Does anything ever change?

5/13

Spend the morning with John working on budget and business plan issues. Stephen and Teddy (no vintage Ruth era ball cap today) to negotiate our agreement with Woodshed. Still trying  get both Sacred Center and Woodshed in the house.  Even offer to them my own office if it will make  a difference.  We’ll think about each other’s proposed changes. Get back together in a week. See if we can finish it up.

A woman comes in. Claims  to have tripped and fallen on the sidewalk. (Oh no, not again.) Has a black eye. Took me outside to show me the place on the sidewalk where she fell. I explain to her that we’re working with the city on the whole sidewalk issue. She has a a cab waiting. Working on a documentary about her life as a holocaust survivor. Smiles and says maybe she could screen her film here. I explain to her that’s exactly the kind of place we want to be  in the neighborhood.  We will continue the conversation. Leaves in her cab. 

I find two men in the church. Older. Looking around. Look retirement age.  The white haired man goes off on a semi-rant. About landmarking. The size of my congregation. How this building will all come down, you’ll see.  How people don’t fear God anymore. Think God is a friend. 

Danielle has developed two rolls of film she found. I look at the pictures. An amsterdam Avenue Street Festival, years ago. I see the enthusiasm. People who have left over the years, for various reasons. Moved away. Literally. Or just in spirit. Children who are now so much older.  A bit if sadness fills me for a moment.

Introduces me to his partner.  Thinner. Wirier. Glasses. Walks with a limp. A subcontractor. Worker in the trade. Has a lot to say about the roof. About slate. The white haired man speaks of  Catholic churches. Names two priests. I know them both. Have a deep friendship with one of them.  The men have  all kinds of ideas. Want to help. We take their information.  We’ll see.

Danielle and I work for two hours on the Centre website, rewriting copy about the concert series, the artists, organizations involved. It’s better when we’re done. How do we get the paypal account happening? It’s late in the day. I wish the week were over. I miss Grace.

5/14

Saturday morning. Danielle and I there to let in Larry the electrician. Figure out what needs to be done.  And to meet with session members who had met with the Administrative Commission the Monday before. Danielle has found a stack of old books from the 1800's. Old handwritten Session minutes. Records of weddings. Baptisms. Funerals. A mid seventies mission study and report to Presbytery. Concerns about finances. Membership size. The mission study before Bob Davidson. Does anything ever change? Do these cycles just keep repeating themselves?

Marsha and Jim arrive.  Figure out what to say to our session Sunday after church.  Feelings are running high.  Later in the day, between a wedding rehearsal and a wedding, I stop in to pick up my Book of Common Worship. It’s very quiet.