Spring Greetings to
My Family and Friends
Good Friday
April 21, 2008
AT THE END OF MY FOURTH DECADE
Those of you who faithfully sent cards, e-mails and letters in December may have wondered what happened to me. Finding Good Friday to be suitable for self-reflection (something I’ve been doing frequently as I head to my 40th birthday in May) I’ve decided it’s time to share some of this review with you, my family and friends.
DUBB Roadtrip - Feburary 2-4, 2007
My good friend Jay from Virginia Beach invited me to join in a rather spontaneous trip to visit our friend Elvi and attend a concert of her band The Disciples of Ursula Big Band. On Friday I met the van full of Kerrs in Western MA and joined the adventure of a weekend in Montreal. We also had time to take in the Fête des Neiges de Montréal. Amazing Elvi found sleeping space for all of us! I felt like a princess sleeping in Ilana’s loft.
Lillian Meyer Mount
On Sunday February 11 I joined with members of the Mount and Meyer family to celebrate “Gommie’s” 90th birthday. The staff at Pennswood was very helpful and she was alert and glad to be with us. As it turned out, we were especially glad to be with her, for she died 9 days later. It was my honor to lead my family in her committal in Cranbury, New Jersey where her ashes now rest beside my grandfather and not far from her mother, “Granny.” We celebrated her life together with the community of Pennswood where she happily lived the last years of her life halfway between my uncles Gary and Bill. I am thankful for her legacy to me, which includes a trunk full of sweaters, a circuit rider hooked rug made for my ordination and the way she perked up last February when she realized that I had come to visit.
Joseph Olajide Elewononi
It helps that he lives near to my parents in Central New York. Joe is active in his church, especially in establishing and helping to run a food pantry, and faithfully loads his car with neighbor kids on Sunday mornings to bring them to church.
When I was just home for spring break we took a day to visit the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls together and we spent an evening with his best friends Vic and Kien Tjay after a Saturday evening worship service. I am blessed to have Joe in my life.
Oxford Institute - August 12-21
I was honored to take part in the 12th Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies. Dr. Westerfield Tucker encouraged me to apply and I several days in the early summer pairing 60-page term paper down to about 30 pages.
It was exciting to be part of such an assembly of Methodist scholars and church leaders from around the world. I enjoyed meeting up with old friends from Duke and elsewhere as much as making new ones. I was part of the Worship and Spirituality working group where my preliminary study on the development of Camp Meetings in New England was received with interest. I also sang in the choir that performed an oratorio with new music as the setting to a very long poem about the Prodigal Son by Charles Wesley.
I used the opportunity of being in England to visit some good friends and make some new ones. Highlights included rowing on the Themes, worshipping with Methodists in the Stafford area, taking a long ramble from Oxford to an outlying pub, and experiencing the Notting Hill Carnival in London.
Doctoral Studies
2007 was a year of comprehensive exams. I took the first one – for my minor in sociology of religion on February 28. About a month later I was informed that I did not pass. This was such a blow to my confidence that it took about a month to regain equilibrium. In the end, Dr. Nancy Ammerman and I were granted a petition for me to substitute a critical essay for a closed book exam, which I completed on June 14.
My next exam focused on four liturgical questions and was designed to fill in some gaps in my course work. I was prepared to write essays on 1) the major American Camp Meeting literature in preparation for my dissertation 2) the use of the Daily Office in Wesley’s prayer book and the historical roots of each section Wesley included 3) medieval Celtic penitential practices and 4) issues around “contemporary” worship. I took this exam on December 13, happy to be allowed to stay in the library as the campus was being evacuated for the big snowstorm. I received word that I passed these on January 14.
On March 3 I took the last and most general part of these exams and I am still waiting to learn the results. I am more than ready to move on to the dissertation phase of my studies.
My plan is to spend the summer and next academic year conducting research – both historical and contemporary field research on the worship practices of 19th century New England Camp meetings which led to conversion and how similar practices function today. If all goes well I should be writing by the summer of 2009. I hope to graduate in May of 2010.
Other Activity
I still work as TA at BU and in my free time I continue to be part of the Order of St. Luke, occasionally supply the pulpit or preside over communion for a United Methodist colleague, serve as teacher and registrar for the Local Pastor’s Licensing School and spend time with friends. From November to January I learned some Old English Country and Early American Contra dances with a group who performed in period costume at the Peabody Essex museum in Salem. Friends Zach and Deb (who invited me to join them with the dancing – Zach is in the picture) 
gave birth to my 4th godchild, Zane Woods on February 25.
Forty and Fabulous
Life is an adventure and not nearly as predictable as I once imagined. If you had asked me 20 years ago what I would be doing today I would have been most certain that I would be married and have nearly grown children. I might have had some inkling that I would be serving the church, but I’d have no idea about the adventures of living in North Carolina, or Bonn, or traveling to England, or living in the Boston area for nearly 10 years.
Now as I’m turning 40 I want to be surrounded by people I love and celebrate life. This will begin with a Christian worship service in the sanctuary and be followed by a potluck supper (bring your favorite yummy food to share) and dancing (a mixture of folk and other sorts). Family, friends, colleagues, and your friends and family are welcome. This event will be very kid friendly! No presents except your presence requested.
