1. Last spring when Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski retired from her position as rector of St. Andrews in College Park, for the first time in my life as an Episcopalian, I felt disoriented about where to worship. As this past weekend got underway, the Deke, out of the blue, said, "Let's go to Betsy's church on Sunday." Joy surged inside me. The Rev. Betsy Tesi was the assisting priest at St. Mary's in Eugene. She now serves in the same role at St. John's Norwood in Chevy Chase/Bethesda. We worshiped at St. John's today. I loved being back in the rhythms and truths of the liturgy. Becca Kello, a seminarian at Virginia Theological Seminary, preached a deliberative and deeply insightful sermon on today's first reading, I Corinthians 1:18-31. In it Paul helps the church at Corinth (and us) see that belief, which the world regards as foolish, weak, and low, is, in God's eyes, wise, strong, and powerful. Betsy was the celebrant. I loved kneeling at the Communion rail again and eating the bread and drinking from the cup. When the service ended, Betsy, the Deke, and I enjoyed conversation together. We visited Betsy's office. We made plans to meet somewhere after services next Sunday. The joy that had surged in me when the Deke wanted to worship at St. John's continued throughout the service and in our time afterward with Betsy.
2. After the Eucharist, we decided to buzz down to DC Brau. We arrived at someone's birthday party and the tasting room was packed with an exuberant bunch of people standing in small mirthful knots, talking, laughing, drinking, and, eventually, eating cupcakes. Yeah, it was kind of noisy, but the good kind of noisy, and we found a little table against a wall with stools and the Deke and I dove into some Citizen Belgian Pale Ale and Corruption IPA. Mike, DC Brau's resident beer historian, manages the tasting room on Sundays now and he came over to talk with us for a while, and the Deke offered to bring him one of the children's cds she recorded years ago. Mike also poured each of us about three oz. of some Wings of Armageddon that was not yet filtered or carbonated and it was like drinking beer from a pristine spring at Crater Lake.
3. We ended the day over at the Diazes. Molly served us a delicious chicken chili with cornbread muffins and we got in some time with Olivia, David, and Ana. It was a most satisfying way to bring a busy, fulfilling, and fun day to a close.
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