Merging is an Ongoing Journey - Current Task Brought Back a Memory

 The other day I was talking with someone about the candles as I filled them with oil.  I've always had some affiliation with the candles in a church.  It now is one of my weekly behind-the-scenes tasks to fill the candles with oil.  This was something I had also done at Wappingers when my father wasn't able to take care of it any more.

But I was also reminded of the time before we had oil candles.

Candles on the altar, Easter 2012

The candles posted here are still the oil candles, but there was a time before this when they weren't.  They were white candles that looked very similar. 

But there was a trick.

At the end of the service, after the acolyte had extinguished the candles, after the postlude, when someone had to pull down on the top part of the candle while the wax was still warm and pliable. 

Again, a task my father had done until I learned how to do it and then I enjoyed doing it.

It is interesting how some memories come back at random times. Like this memory of the candles, from who knows how many years ago.

Merging is an Ongoing Journey - When Life Seems to be Repeating Itself

Thanks to apps on my phone like Timehop I am reminded of various photos and things I took in previous years. Today my phone reminded me that it was a year ago when our Pastor (and many others) were away on a trip. In an effort to not burden the lay servants in church, he was just looking for someone to take care of the service except for the sermon, which he pre-recorded. For reference, this was last year's blog entry about that event: My Pastor is Unique.

Well, yesterday I had a slightly similar experience. For a different reason all together. Our pastor needed to save his voice, so there were a couple of us lay servants who were asked to guide worship services, both our contemplative service and the regular service later in the morning. 

Life seems to be repeating itself.

What was also funny is that last year I had bought this gigantic bottle of water to help me get through the service, I guess because it was warm. While I don't have proof of it this year, I also bought a pretty large bottle of water to get through yesterday's service. I didn't drink as much this year as I did last year.

But life seems to be repeating itself.

Life does seem to do that from time to time. There are things that are familiar that happen around the same time every year.  At work we have a cycle of when things happen in the life of the college. At church it is the church year when things happen, days or seasons are celebrated, and there is familiarity and sometimes unfamiliarity.

Sometimes life repeats itself. It can be exactly how something was or with slight differences. It is just how we handle those things that makes the difference.

The sky from the parking lot at PUMC on 9/18/2022