brown hymnal?

Walk through these door ten years ago, you were in "GC" territory. That's General Conference on the denominational time line.

My first boss ever was Vern Preheim, a GC-er who rose to headship of the denomination by the time of the merger. He was my boss at Mennonite Central Committee for three years.

So I thought I knew something about GC. One important thing Vern never clued me in on. The 1969 hymnal is the brown hymnal. At my home church it is the red hymnal.

How about we merge brown and red and come up with rust. Who wants to sing out of the rusty hymnal? See that nice blue sign in photo? We all agree that the new hymnal is blue.

second day, first crisis

No sooner had the first benefit come, than the first pressure point came.

What about "Come to Bethlehem." First I have to find out what it is. Oh, the children's musical, complete with shepherds and angel outfits. AND, orchestra.

My mind is going pretty fast. Let's see--promotion, costumes, scores for the instruments, rehearsals, selections of songs.

This is way beyond me. Then Brenda and Gail walk me through the basics after choir rehearsal.

Children come first. Here's Olivia Hess, the first child photo I got. All the kids at Zion are going to get some memory of Christmas.

It's not a crises. It's just a pressure point.

What do I expect when a church music job begins the first Sunday of Advent.

"bones" free lunch

The second day on the job and the first benefit--free lunch at Bones Grill. How lucky do I get.

Here's the Zion staff loading up in Scott's van for the trek back to the office after a great lunch made possible by Erin Price winning a lunch for 20.

first day on the job

I walk in ready to go to work for Zion. Where to start. Hunter (seated) gives me a good orientation. At 11 Nancy (second from right on photo) gives me a good hour on choir orientation.

It takes another hour to figure out the computer and the programs the office is using. I find the refrig to keep my sandwich chilled. Late in the day I switch to organ, and practice and store my scores.

Then it's supper at O'Grady's family restaurant in Souderton, and from there down rte. 309 to Hunter house. At seven I meet with the worship committee, which is planning hymns for Advent. Discussion ranges far and wide. These people are sharp and fun. Also tenacious. I think it was all done by 9:15. (See if I remember all names: l to r, Kevin, Hunter, Joyce, Nancy, and Edie.)

Then home, discovering one headlight of the Neon is kaput, so I turn on the fog lights to compensate.

Bags are packed

It's the day before I begin at Zion. I should be scared, right? But I don't feel scared.

There's nothing like work to keep the nerves calm.

So, all morning I go to the hardware store and get what I need to wire up the lamplight. All afternoon I'm re-ordering my office. Dorcas, at home from a long Thanksgiving Day weekend, slaves away with me. In between, some orders for Harmonies products come in. Mostly Amish CDs. But some Christmas music. A Kercheval couple in California clicked on the sound sample and said, That's it. They called by telephone. Most orders come email.

Late afternoon Zion is on my mind. I hunker down on the sofa and select the organ books I'll take tomorrow. I go to the piano and play through the anthems I got at the audition. I read through, again, the Sunday worship bulletin I got several weeks ago when Hunter had me visit incognito. All the names! All the details!

I'm not ready. Yes I am ready.

Photo: my house where the lamp post was installed to far left a week ago

Pastor Hunter calls

I'm finishing a lunch of left-overs. The phone rings. It's Hunter. He said he'd call this morning. It's a little past noon. Last evening the church board was going to meet to consider offering me the position of interim minister of worship.

It's all clear, he said. It's a go.

That's big for me. I first spoke with him August 31. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My last email said to him, this is not just another gig. This defines who I am.

When do you start? I'll come next Tuesday, November 27. Good, he says. Bring anything you have about Advent. We haven't planned that yet. There's no time to lose. I'll be there.

That's me and Dorcas in the photo.