Mondayne

It was a full weekend.

My two sons came in to accompany Mrs. G and I to the hinterlands for my gig on Sunday. They were fairly young when we left. One son was born while we were there. It was good just to have a weekend to spend with them and better that they could go with us.

Overall the gig went well. The message was received well, which led me to ponder whether they were actually listening. There are tensions for the people with the present leadership. I sensed that they looked back on my years there through rose colored glasses, ignoring our own tensions then.

Whatever was going on, everyone was most gracious and appeared to be genuinely happy to see us all. There was a whole lotta huggin’ goin’ on, I’ll tell you. If you are familiar with the last verse of the song by Garrison Keillor about “The Sons of Knute Christmas Dance and Dinner” on his Now It’s Christmas Again CD, then we were rehearsing the music video.

We said goodbye in the hallway
And said goodbye on the stairs
We said goodbye on the sidewalk in the cold December air
Then we leaned against the cars
And we said goodbye out there
At the Sons of Knute Christmas Dance and Dinner.

I will comment though that the present leadership has a very different style of doing things than I do/did. That’s okay. He’s in charge now, not I, but there were parts of the overall celebration that either amused me or made my hair stand on end.

I was amused in another way by the presence of at least two people at the event. One, a male about my age, I know to be part of the Family. I recall one incident when we lived there. I caught a glimpse of him making some subtle moves on a young (legally so) handsome, muscular thing in the parking lot next to our home there. The other was a female who would have only been a child in my time there. I suspect very strongly that she is also Family given the clues of appearance, dress, and mannerisms. She also commented to me about her appreciation for some of my remarks. Her comments strongly indicated that she was listening and understood.

One of the other tasks for the weekend was “fixing” my older son’s lappy. He called Friday night to ask “Dad” to troubleshoot it over the phone. After a conversation of frustration I told him to bring it with him on Saturday and I would look at it here. Holy crap, was it polluted with malware and viruses! The most insidious was one that itself acted as if it were an anti-virus application and send out false messages of infection and immediately tried to sell you an AV. Of course the OS had to be my buddy Vista! Nevertheless, truth and righteousness prevailed and I send him home today with a clean pc …and warnings of dire consequences (from his father) if he ever let his PC get that fubar again!

The SMTP issue continues/continued to plague with no resolution using my normal email client. However, after another online meeting with the Tennessee Chapter head of the Society on Saturday morning (agenda topic: all things geek), I had a work around that I actually like better than using the normal email client. Brad gave me a very good suggestion that gives me wider flexibility and access both in terms of OS’s and geography/location using the features in gmail.

Finally, shortly after we return from our trip to one part of the hinterlands, I received a call from a former co-worker who now lives and works in another part of the hinterlands. On the side, the former co-worker is an organist for an ELCA congregation. From the time of our first working together to the present I found him to be less than Family-friendly. He is not exactly rabidly so, but the theme is there. The congregations of the ELCA that are in the central part of the hinterlands are hot to trot over the recent national decision to permit openly-gay persons in committed relationships to be called as pastors to congregations if a congregation so chooses. These congregations have been whipped into their frenzy in part by a pastor in the area who is leading a schismatic movement.

As a subset of our conversation my former co-worker asked how congregations in the area of Lake Gonebelow are reacting. To be sure there is controversy and discussion in these parts, but it seems to be relatively calm, thanks in part to wise handling/diffusing of the issue by the local bishop as well as by the more diverse nature of the area.

What followed then was a relatively pointed conversation between myself and my co-worker about the truth of the issue and about the misrepresentation of the same by the wingnut, schismatic pastor, et al. It is California, Maine, and health care reform all over again. Second verse same as the first. Among other points, I suggested that he actually read the document in question rather than rely on what others said about it. I also shared with him stories of gay pastors whom I know personally and who are most effective in what they do. I think I may have calmed the waters a bit and I hope I made some inroads in understanding.

Have a great week everyone!

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!