A bit of Taize comes to Menlo Park

Trinity Church, which the DGs attend, has been having a monthly Taize service for the last six months or so. There was to be a hiatus this summer but very wise rector, the Rev. Matthew Dutton-Gillett, on learning that the commissioned Taize style cross was finished, decided to have a previously unscheduled service at 5:00 today. That this could allow the male DG to participate was implied but not quite spoken. Among the attendees were many folks from the “old” weekly 5:00 service that had served as the DG’s mini faith community before and after the male DG’s glioma diagnosis. And even better, in the female DG’s mind, was the fact that there were a number of children in attendance, whose voices could be heard in singing and silence. That made it feel even more like the real Taize…

Starting the day with “church at home”

As the DGs have told the hospice people who inquired about their spiritual needs, they have a plethora of wonderful clergy in their lives. Two were attendance this morning – David Perry and Stuart Coxhead (hint of his head in the mirror, along with almost clergy Anne Peterson – when they began they day with “church at home” using a eucharist “in the Celtic and Navajo tradition” as assembled by Rustin Kimsey, a retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon (David has these kinds of things at hand). It was a nice, simple way to bring old friends together…

When faith endures in spite of religion

So for various reasons the Charter for Compassion got on both of the Dual Gs radar this week – they’ve blogged about it both on InMenlo and on gulker.com. If you’re active on one of the social networking platforms, you’ve probably heard about it by now. Going viral, as word of its official debut did, is a matter of hours, not days.  Missed it – and how it begun? Check it out. It’s one of the good things happening in this world and that a seed was planted locally thanks to Josetta Walsh, we’re both thankful to be a part of. Not to mention it makes us glad, not grumpy.

Color the gimps exhausted, but Eucharist bread delivered

Lately, there have been numerous mentions  made here and on the male DG’s blog about running out of gas. Today it is officially so. After all the travels and a great Halloween celebration with Grace and family, they’ve officially had it. The male DG did manage to hand off the Eucharistic bread – which he’d baked on Thursday and froze – to associate rector the Rev. Beth Foote before the 10:30 service at Trinity. It’s All Saints Day and the hymns were familiar.

From Bono to blues with a stop back in Little Rock

Sometimes the female DG thinks she’s living a movie. Like on days like this when they wake up at The Langham in Pasadena  surrounded by U2 roadies and their gigantic buses (the band is playing at the Rose Bowl tonight where crowds are expected to be over 100,000). Then it was on to All Saints Pasadena – a big Episcopal church that overflows each Sunday with its message of the inclusive, compassionate Christ – where Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine, was speaking between the 9:00 and 11:15 services. So it was all the more natural to finish the morning with a blues brunch at the Firefly Bisto – a kind of punctuation mark to the DG’s recent southern travel. If it’s possible to be invigorated and exhausted at the same time, that’s how she feels (the male DG, too). But at least they’re not grumpy.

Just a “regular” early evening for the gimps

It did occur to the female DG [again]  tonight that maybe she and the male DG aren’t quite, as they say, “regular.” Not that she knows what regular is. That thought came to her when she found herself (still cramping toes and all) watching the exciting tie-breaking play-off game between the Twins and the Tigers (she truly loves baseball and this was a great game) at the Fleming’s bar while running some errands at the Stanford Shopping Center after dropping the male DG off at Trinity for a Men’s Group dinner. As she ate dinner, the gentleman next to her said he was a Tiger’s fan, so was not happy with the outcome. She then picked up the male DG and they went to cover famed evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins’ appearance at Kepler’s for InMenlo. The point: how many couples can jam this kind of disparate adventure within a two hour period?

Kindle our hearts, and awaken hope

It’s hard enough to be faithful to God in the 21st century, let alone proclaim one’s faith to the wider secular society. The latter seems to come easier to those more evangelical in mission and conservative in theology than those who find themselves in the “progressive” Judeo-Christian bucket. So it is with the Dual G’s. Most of their friends know they go to church but few are aware of their nightly devotional ritual. Since 2003 they’ve read about a saint’s life thanks to the saint-for-every-day-of-the-year and delightful story telling of Robert Ellsberg in his book, All Saints. Some of the stories have become very familiar after repeated readings; some seem brand new. When the male DG was diagnosed with glioma in 2006, they added the prayers for “In the Early Evening” (for individuals and families) from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP),  the latest version of a historical book adopted by the Episcopal Church in 1979. Last night the male DG noticed how tattered and stained page 139 had become. The solution: download the BCP to his Kindle, a lighter, take anywhere alternative. So tonight a phrase from the closing prayer took added meaning: “…be our companion on the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope….”