My Saturday Ten

As many of you know from reading about my Five Idiosyncrasies, I am an out-and-proud procrastinator, so it will probably not surprise you that I am a day late with this week's RevGal Friday Five, and a week late with the last Friday Five. Well, now you will learn much more about me than you probably thought you would. Or that you really would ever want to. Anyhow...for the next several paragraphs, it's all about me:

What is your earliest memory of church?
I remember dangling my little Mary-Janed feet from a pew of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the neighborhood where I grew up -- a quaint old brick church, still standing but, sadly, unused and looking the worse for wear these days -- enjoying the sung liturgy and fascinated by the large painting of Jesus the Good Shepherd up at the front of the sanctuary; a kind, welcoming Jesus, with a Scripture verse in German,in gold Fraktur print at the bottom.

How old were you when you first took Communion?
Fourteen, and newly confirmed, with smarting earlobes from my newly pierced ears -- my confirmation present from the 'rents -- terrified that the wafer would lodge on my upper palate and I wouldn't be able to swallow it.

What is your favorite Bible verse/passage?
The entire Gospel of John, particularly Jesus' farewell discourse.

What verse/passage nicks you uncomfortably?
The sermons and parables in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus is setting the bar really, really, really high in terms of our loving and forgiving the people around us. Gulp.

What's your favorite hymn or praise song? (Please tell me it's not "Shine, Jesus, Shine." Some of our members will cry.)Don't worry; that's not it. (Oy veh.) No, it's really Earth and All Stars...the lines about the "loud boiling test tubes" and "loud building workers" and "loud praying members" choke me up every time.

Just kidding.

You know, it really depends on what day it is; I hate being pinned down to just one hymn. Holy, Holy, Holy, Beautiful Savior , O Sacred Head Now Wounded , At the Name of Jesus , "All Creatures of Our God and King" and Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise are on the short list, though...I mean, relatively speaking, since it's obviously not a short short list. Oh -- and I can't forget A Mighty Fortress -- which I've found to be a comforting, empowering hymn at times when I am feeling particularly beaten up and disheartened over The Troubles in the Church; an appropriation that I'm sure would send some of the folks on the other side into foaming fits of righteous apoplexy.

The weather in your location:
A lovely, breezy fall day, about 60 degrees, sunshine alternating with overcast skies and a few sprinkles. Autumn has been very slow in coming here because of unseasonably warm temperatures, but the leaves around my house seem to have colored up, as we say, overnight.

Where you are typing this?
From my mother's chair in our living room. My mother, in turn, is in what we refer to as the dog's chair (picture Frasier's dad's battered La-Z-Boy, and you have some idea of the condition of this piece of furniture), because the dog wants her there with him. He's quite insistent about this; he herds her there until she sits down and then whines until she picks him up and puts him next to her. Good thing he's a Maltese and not, say, a Great Dane.

Where you might like to be sitting if you could be anywhere? Oh, let's see...I'd like to be sitting in the Phoenix Cafe, in a quiet, mostly tourist-free downtown Beulah, Michigan, with a mug of their delicious locally roasted Fair Trade coffee and one of their fantastic ginger scones, grooving to some jazz. (Actually, I'm sitting here with my own cup of Fair Trade coffee, grooving to some jazz, so I'm halfway there.) Or maybe I'd like to be sitting on a bench taking a breather while walking down one of the area Rail Trails.

A chore you have to do this weekend: Getting my blood drawn for my six-month cholesterol test, mowing the lawn and washing outside windows. Two down, one to go.

Something delightful you will do or would like to do this weekend:
I haven't reached my leaf-peeping quotient yet this year; I'd like to just ride around and do that. Maybe tomorrow.