The gift of fall

One of the great joys of living in a place with four seasons is the joy of fall, and it is in full swing right now.

The rain we got this summer has been translated into glorious color, the sun is out and it is not too hot and not too cold.

And, like most small blessings, it is only with us for a short time, so if you can, get out for a bit and enjoy one of the great blessings of creation.

Looking past the present - or lessons from OSU football

As many of you know, I am a huge Ohio State Football fan. If you've driven by the rectory on a Saturday this fall, you may have seen my flag flying the Buckeye colors. Last week OSU played Wisconsin and next week they play Penn State. Yesterday, they were playing Purdue.

Now, in the Big 10, Wisconsin is usually pretty good and Penn State is usually pretty good, and either one might be a challenge to my beloved Buckeyes. But, Purdue, well, Purdue is usually in the bottom of the Big Ten and, really, no one considers them a really threat to OSU.

Well Purdue beat the Buckeyes yesterday, not just beat them, trounced them. And a lot of the commentators were saying, and I agree, that OSU looked past Purdue. They played Wisconsin and had Penn State comming up and they just didn't think about Purdue or prepare the way they should have. And it cost them.

I think that's kind of like us, we are so often waiting for the next big thing that we overlook the things going on right now. We are getting ready for Halloween or Christmas or the next holiday, and forget to take time to enjoy the little things right now.

Or we are waiting for God to send a thunder bolt with his mission for us and we forget to notice the need just outside our door.

Just a thought from the Saturday football couch.

Bike-a-thon

We had 13 bike riders and several workers at the bike-a-thon this week. The weather cooperated and everything went well.

The riders raised (with some additional pledges) $1130. And the riders and the workers enjoyed a delicious lunch. Thanks to everyone who helped and rode.

One of the things we found is that the route is very safe (with only a few places where the bike path crosses streets) and that if you rode the whole route it was about a three hour ride, if you rode half of it it would be about 90 minutes.

So for next year, keep in mind that this is a perfect family activity :)

Thanks to Ward C, Ron S, Carri L, Diane C, Shelia M and everyone else who helped make the bike-a-thon a success.

More Animal Blessing

Here is the link to the Animal Blessing video.

Lots of fun - in spite of the weather

Here are some pictures of the fun this weekend.

We went to the UB Bulls game on Saturday, tailgating and all. We had a great time , inspite of the rain, until the middle of the third quarter when lightening forced us all out of the stadium. Unfortunately the Bulls didn't win, but there's always next week.

On Sunday we blessed animals, this was planned as an outdoor event, but weather (and the lack of prior building of an ark) forced us into the parish hall. The dog choir was in very good voice and their praise allowed for a slightly shorter service then was orginally planned.

I'm trying to upload a video of the pet blessing to youtube. If I'm successful, I'll post the link here.

Ministry Fair Reflections

I had a wonderful time at the Ministry Fair on Sunday after the 10 a.m. service. If you weren't able to be there, various ministries at the church set up table displays and talked to people about what they do and how people could get involved (and of course tried to recruit them).

It was a nice postlude to Donna's sermon about giving back to God out of our time and talent as well as our treasure.

But what I liked most about it was that people were talking to each other and talking about the things that interested and excited them. We all need to do more of that, talk about the things that we find exciting and interesting and intriguing.

Celebration of 60 years and a New Ministry

Here is a picture of Bishop Garrison and the choir and clergy getting ready to process into church for the Celebration of the 60th anniversary of the dedication of St. Paul's and the celebration of New Ministry of the rector and congregation.

It was a wonderful service. We celebrated St. Paul's history and renewed commitment to children and youth, our ties to the Diocese and the Bishop and were blessed by the presence of a lot of the clergy who had served here or had their calls to ministry confirmed here over the years.

One of the best parts was the joining of the St. Paul's choir with members of the Calvary Church choir. I hope that this marks the beginning of much more mutual ministry in the years to come.

So, St. Paul's folk, let's start that by heading to Calvary on Saturday from 4 to 8 to be a part of their Octoberfest.