A really full weekend!

This past weekend had a lot going on - more than has been the case for us for quite a long time. Friday. evening, we went over to Keene, to Antioch University New England, where my son, John, works. His colleague and friend, Gopal Krishnamurthy, was offering sort of a "happening," that John invited us to. It was held outdoors, and about a dozen people showed up for it. We had no idea what to expect, except that Gopal is a very interesting and creative person. And indeed, it was a very interesting time. We were initially divided into three groups. one using sound to communicate with one another (speaking or singing or whatever); one using paper and pen to communicate (no speech) and one using movements (no speech). We were instructed to observe something, focus on it, and then communicate with others what we had experienced. I focused on the wind, which was quite robust, and communicated with the group by singing a song: "Where does the wind come from, does anybody know?" All of this led to a discussion of what it means to be a teacher, how to communicate with students, how to free students to pursue their questions, not just the teacher's questions. Gopal is an expert in transformative education, and he gave us a lot to think about!

Gopal Krishnamurthy

The group gathering at AUNE

Gopal working at his computer outside

Doing thought exercises in a big circle - John and Cynthia are on the right.*********************************** Saturday we sang in a small choir at a memorial celebration for Ambrose Brown, the 14-year-old son of James and Rebecca Brown, at the Dummerston Church. There is a very touching story here. Almost twenty years ago, James and Rebecca had a daughter, Sophie, who was born with a very rare genetic condition that severely limited her growth. She died after just three years. They were uncertain about having another child, but were counseled that it was highy unlikely that they would have a second child with this very rare condition. But Ambrose did have it. They took on the challenge of parenting this child. Ambrose lived 14 years - a long life for someone with his limitations. He required an immense amount of care, and they had many caregivers. But it was a 24/7 demand. Ambrose, by all accounts, was a magical child. James and Rebecca wanted the service to be a celebration of his remarkable life, and it was. The hundreds of stuffed animals he had been given filled the church, dominated by Sesame Street characters. Ambrose's favorite was Kermit the Frog. Sam Farwell sang, "It isn't easy being green," which was perfect. Mary Westbrook-Geha sang and played many Sesame Street songs, and also sang Billy Joel's Lullabye which also was perfect. The choir sang Over the Rainbow in a very bluesey arrangement, which was perfect. Our pastor, Shawn, gave a beautiful reflection on Ecclesiastes - "For everything there is a season." Several caregivers spoke lovingly about Ambrose, and James found the courage to speak at length about his son. It was a very moving servIce; everything it should have been, which is amazing in itself.

Sam rehearsing It Isn't Easy Being Green, - you csn see the stuffed animals filling the available spaces.

A close-up of the animals on the organ

Ambrose Brown (2008-2022) After the funeral there was a wonderful reception which was held downstairs - but we were a bit concerned with the fact that most people were unmasked and we already had been upstairs with people (the choir was all masked but most of the congregation was not), so we didn't stay with the reception very long. I was supposed to see Jerome to see if I could help with shopping but when I went by his place, he was sleeping, so I said I would do it next week. Sunday was full to the brim - I preached in Dummerston in the morning, attended an ordination in the afternoon and a book study group in the evening. The morning service was based on John 21 - which includes a sort of confrontation between Peter and the Risen Christ, a confrontation I called a "Final Exam." That was the theme of the sermon, and the children's story had the theme of "Exponential Love," and my prop for that story was a chess board. I used the old story of the man who sort of tricked a wealthy Persian King into acquiring his beautifully decorated chess board by agreeing to put a grain of rice on square one, two on square two, four on square three, eight on square four and so on through all 64 squares, doubling the amount each time. The king was naive mathematically - the amount of rice adds up to more rice than has been grown in the entire history of the world! My point was that God's love could grow in the same way - hug two people, they each hug two people, and on and on it grows!

Jesus and Peter

The Exponential Chessboard ************************************ After church, there was a coffee hour using left-overs from the funeral, and we played it safe and took our food outside and sat by the pond with John and Cynthia: very nice. It was a beautiful day for sitting by the pond.

Sitting by the pond ********************************* We talked so long, we just had time to stop by the house for some things and drove to West Dover for the ordination of Jeremy Kirk, another small choir, and a very lively service. There was a great turnout for that, and I got to process with a group of clergy. The reception there was all held outside, and inside everyone was masked.

A group portrait of the people at Jeremy's ordination from the Guilford Church. Jeremy was a Member in Discernment at GCC for eight years as he prepared for ordination.************************************** We just had time to get to the book study and Mary Alice Amidon's at 6:30p.m. - a group of about 6-7 women. There were two books we had read, Martin Buber's I and Thou and Colm Toibin's Testament of Mary. People found Buber pretty tough sledding, but we managed to wrest some meaning from it - some more than others. The Testament of Mary was quite stunning - we didn't read it, we listened to it on Audible, with Meryl Streep reading. We felt it was a very realistic portrayal of Mary's inner thughts and struggle with being the mother of Jesus - but it is pretty unorthodox! We could have discussed it more than we had time for. So, a very interesting weekend. But tiring - I slept late this morning!