Yes, I’m still writing up my winter adventures and am not ready to publish. This weekend was dedicated to getting over a cold, which I did marvelously. This week has been so insane that even I have skipped some meals because I was too busy to notice the time go by. As you can tell by my posts, it’s been good insane, though. One might argue about my priorities, but I’ve felt the burden to post and less need to finish all my German homework (don’t tell) or worry about what the other musicians will think of me. Life at the Schola is coming along well but I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve signed up for too much. No problem if I have, all of it’s voluntary! I wonder if I’ll ever be able to have such freedom in later times of my life . . .
I went to Basel Christian Fellowship (English speaking church) again on Sunday and I have to say that this time I was riveted from start to finish of the service, including through the triple-Episcopalian-length sermon. A little foreknowledge helps with that I’m sure, but who could not pay attention when it appears the church teaches the best form of human government is a monarchy? He didn’t say that, but I had to keep my mind sharp to follow and found his strong message warning against putting our faith in human government extremely important. I can probably bet we don’t agree on politics, but I can agree that the best government is a monarchy with Christ as King! Amen! Unfortunately, he hasn’t begun his earthy reign yet - though who can say “unfortunately” of God’s work?
On a less serious note, this time I managed to remember the name of the hymnal: The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. I prefer to read it “thuh” rather than “thee” but I suppose that’s a matter of taste. I am happy to say only one hymn made me giggle (the leader saw it, too – oops!) but I just can’t help it when I hear the style of hymn. No offense to anyone. Of course all silliness was forgotten because they also sang one of my (everyone’s?) favorites (even if they did leave out an important verse): Be Thou My Vision. (Any guesses as to which verse they left out?) I’ve been singing it all the time ever since as a way to train my wondering mind away from certain preoccupations that have been consuming me lately. I don’t care what anybody says, for me, good music and good poetry (with good theology) bring me closer to God. But I digress yet again. . . I discovered that I’ve been singing one word wrong for a long time. I must have memorized it correctly then at some point switched the word. At the end of the last verse I sing “High King of Heaven, THY victory won” but it is really “MY victory won.” Maybe I changed it subconsciously because the battle is the lords (another favorite song) or maybe so I could shrug of my duty to fight the fight to the end. It’s food for thought anyway.
After the service I became a little too animated discussing the sermon with the preacher, but he took it well and I hope to remain more demure next time. I’m impressed he took the time for me and took me seriously. Wow, actually, I appreciate it more looking back on it. I haven’t found many a preacher willing to do that!
A group of eight of us went out to lunch in honor of the birthday of a sweet American gal who is teaching at an International school just over the boarder in Germany. I think about half of the crowd is associated with the school and it turns out it’s only about a 20 minute walk from my place. She greeted me with super-warm southern hospitality both times I visited so hence I was able to tag along for her birthday lunch. We had great Turkish food in Germany and enjoyable conversation. It was here I met the Stephan who has made an appearance in the comment section of my blog. He’s Swiss, but his mother is American so he’s well-versed in American speak and American culture (probably better than I am). The surprising thing is that we had similar experiences in Japan. The details were different, but needless to say we had plenty to talk about. I just hope we didn’t bore the other lunch guests with our talk about Japan. If they were bored, they were too polite to show it. Stephan’s year in Japan was fur the back, but he now travels there on business and in fact had just gotten back from Japan the day before.
After lunch a few of us ended up spending the whole day walking, talking, drinking tea, and enjoying the gloriously sunny-but-cool day. It was truly a restful Sabbath.
I talked about Monday in my “God’s Blessings” post and today (Tuesday) was normal, but for a special trip with inlingua to the History Museum. Only two students signed up, so we got to have an intimate tour of the museum with a German teacher from inlingua. We mostly talked about what we saw and thought, which is of course my favorite part of working in a new language!
Now it is time for bed, and once again a short update has turned into a long ramble. . .
