Fire-Hunter (Book Review)

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When I was a kid I had the good fortune to read Jim Kjelgard’s Fire-Hunter. After we had almost given up hope, the San Bernadino County Library located its copy and lent it to us via inter-library loan. So I had the good fortune to read it again. Wow. What a great book.

Fire-Hunter is the story of Hawk, a sort of “stone-age Tom Swift,” and his main squeeze Willow. Hawk is banished from his tribe for a crime he didn’t commit (more or less; I’ll breeze past details like that so as not to spoil it). You might think Willow is along for romantic interest, but you’d be wrong. None of that mushy Clan of the Cave Bear stuff in this book. (Although she is, to the very limited extent that Willow factors in the book at all, a sort of a strong role-model for any girls who might inexplicably find themselves reading this book.))

Left alone to die in the paleolithic wilderness, Hawk turns the tables on fate. Instead of dying, he invents the throwing stick, the domesticated dog, and much much more. He also fends off the bad guys (and bad animals, like dire wolves and sabertoothed cats) and generally demonstrates that Bill Gates wasn’t the first high-tech entrepreneur to become rich and famous in their own time.

Of course it’s all fiction. But it’s fun. My kid joins me in giving it two thumbs up.

World Communion Sunday

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As you know, I was ordained a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) eight days ago, on Rosh Hashana. This morning I officiated in my church’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This was the first time, since in the Presbyterian Church, you can’t administer sacraments until you’re ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament. Until today, the closest I ever got was to stand up next to my field ed supervisor when she officiated at the Lord’s Table.

Since today was also World Communion Sunday, this first-ever time officiating at Communion was particularly special. The lectionary passage was Mark 9:38-50, a passage that certainly lends itself to ecumenical application. As a result, I had no trouble putting together a sermon, despite the hectic (travel-packed) schedule last week.

However, I learned that it’s hard to maneuver around the Table while wearing a 16th-century robe and a whatever-century-it-was stole, today being also the first time I wore the official get-up. I also learned that practicing the liturgy isn’t enough: you also need to work out with the servers who will stand where, and when, and whether the pastor is served first or last, and other practical matters of that sort. But most of all, I learned not to misplace the last page of your sermon.

Truly moved in.

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We have definitely moved in. I spent the morning assembling my new elliptical trainer (a close relative of this). The Tony Little Gazelle was giving me calluses on my feet, and it was always meant to be a stop-gap. Now that we’re in our permanent home, I could get a true elliptical again. It’s been about 10 weeks since I did any exercise (not counting loading and unloading moving vans) but I was able to do 25 minutes tonight.

We also got NetFlix. The first set of discs to arrive were:

  1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2, disc 6. I’d seen all the rest of that season, courtesy of the Mercer County Library, but that final disc (a 2-part season finale, go figure) was scratched beyond the ability of my DVD player to play.
  2. The Empire Strikes Back original theatrical release on DVD. I thought about buying these, so all my other Star Wars discs could have company on the shelf, but I came to my senses in time. They don’t pay pastors enough for that kind of foolishness, but now I have it on DVD temporarily. Then, hypothetically speaking, counsellor, I suppose I might have used Wiretap to record for my own fair-use rip/mix/burn purposes the instructions Darth Vader gives to his flunkies 1:53:07 into the movie.
  3. Walking With Dinosaurs. A bone thrown to the next generation. Actually, I like these too.

The next thing in my queue is Back to the Future. I’d have a copy of my own already, except it appears to come only in a three-pack. The other two movies are watchable, but nothing I have to own.

Back in the office

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Well, Colorado was swell. The ordination went swimmingly, and it was truly wonderful to see so many friends from my old church. My pastor invited me to assist in worship the next day. Since the paperwork hadn’t gone out yet, my membership had not yet been transferred to my new Presbytery. I didn’t have to get permission to labor outside my Presbytery, since I was still in it.

I got back to California on Tuesday, and was back in the office on Thursday and Friday, working on a sermon. (“At Dunkin Donuts, it’s always time to make the donuts.”) I also located and began practicing a litany ((?) church terminology always confuses me) for the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper. My seminary PBUI didn’t offer a Word and Act class the semester I wanted to take it, and frankly I probably wouldn’t have taken it if they did. All I needed to do was to run through the litany about 45 times and I might have it down well enough to get through the service. And if I’m wrong and I don’t, well, I can console myself with the thought that Martin Luther nearly spilled the wine the first time he celebrated Communion.

I have pictures. But I haven’t learned yet how to post them. There’s a way that I’ve used in the past, but I can’t believe it’s the right way. I want to look for a better way to do it, and only fall back on the kludge when I’m convinced that there’s nothing better.

Ten days on the job. Time for a break.

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I started pastoring on the September 10, and worked all last week except Friday and Saturday, my days off, except that I secretly worked some then too so I would have a sermon to preach on the 17th. (Not the whole time: we also went to Joshua Tree National Park.) It’s been a pretty good week or 10 days. Lots of surprises but only a handful were unpleasant.

But now it’s time for a well-deserved break. I’m off this weekend, so I can be ordained. You see, this past week I wasn’t officially a Pastor, because Pastors are Ministers of Word and Sacrament. I’ve been some kind of stated supply layperson. (I have no idea what “stated” means in terms like that, but Presbyterians use “stated” all over the place, whenever we start talking about our polity.) Anyway, this weekend I’ll be ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. No raise in pay comes with this change, but I will be entitled to use the title “Reverend.”

Unexpected danger at the office

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Prior to going to seminary I’d never worked in a church. I mean, I’d been an adult volunteer who participated in the various ministries of the church, but I’d never been on the church staff. So I never “worked” in the church. But I do work in a church now.

(In fact, I’m the only one in the building for much of the day, depending on what committees are meeting and so forth. (And in case you’re planning a robbery, I will point out that the only cash in the building is what I have on my person. So run that through a cost-benefit analysis first.))

Anyway, I’m discovering things I wouldn’t have guessed. Like for example, it turns out that freezer in the kitchen has about 10 partly-full half-gallon packs of ice cream. I discovered that today when I was looking to see if the freezer had an ice-maker. (It does.) Temptation being just as prevalent on church grounds as elsewhere, I immediately started hearing the whispering voice inside my head point out how this is the perfect crime. Who could remember how much each of TEN ice-cream cartons had in them? The only way I’d be caught is if someone weighed me. On the other hand, you have to figure that with 10 packages in there, some of them probably date from 2003. (“An excellent year.”)

Truck is unloaded

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(I’m still offline. My computers are mostly still in boxes, but Verizon won’t turn on our DSL until nearly Labor Day, so what’s the rush?)

Anyway, yes, the truck is now unloaded. It took us 1.5 days times three or four workers to load it, but three people unloaded it in just over 5 hours on Tuesday. (It was supposed to be Monday, but if we wanted a more reliable service we could have paid a couple of thousand dollars more and got one.) We packed during a heatwave; it was probably 90 or 95 degrees in New Jersey. Here in the desert it was probably no hotter … but “it’s the dry heat” so much more comfortable.

Speaking of comfortable: we liked to killed ourselves loading the truck, because we didn’t have those hernia-preventing belts that people who lift things us. It took about a week before our backs began to un-cramp. Lesson learned: we each got a back-saving belt (about $12 at Lowe’s) and only a day later our backs are fine.

So far all we’ve unpacked is our beds and a couple of dishes. Now that the truck is unloaded (and should be disappearing today sometime) we can take as long as we want to unpack our boxes. Years, even.

I did take seven boxes of books to the church. I only did enough unpacking to find my NA27 and JPS Tanakh. The rest I can unpack anytime.

California, Here We Have Come!

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Well, here we are. Ten days of traveling and ten nights in hotels, 2859 miles of driving, and now we’re officially Part of the Problem.

I stopped off at the new church yesterday but any further contacts there will be on the sly, since I don’t officially begin until September 10. We get our house on the 14th and we unpack the moving van (actually the trailer, which the tractor will drop off there) on the 14th and 15th. Then I have two whole weeks to figure out how to be a pastor, because it wasn’t a big part of what we studied in seminary.

Land of Enchantment

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We left New Jersey late Saturday, travelling through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee (again), Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, before arriving here in New Mexico today. And do you know what? The prettiest one of the bunch is this one. It’s not even close. I don’t mean that Tennessee is ugly. There are pretty things the whole way. But one look at New Mexico and you can immediately consign all the others to “also ran” status.