Sharing the world with Deb

One of my greatest joys here at LPTS is sharing the world with my friend Deb. When the hot-air balloons landed all around us back in September, I didn’t want Deb to miss the fun and experience and hurried to her apartment shouting, “Come out, Deb, you have to ‘see’ the hot-air balloons!” Deb uses a sighted person’s vocabulary such as “see” to actually touch objects and experience the world. I took Deb to the basket of one of the balloons and she was able to feel the entire basket and the balloon as it was lowered down to the ground. She was able to get a sense of how big the balloon was and how it flies. This was the first time Deb had “seen” a hot air balloon – very cool!

Other items I’ve “shown” Deb are the various baptismal fonts at churches we’ve visited, as well as the baptismal font in our LPTS chapel. Each is different – for example, the font at Crescent Hill Presbyterian is a hand-blown glass bowl which sits in a wooden base and the font in our chapel here at LPTS is a large wooden octagonal design with a white ceramic bowl inside. The wooden cover for the LPTS font is very heavy making it somewhat inaccessible.

Deb says I have a certain knack for sharing things with her, which I attribute to my earlier desire to share the world with my children and now my desire to share it with my grandchildren, Tessa and Marley. It is just a second-nature to not want anyone to miss out on what is going on around them, whether it be Tessa, Marley, or even Deb. I simply ask her if she wants to “see” whatever it is and usually, she does! She is very adventuresome and takes great delight in experiencing new things, which in turn, excites me. I’m blessed to have Deb in my life.

Sacred Worship Space

I have come to realize that the sanctuary design at Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock is something not to be taken for granted, yet that is exactly what I’ve done for the 25 years I've been worshipping there. WHPC’s sanctuary is a hexagonal exterior design signifying the six days of creation and an octagonal interior design signifying Sunday as the eighth day of the week – both beginning and the end – alpha and omega, which in turn signifies our Almighty God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here at LPTS, while the chapel is lovely and has many distinguishing features, such as its inverted boat ceiling design, its beautiful contemporary stained glass windows, it is nonetheless, a hierarchical rectangle design with a single center aisle and rows of pews on either side. The worship experience, then, is one in which only the backs of peoples' heads are seen. In addition, the choir resides in the balcony, behind and above the congregation. What the WHPC design creates during worship is a sense of worshiping in community with one another. It allows everyone to see one another’s face across the entire sanctuary. So whether or not a worshiper has the opportunity to speak to everyone at any given worship service, you still know and feel you were present with them because you can see their faces. My daughter, Ginger said it best when I tried to explain how much I missed worshipping in such a setting. She said, “It’s like we worship giving each other a big hug.” When worshiping in such a setting, it’s also like the pews stretch out from our fingertips and as we embrace one another in a communal hug, we are embraced by the arms of God. For 25 years I’ve worshiped in this space yet it was not until I came to seminary and no longer had the opportunity to worship at WHPC every week that I discovered the value of its design. In addition, the choir (and organ) reside in the back of the sanctuary, which allows the music and voices to flow through the congregation and yet allows the choir to worship as a part of the congregation. I now know that if ever I have the opportunity to participate in the design of a sanctuary, my home church’s design will be prevalent in my mind’s eye as it is sealed upon my heart for eternity.

Missionary Friends

In early October my favorite missionaries, John Mills and Pablo Feliciano were here in Louisville to attend the PC (USA) Mission Conference downtown at the Galt Hotel. I provided shuttle service for them to and from the airport and we shared a couple of meals together, too. We were invited to breakfast at the home of fellow LPTS classmate Carlos and his wife Norma who are from Guatemala, which meant “home cooking” for Pablo. Norma prepared black beans, tortillas, eggs, and toast, and of course, hot sauce for everything! It was all muy delicioso. In the course of a very fast espanol conversation that John and I couldn’t keep up with, Carlos, Norma, and Pablo discovered they have mutual friends in either Guatemala or Mexico (I couldn’t tell which). We truly live in a small, small world! It was wonderful to see Pablo and John and visit with them. I would like to do a field education experience one summer with Pablo and Jan in Ocosingo. Please pray with me about a way to make that happen.