Sunday, 22 July

Wow, am I tired!

I got up this morning, and walked to the church at 7:30 am. I didn't realize it was quite that early, but I was ready to get on the with day. I had decided not to drive because the only parking for the church in directly on the side, with only one way in (incidentally, it is also the same way out). I didn't think I was quite ready for backing out into the busy traffic on Tay Street, and there is no room to turn around, really, in the parking area.

I got to church, no one was there, so I let myself in, read over my sermon, etc. Then, I grabbed my robe and went over to St. John's Kirk to preach at the 9:30 communion service. The pastor there, Liz Brown, is the hip woman I was telling you about. St. John's is a famous church because it was there that John Knox preached such a rousing sermon against the Catholic Church that the congregation stoned their own priest and tore everything down in the church. Thankfully, my preaching was not that rousing. Everything was going smoothly, until I stood up to do my part. I didn't have a Bible. Argh! Liz had to go get me one from the vestry as we just waited in the chapel area. It worked out ok, though. And after worship, it was time to rush back to St. Matthew's.

I got back to the vestry at St. Matts, looked at the bulletin, and realized that I had printed the wrong scripture passages! Arrgh. It worked out ok, but I felt like and idiot for the second time today.

When worship was over, I posed for a picture, which will be the in local newspaper. Then, I stood by the photos of the church at Encino and explained to people what they were looking at. After everone had left, I changed back into my comfortable walking shoes and went to the movie theatre. They were having a sneak peak of Transformers, which doesn't officially open for another week. I saw it, I lived to tell about it. I won't say the movie is total rubbish - but once the robots started to talk, I just wasn't interested anymore.

The movie ended and I still had about three hours until I needed to be at my third speaking engagement. So, I walked over to St. Catherine's Retail Park - thinking there would be a lot of shops to poke around in. WRONG! The Retail Park has a TK Maxx (exactly the same as TJ Maxx, but apparently they couldn't afford the J), PCWORLD, a bed store, electronics store, a carpet store, a sporting goods store, and their equivalent of Linens'n'Things, except that theirs has more "things." I did find two cute little art projects - canvases with an elephant print on one, and a zebra on the other - it came with oil paints, a palette and two brushes. They are really cute, kid-like pictures. But, being the kid at heart that I am, I will have fun doing them.

Then, it was back to City Center, where I sat and waited on multiple park benches to pass the time until I arrived at the church. The 6:30 service there is very informal, the music is contemporary, and I really enjoyed it - very peaceful, and meaningful at the same time.

Now, I am home, getting ready to heat up various leftovers before I turn in for the night. Tomorrow, I have a 9:30 appointment with a woman who is getting married on Saturday. I also have lunch scheduled with an older couple in the church. They are taking me to a golf club.