The Weekend

This weekend has held a lot of miles and a lot of feelings. Friday morning R and I took off for the Big City. We had some wedding-related things to do....getting him measured for his wedding finery, picking up his ring....and Saturday was the consecration of our new Bishop. All of these things very happy, joyous and celebretory. The trip up was good overall, the weather cooperated, always an important thing this time of year, and we enjoyed the time together to talk and "just be." It was marred only by one thing....we saw the tail end of what looked to be a really bad car accident. Semi vs car at a foggy intersection. Today I read in the paper that both of the people in the car were killed. A seventy-nine year old pastor from the small town near where it happened and his seventy-eight year old wife.

The Consecration was amazing. We had a great turnout, the liturgy was solemn and joyful all at the same time. The music and prayers represented the flavor of who we are as a Diocese as well as I think a bit of who our new Bishop is. There was everything from Lakota chant and drumming to Hmong singers to contemporary Christian music, traditional hymns and Shubert.

Immediately after the Consecration R and I jumped in the truck and headed off again to his dad's. His health has been declining for a while now and he had decided not to go to the annual President's Day gathering, so we were off to spend the rest of the weekend with him at his place, make sure he was getting some good meals into him, had his fridge stocked with leftovers and was good to go for another week.

As we were finishing the lunch dishes today I got a call from a friend. A mutual friend of ours had a stroke last Monday and has been in ICU all week fighting back. Today the news is that she is losing the fight. She apparently had another stroke and has little brain activity as a result. Her parents were on the wrong side of a closed freeway (blowing snow) and were struggling to get here to make the most unimaginable decision a parent could even have to make, to remove her from the life support. A group of us will gather later this afternoon to pray for her, tell G stories, offer each other some comfort.