Lovely weekend.

[rivka]

On Saturday, Alex and I went hiking.

We've done it a few times before, and she asks to go hiking pretty often. But this was the first time we've ever taken the opportunity to leave Colin home and go off to the woods for what Alex refers to as "special girl time." She was very excited.

It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low 70s. Perfect for hiking. I decided that Cascade Falls would be a good short-distance, high-reward hike for a four year old, so we headed to Patapsco Valley State Park not far outside the Baltimore city limits.

I hadn't been up that trail in years, and in the interim they had reworked the bottom portion to prevent trail erosion. So I, um, missed the turnoff to the falls. Instead Alex and I climbed to the top of the steep ridge, meandered up and down a hilly path for a while, and then turned around and came back. We found the falls on the second try. Alex had a lot of fun scrambling around on the rocks and was very very proud to be able to cross the stream from rock to rock and climb up to the top of the waterfall. Our hike was made complete when we found a small snake swimming at the base of the falls and got to watch his progress around and between the rocks.

All told, I think we went about a mile. Maybe a bit more. Some of it was quite steep and slippery, so even with the short length it provided plenty of challenge and excitement. I was proud of Alex. I hope we'll be able to do it again soon.

Sunday at church we covenanted with our new minister. Seven leaders from the congregation (including kids representing the Religious Education program) charged Rev. David with leading us in various aspects of our church life, and then he spoke about his goals and intentions, and we all wound up the ceremony by pledging in unison to support each other in the mission and work of the church. It was inspiring. It's exciting to have a new beginning.

Have I said anything about the new minister yet? It's still early days, but I think he's going to be good. The most obvious early change is a vast improvement in congregational singing, which, frankly, was pretty wretched before Rev. David got here. (Q. Why are UUs so bad at congregational singing? A. Because everyone is reading ahead to see if they agree with the next line.)

Rev. David has a beautiful voice, and he leaves his mike on for the hymns so he can act as songleader. Also he asked the church to buy the new UUA hymnal supplement, which includes more contemporary and world music, and he's having us sing the same songs several weeks in a row to improve people's comfort and familiarity. Those changes are making a huge difference in how well the congregation sings, and since singing is one of my favorite parts of church it's making me very happy.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It all looks like a delightful weekend. I like the Q & A about Unitarian singing. (Hey, I used to do the same thing when the new Catholic folk mass songs came out.)

[naomikritzer]

My favorite UU joke:

A man is walking down the street, and sees a Catholic Church on fire. He runs inside and calls to the priest, "Father, Father, your church is on fire!" The Priest gasps in horror, then grabs the consecrated host and runs outside.

The man continues down the street. On the next block, he sees a Jewish synagogue on fire. He runs inside and calls to the rabbi, "Rabbi, Rabbi, your synagogue is on fire!" The Rabbi runs to the Ark, grabs the Torah scrolls, and then runs out to escape the fire.

On the next block, he sees a UU meeting house on fire. He runs inside and shouts, "Minister, Minister, your meeting house is on fire!" "Oh no!" shouts the minister; he grabs the photocopy machine and the coffee maker, and runs outside with them.

(Do you know the song, "God Rest Ye, Unitarians"?)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I do!

That is indeed a good one. My favorite UU joke, though, is:

Q. How are Unitarian-Universalists like Dracula?
A. They both originated in Transylvania, and they both shy away from the cross.

[redbird23.livejournal.com]

I like:
Q: What constitutes diversity in a UU parking lot?
A: Five Subarus in a row, all in a different color.

And the "joke" about the reading ahead leading to bad signing is really not a joke. I'm pretty sure 3/4 of our congregation does this, and I've been guilty of it myself.

I need a church icon.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Updated version: five Prius in a row.

And that's not really a joke, either.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

This post put a huge smile on my face. I've never met you or Alex, but I can just see the two of you scrabbling over the rocks. What fun! I think that I'll take Luke for a hike this week. Thank you for making me think of it.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I like "What to Unitarians believe in? "We all believe in tea and coffee, and most of us believe in doughnuts."