Sunday @ St. Mark

After a full night's rest (compared to tossing & turning the previous two nights) I woke, dressed and drove to St. Mark.  Since I was already 30 minutes late to The Breakfast Club I went up the choir room & chatted with one of the ladies I sit next to for a few minutes before rehearsal began.  

This month's theme is baby boomers, and we're singing many older traditional hymns.  I wasn't sure I'd like the old timey songs so much but that faded quickly as soon as I heard how beautiful they sounded with the full choir.    After going through today's songs we walked down to the sanctuary as usual.   It was nice to be back in the loft today - more so that so many people were in attendance.  

Adam, one of our associate pastors, gave an inspiring sermon based around the Samaritan woman who had 5 husbands, not including the man she was currently with.   His sermon was less like preaching, it was the most incredible form of method acting I've witnessed..    Adam spoke from the perspective of the woman and illustrated the story in a way I've never heard before.   It was amazing if only from the perspective of acting.  But it was much more than that. 

From what others said this was Adam's first sermon without a script.. he normally reads everything.  I hope he continues in this style because he was so much more engaging today than I've seen him in the past.  St. Mark is  blessed to have so much creative talent in it's congregation. 

Do they see me clearly, or darkly?

After service yesterday I met johnbutler at Tara where we saw A Scanner Darkly.  I hadn't read the book before (to be honest, I've only read V.A.L.I.S. by Philip K. Dick), so I didn't know what the storyline was in advance.  Besides being incredibly funny at times, the movie touched me because of how accurately it mirrors less attractive aspects of modern society.  Granted, few entranced by our own form of Death would see the significance in their own lives, but hopefully A Scanner Darkly will open more eyes to how nasty crystal meth is... and how, more often than not, it makes bad situations worse.

And, somehow, I can't imagine PKD would take joy knowing that his own work would become so prophetic.

At the end of the movie a note from Philip K. Dick is shown, after the names of more than a dozen of his friends passed away or had otherwise become permanently incapacitated - mentally and/or physically - from self medicating.  I feel sorry for those who have fallen victim to Death, knowing that with every little sniff their precious, irreplaceable brain is eaten away.  Every hit reduces their capacity to think and process information and increases their risk of cardiac failure and psychosis.  Yet nothing will stop addicts of this vile shit from turning away.. not when they've convinced themselves that it's the only solution.

Nothing sucks worse than watching a friend slowly die this way.

Showstoppers!

St. Mark Chancel Choir Presents a Summer Broadway Concert:



Next Saturday evening at 7:30pm, and Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Dark Tower XII

So there will be a seventh after all.. 

I enjoyed XI except for one minor turn of plot involving a certain author from the 70s.  That storyline seemed extraneous to my untrained eyes.