Flying Monkeys

THIS SUNDAY

February 24, 2008

8:00, 9:15 & 10:45

Nancy Davis preaching: BY THE BOOK

The Reverend Mrs. Davis will be working with a well-reviewed non-fiction entry, currently available in bookstores: The Year Of Living Biblically

*

As shared with you on Monday, I leave this afternoon to visit my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter in Bordeaux, France. The flight leaves at about 1:30. After a layover in Detroit, I land in Paris around 10:00 tomorrow morning, which is 3 AM Omaha time. I’ll try to stay awake and trick my body clock into resetting to its new time zone. On Saturday, I have a three-hour train ride to Bordeaux; then the route gets reversed and I fly back to Omaha on Wednesday.

*

One of our readers inquires about the new worship schedule, and if big projects such as BOHEMIAN RHAPOSODY will be offered in the 8:30 service. We were just talking about that in staff on Tuesday as it relates to THE WIZARD OF OZ, which is scheduled for the second Sunday in September. The answer: Yes. 8:30 is being designed as a full-service worship hour, including Church School for the little ones. We’ll have Children’s Church School in each of the weekend services. This becomes very important for a project such as WIZARD in that we’ll need the little ones to serve as Flying Monkeys and Munchkins.

*.

I don’t know that anyone around the office is necessarily going to be sorry to see me gone this week—though I like to think Nancy and the cats will miss me at home. I’ve been kind of grouchy in recent days and am happy to blame it on the weather. There’s something to this Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you’ve been out-of-sorts yourself, I invite you factor SAD in to your self-care. Give yourself and everyone around you a break by thinking warm, happy thoughts. If no such thoughts come readily to mind as this interminable winter stretches on, try this: Major League Baseball begins Spring Training games next week and the Cubs are Cardinals are tied for first place!

*

Please Save Date: On Saturday evening, April 19, we’ll be privileged to host some very special guests. You have heard and read about our ministry in rural Nicaragua through the Rainbow Network, based in Springfield, Missouri. Rainbow will be bringing some Nicaraguans to the US this spring and St. Andrew’s is on the tour schedule. The Nicaraguans will be with us in the 5:00 service, which will be followed by either a reception or a dinner. We’re still hammering out the details, but this should be a great event.

*

They don’t make movies about Paris in February, but this the low season in terms of tourist traffic and the cheapest time of year to fly over there. I find it downright soulful to wander around the outdoor museum that is Paris amidst the ambiance of bare-branched trees and leaden skies. It helps me appreciate the moodiness of French authors such as Albert Camus, who we talked about on Sunday. After seeing La Vie en Rose, I hope to get over to Pere LaChaise Cemetery and find Edith Piaf’s grave site. And on one of the afternoons I’m in the city, I plan to go by the Church of The Madeline again, light a candle, and give thanks for Madeline Teissier Du Cros. I first met her in early October, when she was six weeks old. This week, she celebrated her six-month birthday. Just think: I’m only an airplane ride and train trip from seeing her again. Wow.

*
BRD .