News Stories

ABC News last night ran several stories of interest to me. For one thing, there was a segment about one my favorite churches: St. Paul's Chapel, Manhattan. The Chapel barely (some say miraculously) survived the collapse of the neighboring World Trade Centre and became a centre of ministry to the rescue workers for months afterwards and then an important American pilgrimage site for years. They just cleaned enough of the 9/11 dust out of the organ to play it again for the first time since 9/11. Both Marilyn Haskel and Daniel Simmons, who were at the St. Gregory of Nyssa Conference in San Francisco with me last year, have brief interviews on the segment. Daniel is new on the staff of Trinity Church (which includes St. Paul's Chapel) and has a great job title: "Priest for Pilgrimage." Cool guy

Also in the news, I see that the Obamas went to St. John's, Episcopal, for Easter Morning worship. The are taking their time picking a permanent church home in D.C., but I'm glad that St. John's is considered a fine "safety church" for them to attend when they can't think of anywhere better! Actually, there have been a number of news stories (including on the Daily Show) about the competition between various churches in D.C. Several of the churches in contention have had their pastors vetted by Obama's people, no doubt fearful of another Rev'd Wright situation! It seems the President likes to take his time with decisions that aren't time critical. But at least he's finally found a dog!

And then there was the rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain... Wow. Imagine the skill required to shoot from a moving ship to a moving lifeboat and then the exponential difficulty of determining when all three pirates were vulnerable and then simultaneously shooting all of them. Don't mess with the Seals. I actually met a SEAL once, dude was short but tough as nails. As part of his daily workout he would tow a rubber boat behind him as he swam in the Potomac.

Other news... Everyone seems to have wonderful Easter Celebrations. I'm still elated about how well things went at Messiah this week. I'm so proud of my congregation and love them dearly. They are a fantastic group of people and I'm so happy that we beginning to harvest some fruit from the last year of work!

-t