Getting Old(er)

The Three Joes.  My dad, brother and grandfather.

I was looking at some of my family pictures from when I was a kid today.  It is kind of fun, looking at my siblings and myself and then comparing them to photos of my grandchildren.

I then had the very frightening thought that in those pictures, me and my siblings are the age of my grandchildren, my parents are in my children's age range, and that I am closer to my grandparent's age.

For example,  in this picture, my dad would have been in his early 30s and my grandfather (his dad) would have been in his late 60s.  It is worse when I think about my maternal grandparents, they would have been several years younger than I am now.

My son leads when communion time comes

There is a terrific piece in the Austin American Statesman today written by a man who has two children with autism.   Here is an excerpt.

No, this is not an old picture of me and John. 

Jeffrey has a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified, which we call "autism" for convenience. So here's my dilemma: Jeffrey doesn't have any understanding of Communion. Zero. He's not even baptized, and in fact, he had recently summarized his theology for me as, "At the end of the Bible, Jesus finally gets to come down from the cross."

So, I defer. But the next week he springs up again, as if "The gifts of God for the people of God" were spoken to him personally. He doesn't know about the historical controversy over Transubstantiation, he doesn't know that the Early Church believed that if you took Communion in the wrong way or with the wrong attitude, in the words of a local pastor, "God could freaking kill you."

Most of all, he doesn't understand my conflict with Communion. It is so laden with expectations, with the trappings of human authority, with a presentation that emphasizes transaction, with quid pro quo. Do this and get that. It can and often does feel forced.

Most weeks, my son John goes to church with me, and he is very welcomed there. 

When he first started attending, I had a conversation with my pastor, and I said that I didn't know if John understood much about God.  She replied, 'Who does?'   And she of course is right.   What works for me and John today is to let him participate as much as he wants and is able.  Most weeks that turns out fine.

Victoria

playing with my new phone

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Victoria's Birthday Cake

Victoria totally loves avocados, so her birthday cake was made with avocado frosting.  Victoria loved it!

Victoria is such a wonderful baby.  I am so thankful for the time we have together.

playing with my phone

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