"Christ Centered Character Curriculum"

Today was long. It began with a meeting at St. John's, York Mills, with the working group developing this new curriculum I've been talking about. We met for about 3 hours and made tremendous progress in narrowing our focus. We even gave what we are doing a name--"Christ Centered Character Curriculum" (CCCC). We also decided on our "key" virtues to develop and several other aspects of what we are doing. We also drafted a logo! The group's enthusiasm is infectious, and I'm looking forward to our next meeting. It's nice to know we are on target with this developing work.

I didn't have long at Church before I had to go to my singing lesson with Hallie. Lately I've been working hard on the Exultet, which is a hymn the Deacon singing during the Easter Vigil liturgy. It's probably the most difficult piece in the standard Anglican priest repertoire. I say "standard" because Anglo-Catholic parishes can have other, more challenging pieces. But for most Canadian Anglican Priests, the setting of the Exultet in the musical appendix of the BAS Altar Book (aka The Missal) is about as hard as it gets.

I've been working hard on it, and I'm doing well. Hallie says my intervals and diction are excellent. She would like to hear better phrasing (I'm taking too many breaths). Also I can be a bit "pitchy" in the beginning section, which in my case is about settling into a home pitch rather than about knowing what intervals I'm trying to get. Good thing I have a few weeks to get it closer to perfect.

After my lesson I went on a grocery run and then got home and started cooking supper for some friends that were coming over. I made a relatively simple salmon dish. Here's the recipe...

Salmon With Lemon-Pepper Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil plus additional for brushing
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
6 6-ounce salmon fillets
1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) watercress leaves and small sprigs
Fleur de sel
6 lemon wedges

Whisk yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in small bowl. Season with salt and generous amount of pepper.

Whisk honey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, shallot, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Add salmon fillets and turn to coat. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour, turning salmon fillets occasionally. Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line large baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil. Transfer salmon fillets, with some marinade still clinging, to rimmed baking sheet. Roast until salmon is just opaque in center, about 14 minutes.

Place 1 salmon fillet on each of 6 plates. Drizzle with lemon-pepper sauce and garnish with lemon wedges. Serve, passing additional sauce alongside. (modified from this recipe on Epicurious)

I also sauteed some bok choi, roasted some asparagus, and prepared a nice salad. Our friends provided homemade cheesecake. It was a nice evening.

Now I'm ready for some sleep.

-t

A Light Day

The Corporation Meeting on Friday morning went well. Various initiatives were discussed and shown to be on-track. There is plenty going on, and there are many hands on the plow.

I had a singing lesson with Hallie--that went well. Afterwards I spent some time with a woman I give care to. I would say that she is schizophrenic, though she denies that she is mentally ill. Anyway, I spend time with her every few weeks listening to her. The primary thing I can do with her is simply be someone who pays attention to her. there are precious few that regard her.

Came home and had supper with Betsy. I went to bed, but I'm still not sleeping well. The stress and the cats have something to do with this.

Today we are cleaning the house and having a relatively casual day. Megan is on to preach tomorrow morning, so I don't have too much to do to prepare. I'm glad to have a light day.

-t

Urban Ministry

Here's a picture that helps remind me that I really am doing urban ministry....The door to the alley behind the church
It says "Jesus Freak."

It's easy to forget that we are near the heart of a huge metropolis--much of Toronto feels less "cityish" than many of the other places I've lived (like Los Angeles or even New Haven). I've heard some other people living in Toronto say the same thing--something about how spread out things seem to be.

Today I had a conversation with someone who decided to convert to the Roman Catholic church from the Anglicans. She said that the Anglicans are not "clear" enough about what we believe. She said that we tend to try to make room for everyone, and that she wants her child to grow up with a laid out and defined set of beliefs. I suppose if that's what she wants than she is not far off the mark, we Anglicans are notoriously slippery on doctrinal matters. It's one of our great strengths, actually. The focus of defining churches according to doctrinal stands is really, in my opinion, a product of the reformation. It leads to a very head-oriented kind of Christianity. Yet Jesus was no systematic theologian. His ecclesiology had more in common with the Emerging Church Movement than the mainline traditions (IMHO). Anyway, I'm a big-tent kind of Anglican--but just how big should the tent be? Whom to do we exclude? There was a famous ethicist who searched for something that everyone could agree was wrong. What he came up with was "killing babies for no reason." Indeed, I think we can all agree that's outside the Anglican tent. But what about people that don't believe that Jesus was Divine? Or that Mary was a Virgin? Etc., etc. There is no answer to this--just the observation...

I'm seriously interested in adopting a new cat--but Betsy quite reasonably thinks we should wait until after the BSC. Sometimes the best part of a project like this is the expectation....

Had a good lesson with Halley today. she's pleased with my progress. Right now I'm comfortable between A below middle C and middle C. Beyond that I tire out very quickly. So Halley worked with me on focusing on relaxing all my muscles except the ones actually involved in singing. It's hard not to scrunch up your eyebrows or frown your lips when reaching for that high note. Relaxing into it requires a lot of concentration. Reminded me of meditation.

Mom comes tomorrow. That should be a good time!

-t