Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Festival Blogging

J and I are now installed in our Minneapolis hotel. I'm conferencing and J is relaxing, maybe taking some pictures, stuff like that. And, E is at Camp Grandma with his two other 5 year old cousins. They are going to have an awesome time. J and I are a little bereft with missing him already, so last night, we dealt with our feelings by eating from the vending machines and watching TV.

Eating from vending machines = not all that satisfying, although there is a certain nostalgic pleasure from indulging in one of St Paul’s Own Pearson’s Nut Rolls.

TV = still overrated. Except for How It’s Made: TV for Nerds. And Seinfeld, of course. And dont worry, Seinfeld is on all the the time.

HDTV = really, really overrated. Who wants to see everyone all wide like that?

But what you REALLY want to know about is the conference, right?

2 great preachers already -Tom Long (Who is a rock star, although he said my least favorite preacher thing "the disciples just did not get it..." which is a sermon I've heard too many times already. About which more later, maybe) and Anna Florence Carter (who is a rock star, too, but like one who used to live next door to you and babysit your kids when they were little). I've loved Carter's book, in part because I thought it was probably written just like she talks, and it turns out that it is.

Before that, there was a choral music concert and I'm wishing I would have gone to dinner instead of that– there’s a certain kind of choral music that I don’t need to hear all that often. I’m not exactly proud of this, just recording the facts, ma'am.

However, if you've ever wondered what hymns should really sound like, try to get 6000 or so preachers (according to some Big Dude, "more clergy per square inch than anywhere else in the world") and get them to sing right out of the Lutheran hymn book. And you will get goosebumps, even if you usually dont care about that sort of thing.

Oh! And I saw some people - a guy who's married to a woman a used to work for a thousand years ago, the pastor who married me and J in Seattle who we both love, and several cool bloggers (no time for links now, but you know them and love them, too). So that part is really fun.

Ok, off to be homiletical. More later.

6 comments:

Diane M. Roth said...

great to meet you!

p.s. it occurs to me that there was a Luther Sem alum thing to (which I suppose I OUGHT to have gone to). glad to meet all of you, instead.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

I am thinking the same thing about how hymns should be sung. WOW! I don't get much hymn singing at my church, and to hear them sung by a packed churc o' preachers gave me goosebumps once or twice!

Diane M. Roth said...

oh yes, and hope you liked your Pearson's Nut Roll.

Jenell Williams Paris said...

Enjoy Minnesota -- I'm jealous.

Sue said...

I was SOOOOOO delighted to meet you!!!

I too love me some Pearson's nut rolls. I confess I bought several to bring home.

Pink Shoes said...

I think I saw you from across the room on the last morning, and thought, again, How great to meet her, and find that she's even more lovely in person than I could have imagined.
Thanks for being so cool!