Sunday Church and RRR

I rose from bed, sending Deborah a ‘good morning’ text to start at 7ish. I can usually finish the blog before church on Sunday now that the First United Methodist Church Sunday service begins at 11:00. But I must admit that Deborah and I spent some time texting back and forth, and I could not find focus for a while. I had to rush the last bit. I forgot to include that I got sort of out of sorts and made cookies to feel better on Friday night. I had a box of Trader Joe’s Pfeffernüsse mix, which I had never tried before. It was easy and fun, and a favorite holiday cookie for me. I will have to learn to make them from scratch.

Returning to the narrative, I wrote and wrote, and time was flying. I had to rush the finish and publication of Saturday’s story. I cleaned up, shaved, and dressed in slacks but with a festive gold vest over a dress shirt, a watch chain, and a green Santa tie. Black shoes with dark socks finished the outfit.

Air Ford (Escape) crossed Beaverton to the church without issue or traffic. No active agents of the City of Beaverton were tracking alignment to traffic laws that I saw. I arrived with ten minutes to spare. The service was filled with the usual members and no guests. The once-a-year guests start arriving as we approach Christmas Eve.

Michael R gave the sermon, and another person, an adult, was baptized. An unusual event for an older congregation and well received. It was Joy Sunday of Advent, and the advent candles were lit without the usual stressful difficulty of using a four-foot brass candle lighter being done by a child.

An easier disposable long-necked lighter made short work of the task. As the senior usher, I miss the past misadventures, having done this for years from 1990 to about 2015, but I agree that the point is to light the candle and not create a fuss, but still, I miss the old ways and the fun of watching some use the oversized candle lighter.

A newish script was also used for the baptism, but while I knew the words from the hymnal, the usual version, I thought the newish words were better. While the process is being done, I also think the trick is that the water is warm; if the pastor only sprinkles the water, then someone puts cold water out. There is no reason to make a child scream from cold water! Also, adults need not be dampened with cold water, making them even more nervous and self-conscious. As a trained usher, I know the water needs to be fresh and warm, even hot, from the tap in a Methodist Church.

Watching from the pews, the service ran well, with the choir and the congregation singing the familiar pre-Christmas songs. Michael R promised a ‘fire and brimstone’ sermon but was more direct than scary. ‘Mercy, No Sacrifice’ on Micah. Michael R points out that the Hebrew text tells the story that God wished not endless sacrifice to be appeased but the practice of mercy by God’s people. No amount of sacrifice or work would stay God’s punishment except the one thing the people would not do, showing mercy to each other and themselves. Michael R warns us directly that no amount of sacrifice or good work can pay off the debts of injustice. Michael points out that the translation for the Hebrew word is also kindness. Without kindness, a sacrifice or other works are counted worthless by the Lord. God warns us through many prophets that no amount of sacrifice, no matter how great, will pay the debt. Michael R, in a firm voice, reminds us that we Christians must remember to bring mercy with our works and gifts at the peril of facing God’s anger when we fail.

After the service, I handed out to a few men the three-wise men gifts I got in small bottle sets. My usual gift from the ‘wiseguy.’ I soon headed out, wishing everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I rushed home. Corwin ran late for a 2PM movie, RRR, at the Hollywood Theater in NE Portland. I stopped at the house and then waited for Corwin in Air Ford (Escape). Traffic was unusually messy (a warning for my travels to PDX for my flight on Thursday). I had to park in the same ramp parking that I got a ticket from. Growl. I waited until I saw the app clear my payment (what got me last time), responded that I was finished, and ‘Yes, send me an email receipt.’ I was covered. We got a seat near the front. RRR is a modern film, and this is a digital copy from India that uses the entire screen with an insane level of detail and eye-water bright colors (we could see every muscle to the delight of many fans yelling behind us, “F**k, yes’).

We had to do without pizza and drinks as the usual slow line promised, missing the movie’s start. The show starts with a violent crowd fight. No spoilers, but if you think my favorite John Wick movie is too much, this makes that look like a kid’s movie. But it is so fun. Then there are the three dance routines that rock, with the last one in the credits with the audience clapping along.

The movie experience is from 2 until about 6 with an intermission. The line was long again, and food and drinks were not acquired. The storyline changes and comes to an excellent, if not predictable, ending. It felt like the stars and directors tried to make multiple movies and put them together in RRR. Fun. Violent. Dancing. Perfect if you don’t mind reading words.

We found Laughing Planet for dinner. Good food for dinner. We had the special with pork. It is my favorite chain for reasonably good food at a good price. I had an IPA, which seemed the right beer after RRR. Corwin had a kombucha. We boarded Air Ford (Escape), and I could not get the iPhone to connect with sound to the entertainment center. I restarted the car a few times but forgot to open the door (yes, really) to cause the entertainment center to restart. That got it. Yes, it is a strange ritual to summon the iPhone, but as a cultist, I know it is unwise to question the procedure and to just always follow it.

My colon, without warning, made the drive home more desperate than usual. The removal of 25 cm of the descending colon for colon cancer means the loss of those nerves that inform you that it is time to find a restroom soon. Instead, it feels more like a rush to the finish now that the last part of the descending colon is connected to the mid-colon, thus providing little feedback. The lymph nodes, twenty-three removed, I think that was the count, showed cancer, and therefore, chemo was also included in my treatment. I am living a mostly everyday life with no signs of the cancer spreading. I arrived home safely and without losing control. I left Corwin in the kitchen while I found a release.

Corwin got his last Christmas gifts, and I took him home. I returned to Air Ford (Escape) and felt tired, rested, and slept after talking to Deborah and wishing her a good ending for her evening. I relaxed and napped, too.

I rose again, checked some travel details, and surfed the web, spending some time on the new surprising findings on the Hubble Tension–One of the physics assumptions may be wrong as the measurements show a discrepancy that cannot be explained by errors in the readings. The assumption that the basic properties of the universe, the Hubble Constant, are unchanged over time appears to be failing. Nothing in our understanding of the universe would account for a change over time in the Hubble Constant. It is not the usual Internet noise but actual published and reviewed science with years of effort.

Soon, I took a shower and climbed into bed. I am still reading SciFi and science stories in the previous issue of Analog. I have a subscription and carried this issue to New Orleans and Michigan, but I did not find time to read it except on planes. I finished a good story about the history of our understanding of the rise of humanity, how it has changed over time, and how it has been written about in SciFi. The following short story, proudly stereotypical, was about a cop in the future who did not enforce the artificial intelligence work permit rules because the AI makes incredible donuts in Philly, with a comment from the donut-loving, admittedly fat cop that stereotypes exist for a reason, and maybe not bad reasons.

With that wisdom bouncing around in my head, I fell asleep, turning up the music to cover the rain (preventing me from worrying about the yet-to-be-cleared eavestroughs). I woke up a few times as I was cold, and the music woke me a few times when it got loud.

Thanks for reading.