What is a perfect moment?

A perfect moment is sitting on a boat in the evening, the gentle waves of the marina pulling the craft ever so slightly against its moorings, a lulling rocking.



The fading exhiliration of adventure on the water draining stress and tension from muscles still taught from straining on ropes.



Old friends laughing together, coiling ropes and drinking cans of Blue Moon Bavarian White beer.



Recognizing a piece of music on public radio, crying out, "I've played that! When did I play that?", and the rush of joy when the recollection comes rushing back and the strings and organ come pouring out from not only the radio, but out of memory. And when the laughter drowns out the title of the piece, still lost in the overcrowded oblivion of memory, taking another sip and looking up into the heavens, stars winking around the top of the mast, the orchestra in the mind pulsing in time with the lapping of the wavelets on the hull.

gradgitation

let us commence

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for Park Street Church. Our associate minister, Daniel Harrell, has been called to serve as the head pastor at a church in Edina, MN. This Sunday he gave his farewell address, speaking at all four services. It was a highly emotional day for everyone, especially since Daniel has been on the ministry team at Park Street for 23 years! This is what they printed in the bulletin about him:

Gratitude for 23 years:
Farewell to Daniel Harrell, Associate Minister

Growing up in North Carolina, Daniel began his ministry in Young Life and InterVarsity. While an editorial cartoonist in college, he majored in psychology and religion (UNC Chapel Hill, 1983). He honed his ministry manifesto “to have fun” at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv, 1988), and twenty-four years ago this June, he joined Park Street’s staff as youth minister. Since then, he’s earned a PhD in psychology (Boston College, 1993), taught as an adjunct professor (GCTS, Fuller, Gordon, BU), written a book on the compatibility of faith and evolution (Nature’s Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith, 2008) and on the 2008 Leviticus Project (How to Be Perfect, 2010), been minister of education, minister of outreach & urban ministry, and interim senior minister. In 1993, he led a team to launch the current Sunday Night format. The PowerPoint clipart, PSC logo, special Sunday Night services, Holy Week liturgies, and Thursday Night Homeless Outreach are all the work of Daniel’s hands. Daniel, his wife, Dawn, and his daughter, Violet, leave us now to start a new chapter of life and ministry in Edina, MN, where Daniel has been called to serve as senior minister of Colonial Church. Please keep the Harrell family in your prayers and take a few moments to say goodbye in the Welcome Center following the service today.

I took my opportunity after the service to shake Daniel's hand and assure him that he would do just fine in the Midwest, that his preaching style and his heart would be warmly welcomed by his new church. He was visibly relieved to hear such a report from someone who calls that region of the country home.

The day had a ceremonial feel to it, like a graduation. This effect was heightened for me because one of the hymns selected for the morning services was "For All the Saints," which is the song USF uses for the processional at commencement, and which I have played probably hundreds of times. By now one would think I'd be completely sick of the piece, and that might be true were I asked to play it again as a processional, but actually singing the words was a new experience for me, and thankfully we only sang it once. As an archivist I have a deep love for tradition, and hearing the familiar tune, I couldn't help but sing louder, as if I were on the stage at the Washington Pavilion, watching the graduates file past the faculty on the stage, sharing one last hug or handshake (wow, I'm really sentimental today, or possibly just missing the community of the USF faculty). I am probably the only member of the congregation who had such a visceral reaction to the hymn, but it just felt right for the day.

Daniel moving on from Park Street is a commencement of sorts. He is closing one chapter of his life (though another member of the ministerial staff reminded him he would always be one of use, echoing the words of Aslan: "once a Park Streeter, always a Park Streeter" [this will apply to me soon to, as I have decided to officially join the church this summer and will be attending new member classes in May and June!]) to begin another in a new place.

So many people in my life are experiencing a commencement, a new beginning, of one sort or another. My friend Brittany got married this weekend, and several other friends have weddings in the works. Many of my grad school friends are graduating and moving out in the next couple weeks. Dianna is headed to Japan to teach English literature at a university for the next two years, and she's leaving shortly after her own graduation, in only a matter or weeks. Other friends are soon to have their first child. It boggles the mind.

Today I finished two of my three final assignments of my graduate career. My Master's gown and hood have already been purchased and are hanging on the back of my dorm room door. I'm beginning to pack up boxes of books and clothes to ship home, move across town to my summer residence, or simply get rid of. And since services yesterday "For All the Saints" has been playing in my head nonstop, in spite of the peppy showtunes I tried to drown it out with.

Commencement is coming.

The grad school chapter of my life is almost at an end, and the next is about to begin. I don't know what this coming chapter will be titled, or what the setting will be beyond this calendar year. Beyond summer work and an international internship in the fall, I don't know what the setting or the content will be. But I know it will be great.

I say, bring it on.

Let us commence.

-Kim

The Wall and the Wing

This was probably the worst time possible for me to start reading a new book. I have several papers due in only a week, an orchestra concert and an art show to put on in a matter of days, and a very tight schedule to stick to to get it all done. But last week I was shelving in the children's section and this book caught my eye. I've been able to resist the books already in my room out of familiarity with their presence, but this exotic new book from the strange and distant land of the library was too enticing. I began reading it at work during a long, boring shift promoting the self-checkout machine and then had to finish it on my own time. Now that I've finished, I have to say that the distraction was worth it.

The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby is a delightful fantasy about a world where almost everyone can fly, if only a little. Gurl, an orphan at Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless, can't fly at all, but her life becomes much more interesting, if not less miserable, when she discovers she can become invisible and forms an unlikely friendship with a rare stray cat and a boy named Bug, who even kind of looks like one.

The main characters in this story are utterly believable, just two kids who don't fit in their world trying to get by. And the rest of the cast is so over-the-top it would be ridiculous if it weren't done so masterfully. There's the Professor, with grass growing out of his head and kittens in his pockets, Mrs. Terwiliger, the headmistress of Hope House who loves plastic surgery and plastic monkeys, and Odd John with a zipper on his face--don't ask what's underneath! Even New York City is bigger than life and full of real magic.

The pace is good, and the writing doesn't distract from the story, much. There were two tiny spots near the end where the dialog felt a little forced and preachy, but overall the craftsmanship is so good it just blends into the background. And even though I could see the biggest part of the conclusion as early as chapter 12, there were enough smaller twists and surprises to keep me satisfied.

All in all, it's a read worth your time, though I would wait to start it until after your work is done, because once you pick it up you won't put it down until the flight is over!

-Kim

I want this book

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/4/13miracle.html