Today, as yesterday, it rains.  The rain will continue throughout most of tomorrow too.  Only on Wednesday will the skies again become partly cloudy; only on Thursday will the sun return in full force.  At least that will be nice for our drive to Cortland.

Yes, Thursday evening we are driving to Cortland, New York, to enter Sam in a Flemish Giant rabbit show, the first of his life.  Poor soul -- he will have to get one of his ears tattooed.  He will not enjoy that, but I do think he will like being cooped with other large rabbits.  We enter Sam in the competition on Friday morning, and then the competition is itself on Saturday.  There will be wonderful food, and I have contacted someone with the federation to find out who I can write about contributing to that.  We shall all have a good time, a well-earned holiday after the last few tense months.  I am really looking forward to it.

Not much happening today.  My mother had her biopsy for her radiation treatment this morning but seems to have come out of it okay.  I did get one job application off in the mail but am daunted by the KSA essays that must be written in connection with most of the federal government job applications.

Wedding plans come along fine.  We met with the florist Saturday, and Sunday we met with the church's musical director.  He is a superb organist and will really make the occasion.  Today the charms for my bridesmaids' charm bracelets arrived, and I found jewelry boxes in which I could wrap them.  I already have the paper for that.  They are rather small charms.  I hope the girls enjoy them anyway. 

Have a good day.

Love,
Nora


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Well, it has been months since I have blogged -- due to circumstances beyond my control. Now, however, I have more time and freedom, more opportunities to take delightful animal photos and post them here.

Wedding plans are in the works. I paid for the wedding cake yesterday, and today I will be contacting both the florist and the jeweler -- the florist for an initial appointment and discussion, the jeweler to learn when the rings will be ready. They should be nearly done, and I am definitely looking forward to getting that engagement ring onto my left hand!

Today I take time off from the job search again just because there were only a few leads and because I deserve a bit of a vacation. The early morning weather is nice enough that I have put Dorcas out in the outdoor pen for the first time this spring. She seems to be enjoying the birdsong, with long ears ever-ready for the sound of a hawk or other large bird. She talked to me quite a bit as I carried her downstairs and out the door. I was quite surprised. Sadly, I think when I am not handling the rabbits to take them in and out of the pen, I do not handle them as much in a day. I imagine they miss that attention.

Cousin Silvia has suggested taking time out from the job search until I have completed a house project that can be a wedding present to me and Scott. I like the idea of a house project as wedding present, but I don't think I will take that much time away from the job search. Some federal jobs are not open for long. I contemplate scraping the last of the peeling paint out of the living room and repainting that room in ivory with blue trim, a slat sky blue to complement the oriental rug in that room. I still need to discuss that with Scott, however.

Wedding invitations again sit out in the mailbox awaiting the postal lady. Yesterday invitations for my list of guests went out, today the bulk of Scott's list. He still needs to get a few additional addresses, however.

My faith survived the test, but barely. I look forward to its renewal in these fine days of spring. It is good to hope again in the standard of agape love and to trust that in the future I will be in environments more susceptible to it.

I know it is about time to stop smoking again. Right now I only smoke flavored cigars, and without the constraints of the workplace, I find I smoke too many of them in a day. Not only are they expensive, when I smoke too many I get a clenched jaw and headache. Since I really want to enjoy some flavored cigars around the time of my wedding, sharing a collegial smoke with John O'Brien-Prager, Esq., while he is in town to do the wedding, I consider switching to cigarettes in the interim and only buying a special box of flavored cigars for when John is in town. That to me seems to make sense. Then I will again "stop for good" after the wedding.

Today I need to call the florist and arrange for an appointment. I also need to call the hauler from around the corner to clear off our front porch. Sunday we meet with John Widmann, the musical director at church so today I will also try to put together an initial order of service off the Book of Common Worship to see how Scott likes what I come up with. I suppose I should also give the wedding coordinator at church a call. It would be good to find out what she can help me with. I am really hoping that church can print up nice bulletins for the wedding.

As you can no doubt discern, today is an easy day, and I enjoy having some leisure again. I do hope you have a good day.

Love,
Nora


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O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. -- Ps. 63:1

Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds fast, who keeps the sabbath,
not profaning it, and refrains from doing evil. -- Is. 56:1-2

Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ . . . Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for you reap what you sow. . . So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.  So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. --- Gal. 6:2, 7, 9.


In the meantime, I encourage you, dear reader, to hold fast to what is good, honoring that thirst within for justice, for we yearn for a gentler world which will only be gentler if we ourselves act as angels of mercy.  Maintain justice, and do what is right; honor the Lord every day of your lives.  In so far as it is possible, bear the burden of the other until at last we arrive at the finish line together. 

May you have a blessed Saturday and weekend.

Love,
Nora


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For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken . . .

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.    --Ps. 62:1-2, 5-8.

Today has been a stressful day, and the rest of the week is full of exhausting and time-consuming activities.  All I can do is cling to God and hope that it will be over before I know it.  Yesterday, I had such enthusiasm.  It was easy -- I had preached and I had the afternoon to spend in spiritual contemplation.  I felt secure and confident, able to lend a helping hand to other's less fortunate than myself.  That is always such a good feeling.

But this evening, my soul in silence waits to again feel that confidence and generosity.  I cringe at the thought of needing to study criminal procedure for the Bar exam, and I get anxious about going before the Baltimore Presbytery Committee on Preparationi for Ministry.  Then there is Ash Wednesday, and needing to go to the potluck dinner and sing at the service.  Yet that will be enriching.  I am in truth eager for that.  We will sing Ps. 51 -- "Be merciful, O Lord, for I have sinned; be merciful, O Lord, for I have sinned."  It will be good to relax back into the spiritual after several days of high stress at work.


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My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make melody.
Awake, my soul!
I will awake the dawn.
I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples,
and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. -- Ps. 108:1-4

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.  Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"  Suddenly when they looked they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. -- Mark 9:2-8.

Today we commemorate the Transfiguration in worship.  And so, especially since I am leading worship and preaching, I pray, "Awake, my soul!"  Let me be light and responsive to the needs of the congregation.  Let me minister to them.  Let me fish for people. 

In the Transfiguration we have again an identification of Jesus as the son of God by theophany, or the appearance of God, the Holy Spirit in speech.  We have also the testimony of the law and the prophets as to his identity, as that is what the presence of Moses -- the lawgiver -- and Elijah -- foremost prophet -- signify in this spiritual event.  And not only do we have the identification, we have the commandment, "Listen to him!" 

Jesus took James, Peter and John -- his inner circle -- with him to the mountaintop.  The world awaited the teaching of Jesus and it was to these men, these hand-selected disciples, that it was revealed.  Jesus Christ himself is the teaching.  These men lived with him and grew to know him intimately so that they could after his resurrection transmit the life of Jesus Christ to others.  And he is life, for who else can take away sin and promise new life in the new creation at resurrection? 

"Listen to him!"  We listen to him, the Word of God, through the Bible, the word of God, the best attestations of Jesus Christ that we have in history. We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers the reverent reader of the word, or the reverent hearer of the word proclaimed, to hear the very Word of God, Jesus Christ.  We also believe that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, speaks to us throughout worship, in daily devotionals, in group Bible Study, through one another, through nature and through dreams.  "Listen to him!"  He speaks to YOU; he speaks FOR you; what he says is IMPORTANT to you; and he expects a RESPONSE.  Listen as if your life depended on it, because it does.

The Word can heal your wounds, and then it will empower you to help in the healing of others' wounds.  The Word would cleanse you from all unrighteousness so that through word and deed you can testify to the renewing power of Life in Him.  Awake, O your soul, and remember your Savior!  Do not fear to have God appear in your life and instruct you what to do.  Rather, look ahead to the shared adventurous journey toward eternal life.  Go forth and, listening to him, witness to him. 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.


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Listen to me, my people; and give heed to me, my nation:
For a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.
I will bring near my deliverance swiftly,
my salvation has gone out, and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. --- Is. 51:4-5.

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.  Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  As many of you as were baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heir's according to the promise.  -- Gal. 3:23-29.

For a teaching will go out from me, and salvation and justice will come, that is the promise of Isaiah's prophet, whom we Christians see prophetically finally fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  Yet though Christ has come, the coastlands still wait for the teaching and for the arm of justice that comes by it.  We all have a job to do, a calling, as Christians, to serve the Lord our God in the spreading of the saving gospel and in the pursuit of justice on this earth. 

Paul, preeminent apostle to the Greeks, makes the point that salvation came from the Jews, and yet it is given freely so that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek -- all are one as children of God in faith.  The teaching that would go forth is that of faith, not of law, though the law, like a grammar school teacher provides a preparatory course for faith, for the law helps us see our own shortcomings before God and our need of a mediator of salvation from those shortcomings. 

Yes, we are justified, we are washed clean in baptism, by faith, to the end that we dress in new clothes, the clothes of the example of Jesus Christ, his life itself being the teaching.  May you be blessed this day in following the way of that great prophet and son of God, Jesus Christ.

Amen.


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