The Week of 2/5-2/11- Hillary's California Adventure

The Week of 2/5-2/11
New Things: Hillary's California Adventure 
Inspiration: Stephen Ministry Leader Training

Reflection: Greetings to you all from Sunny Anaheim California! I am out here for Stephen Ministry Leader training. Stephen Ministry (SM) is a great organization that equips lay people to be skilled pastoral care givers. As a priest, I will serve as one of the leaders for this group and to support all of the fantastic Stephen Ministers we have at St. Davids. This seven day long training has been held in Anaheim and while it has been very fruitful, it has not left alot of time for sight seeing. However, I made very good use of my lunch breaks and saw snippets of the city. This is my second trip to Anaheim (the first time was for General Convention a few years ago) and so I was able to see abbreviated highlights of the major sights.  

Day one: The Block in Anaheim- The first day I got here, I had s little bit of time before the sessions started so I went over to "The Block" which was only a block away from my hotel. This outdoor mall has over 120 stores with some major labels. Since I am not much of a shopper, my favorite store turned out to be the ice cream store, but to be fair, it normally is. 

Day Two: First full day of training- Even though we had a few sessions on Sunday, today was our first full day of training. I was lucky to be seated with a really fun group of people and have already enjoyed the content. 


Day Three: 10 mile Anaheim run- Tonight I went for a 10 mile run all over the main sights of the city. I went past the Crystal Cathedral, on to Disney Land and then to the Angel's Stadium. The weather is just perfect out here and it felt really good to be out in shorts even though it is February.


Day Four: The Crystal Cathedral- Today at lunch I headed over to the Crystal Cathedral!! Here are some pictures from the last time I was there:

The Birth of the Silver Surfer?

Jesus walking on water, haling a cab, and pregnant?

For those who are not familiar with the CC (made famous from The Hour of Power ministry show) here is a little wiki write up:

Since its construction the building has been the principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a Protestant Christian church organization founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy in October 2010, and in February 2012 sold the building and its adjacent campus to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for future use as the diocese's cathedral. Under the terms of the sale the building and most of the campus will continue to be used by Crystal Cathedral Ministries for the next three years before being renovated for use as a Roman Catholic cathedral.

I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Schuller when he came to be a keynote speaker at Yale's Sacred Architecture Symposium. He shared a story about a person who came up to him while they were building the CC and told him that building a giant structure made entirely out of glass on a fault line in California was an impossible idea.  He looked that man right in the eye, reached into his pocket and took out a pocket dictionary which he threw at the man telling him to, "look up the word 'impossible.'" The man did and then looked up, mouth agape. "That's right!" yelled Schuller. "There is no 'impossible' in Robert Schuller's dictionary. Because I have cut it out!" Amazing. I love that thought that he was literally carrying around that book in his pocket just waiting for the perfect opportunity to have someone call something "impossible." Got to love to that power of positive thinking (which is that Sculler's theology is built around.) I have to say, it was pretty sad to talk with some of the parishioners there who are not at all pleased with the change that they are  facing. It's a sign of the times that even one of the most famous mega-churches could go bankrupt.

Day Five: A brief trip to Disneyland- OK- So, I never actually had enough time to go into Disneyland during this trip. However, my table group and I went over to the Disney Street section of the park which was free of charge. Even though I pretty much view Disney as evil marketing genius, you can't deny that they are able to tap into the wonder of childhood like no one else.

From my trip to Disneyland a few years ago.

Day Six: The Vans Skate park- Yesterday, I meant a member of an Evangelical church who is also a skater. He told me about the Vans Skatepark which was only a few blocks away from our hotel and is apparently one of the most famous skate-parks in America. So, I headed over there on my lunch break today to watch people defy the laws of physics. There were some amazing skaters who were just doing trick after trick. One kid was like 8 years old and was doing tricks that would make flinch because it looked like he was about to break his neck. But he would always land them. It was really cool to watch and I was enjoying myself until this creepy guy sat down next to me and wanted to "bounce some ideas off me as a woman about the two 'hotties' in his life and what he thought he had to offer them." Ladies, if you are interested, he does have a government pension to bring to the negotiation tables. Just let me know.

I go home tomorrow which I am pretty happy about that since I had a sinus infection hit me like a truck on Wednesday. However, this has been a blessing and I am very grateful for this spiritual enriching learning experience.

The Week of 1/29-2/4 - Bread, Milk & Candles

The Week of 1/29-2/4
New Things:  Bread, Milk & Candles
Inspiration: St. Brigid, The Feast of The Presentation, Anniversaries

 

The only use I have for beer ;)

Reflection: Hi all! I am writing to you from sunny California where I am at a Stephen Ministry Leader Training. I'll write more about that in this week's post. But until then here is last weeks highlights of new things. This was a great week for trying new stuff! Here are three of my favorite new things:

 

St. Brigid

 The Feast of St. Brigid- February 1st was the Feast of St. Brigid: Patron Saint of things like Ireland, milkmaids, cows, beer, poets, birds, the printing press, and abused children. She has always been one of my favorites. You may remember the way we celebrated her fest last year found here. For this year's celebration, I made beer bread and a tasty milk drink made with cinnamon and honey to share with those at home and the office. Beer bread was a staple in my family growing up and was my grandfather's favorite. I thought that beer bread would be a good choice since she had a vision of a lake of beer that she, Jesus and Mary sat and drank by in heaven. The milk drink was inspired by a recipe found at my dear friend Rebecca's blog and was so very good. I chose this drink because Brigid was a milk-made herself and many of her miracles have to do with dairy products.It was a nice way to have fellowship with all those I love and work with while celebrating this amazing saint. 

 

The Presentation

The Feast of the Presentation- The 2nd was the Feast of the Presentation. It also has special personal meaning for me as it is the fourth anniversary of my Diaconal Ordination. I spent the day with moments of prayer, a special Candlemas Bible study with my class and had a candle lit by my Marian icon which was written for my by Gaby! 

Finally, we celebrated Delia's 4th Baptismal Anniversary! As you may remember, that day 4 years ago was pretty crazy. (Here is the account of that day from last year's post.) We lit her Baptismal candle, I anointed her head with oil, and got her a special pizza dinner to celebrate. An awesome week!