Dinner with the Bishop and more...

Dear Friends,

So, there has been some excitement in the 20s/30s group in the last couple weeks. Not to say that there isn't always excitement, but sometimes there's a surge that really pushes us forward in a short amount of time. I'm going to try and keep this brief, so let's keep the wisecracks to a minimum.

A couple Saturdays ago we had a wonderful Eucharist, a little Rite II style for those of us who grew up in a little less "high church" kinda church. And we had a guest: Greg Kay! Greg joined us to help out with our greater discussion of how the 20s/30s was going to start the community outreach aspect of our ministry. He brought a lot of great ideas to the table, and a booklet of opportunities for us to peruse. So, hopefully very soon we'll start checking out different organizations and seeing where the 20s/30s group is needed and feels at home. We'd really like to find one organization that provides opportunities for everyone's preferences. Once we find that place we can really dive in which will allow us to be a little more Christlike and will also give us a common experience with which we can share and develop as a group. After Eucharist we went to Pearl Street for drinks and dinner, which was a lot of fun. Really great hanging out with Greg Kay if you haven't done it before, and we think that maybe we'll start asking more people in the parish to be special guests in the future.

The following Monday we were invited over to the Bishop's house for dinner. Bishop Michael and Carol were lovely hosts, serving chips and salsa and homemade guacamole (one of my favorites!). There was also great wine and homemade margaritas just before dinner. For dinner we had tacos, and flan for dessert. As I said, I'm trying to keep this brief, so I won't go on about how great the food was. But, if you're lucky enough to get an invite to the Bishop's house for dinner then I suggest you do what you do for Thanksgiving and starve yourself during the day so you'll have a hardy appetite when you get there. Bishop Michael and Carol are so delightful and great hosts, they will be missed when they leave.

As the summer approaches (or is it already here?), we really want to transition into summer in a few ways. One is the community outreach aspect. Another is that we want to start adjusting our gatherings to more summer-centric ventures. For example, on June 23 we are going to see The Tempest at Shakespeare in the Park. There will be more to follow on where we are meeting, but I suspect that, like all things 20s/30s, we'll most likely have a very loose structure. A final way in which the 20s/30s is transitioning into summer is that we want to have more free form social gatherings. The way we envision this playing out is that more people will step up to have barbecues at their homes or picnics or just to go out drinking. There really is no reason why a group in our demographic should not be able to use the group network to enlist a few delightful people in ventures that aren't inherently religious in nature. Thus far I tip my hat to Jason and Jim, who invited the group to their home for the Burns dinner, and also to Gus, who throws parties at her house almost monthly and always invites the group. I, for all my procrastination, definitely plan on having people over for beer and barbecue. So, if anyone is having or would like to have a social event and invite the 20s/30s group, just contact one of us or someone in the church office and we'll make sure to post it. And I promise that we'll all bring our own alcohol (and probably enough to share), and we won't proselytize anyone.

Lastly, Andrea submitted another piece to me that she wrote a while ago and wondered if I would post it. I decided to tack it on to the end of this, so it is included below. It's really a wonderful piece, and if you are interested in some thoughts from a fellow 20s/30s, I do suggest reading it. I'm going to give a little disclaimer, but this does not reflect on Andrea. It's more administrative. The 20s/30s can only survive in the church as a place where young adults feel free and unhindered by the professional church to speak their minds and share their feelings. We are in a transitional time, being old enough to make a commitment to the church, but young enough to still not know exactly how we feel about everything that the media and greater community are throwing at us. So when you read Andrea's piece, don't judge it for its content if you don't agree; respect that someone else very close to you is thinking about these things and is willing to share those thoughts with us.

A. Peter Snodgrass


Scientists say that the entire universe has been created from one inconsequentially tiny piece of - well, I don’t know what- but that this thing was smaller than an atom. Smaller than an atom. It’s impossible to imagine. On the other hand, it’s impossible to imagine the entire universe, which those same scientists still say is expanding and goes on and on and on- ad infinitum. How could one smaller- than- the- tiniest- speck of super matter create everything in the known universe? And still keep creating? It leads to one conclusion- God.

You don’t have to believe in God. And I’m not going to say, “You don’t have to believe in God because God believes in You!” (Frankly, not even I am that hokey.) After all, we all have free will. And I’m not saying that my idea/ conception/ belief of God is THE interpretation and that everyone else is going to HELL! The problem with organized religion is that their definitions of God are far too simplistic and narrow and, I suspect, that even if you put all of the religions together, amalgamated them into something, it would still be too narrow.

I tend to think of God as a male, probably because that is the notion that I was advertently or inadvertently raised with (I’m not sure, which.) This is also despite the teachings that God is neither male nor female, but still that is the idea that lingers in my head- big guy, booming voice, white hair and beard, muscular, handsome- rather Zeus like, I suppose. I know that this is not really God. God is so very much more.

And what is it with this fixation with “I’m going to hell!”? “Oh, I know I’m going to hell for Saying/ Thinking/ Doing …” What makes you think that you’re so important that God has time to worry about what You did, have done, will do, thought, or said? Asides from the biggies- murder, child molestation, genocide, serial rape, abuse (spousal, child, other)- do you really think that God- with everything in the entire universe to worry about/ preside over/ deal with- that God has time and energy to worry about the everyday little things that humans do? God has much bigger fish to fry, like stopping wars, ending famines, helping us to save our planet- and these are just some of the things that are on our planet, on our little world, and then there’s an entire universe out there that we can’t imagine, that we can’t even begin to comprehend! And persons have the nerve, the audacity to say, “How can this happen to Me!” like you’re so special that you should be exempt. I say just be thankful and count your blessings. We’re so little and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and here for such a short time, barely a blip on the universal radar, that we need to remember to live our lives in the best possible way, to the best of our abilities. What else really matters?

Andrea Szymanski