicken cordon blue and asparagus with it--two things I never ate as a child.

But gravy.

Gravy.

I'm a gravy guy.

  

I'm so cold

 I can't wait for May--or even August.

I'm so cold.

As I get older cold affects me more.

I'm going to bed soon.

I will have lots of covers and a heater set at 70 at my bed.

That will be better than this.

Our house is at 69. 

But I'm still cold.

Get warm and stay warm.

This Sunday's sermon

 

Mountains and God—Last after Epiphany

        Everything we heard today—from the collect to the Gospel has a mountain in it.

        I grew up surrounded by mountains in southern West Virginia.

        Litchfield is one of the highest spots in Connecticut at 1080 feet above sea level.

        Anawalt, where I grew up was 1706 feet above sea level. And it was in a valley surrounded by mountains another 1300 feet tall.

        The God of the Jews is found on mountain tops.

        When I was a kid,  I would climb up one of the mountains and sit on an abandoned strip mine. I’d look down at the toy sized town and feel like a lesser god myself—as if I could wipe Anawalt out with my foot.

        God called Moses to go up the mountain to meet him. Exodus tells us Moses went through a cloud and the glory of the Lord ‘was like a devouring fire’.

        The lesson from second Peter tells the same story as Mathew’s gospel. Peter, James and John accompany Jesus up a high mountain, where Jesus is transfigured and made to shine dazzling white while talking to the long-dead Moses and Elijah.

        Then out of a cloud, God speaks to them, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved: with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

        God’s voice causes the disciples to fall down, full of fear.

        After Jesus touches them and tells them not to be afraid, he also tells them to tell no one what has happed on the mountain until he is raised from the dead.

        They kept it secret until Peter tells the crowds about it in today’s Epistle.

        Next Sunday, Lent begins.

        Lent may seem a long way from a mountain top experience, but Lent will lead us there.

        We will meet with God during Lent.

        Ponder that for a while.

        Ponder meeting God where Lent leads us.

 

Amen and Amen.

Today's the day!!!!

After today's views, I have had over 300,000 views on my blog!

Thank you all for tuning in.

It makes me grateful--which is a good thing to feel!

If I use "!" anymore I'll be thrown off Blogspot.

So, thank you....