Misa and Junta

11:52 AM, 18 January 2011

The mass was good.  I was nervous as I spoke since Dori was translating, and I had two or three heart attack moments.  First, I  was recruited to help with one of the songs.  We sing "Hallelu" (with the two parts and the standing and sitting) and I lead one of the parts.  Well, in the process of moving from my seat to standing my sermon got shuffled around and through the readings I had no idea where it was; I was going to have to wing it.  I'd wanted to wing it/be more extemporaneous, but Stefanie said that in her experience of using a translator it was good to have notes since the pauses have potential to make one lose one's place.

The second was during the Gospel reading.  It was in Spanish and I didn't recognize any of the names that she was saying as part of my lesson.  The Bible had gotten misplaced, so she read a story from the Children's Bible in Spanish.  How do you preach on a text that no one has read to the group?!  You say "In the text I looked at, this is what happened."  It was fine and no one was pissed or upset or felt slighted.  Mistakes happen and that can cause things to break down, but they didn't.  I preached.  And I deviated from my manuscript (adding things), but I enjoyed giving it.  I was pleased with the final product.  Dori and Stefanie said I did well, too.  I'll get the text up this week and try to get audio from my 4 Advent sermon up next week.  There is video of this past Sunday, too.  When I get it I'll edit it and put it on the YouChubes.

Sunday night there was a meeting.  No, I guess it was Saturday night.  The local board met about some decisions about some kids who live here and shared some of that with the kids and wanted them to do better.  I think it was Saturday because Stefanie and I talked about it on the walk to the soccer field on Sunday morning.  Regardless, the Hogar has students from 6-24; they support people through university and there is a strong emphasis on having a good education.  The board needed to make clear that some actions have certain consequences, and they did.  I think it was done lovingly and they didn't take too long.

Sunday night what really happened was there was TV and dinner.  And one of the things that Fr. Scott said is good about GOEs happened.  One of the boys here asked us what Jesus means when he says he is the truth. We didn't have Raymond Brown, and we had limited Spanish and we had to answer him.  We talked some, but we were thinking on our feet quickly.  Being in a tradition that likes nuance and scholarship is great (I love it), but there are times that having an easy answer would be, well, easier.  That's not a question that we just take as an easy answer question, but we had to have some answer right then without access to scholarship. So we tried.  Then we had drinks with Dori on a porch as the evening cooled down.