The Eighth Sermon to the Dead

When I started the work, I wanted my success to aid in the success of the Church of St. John. That's my kingdom, that's my goal, to expand the church and my own role and influence. At first, I took a lot of time looking at how I could do that. I'm already a fairly central member of the Church: I'm the treasurer, I'm on the Apostolic Council, and I have a great deal of influence over what happens in the liturgical life of the Church. However, I wanted to concentrate on the local level, and look more closely on what I could do at that level.  And I set a goal. I wanted to have seven new church bodies (Narthexes, Missions, etc) in 5 years in the Pacific North west. I also wanted to lay the ground work so that, in 5 years, I could build a permanent site for Johannites to come to. I wanted it to be out of the way and natural, so a slight pilgrimage required. I also wanted it to be something unique, something truly Johannite. That's the 10 year goal. In this wor...

I'm working on my earth pentacle. You can see a finished one here . Mine may not end up looking exactly like that, but similar. I decided to make mine out of a piece of maple tree that my landlord had cut down, to give the senseless act of 'trimming the tree' (in which he proceeded to cut down all the branches on one side so it's lopsided and ugly) some sort of beneficial meaning. I cut a small piece off of the but end of one of the larger pieces. It was nicely sized, but uneven. I've been trying to even it out since October. Using my dremel, I've gotten a variety of bits to sand, grind, and cut the piece to the proper thickness and smoothness. It's been a tortuous process, and hasn't worked well. So finally, I'm taking a piece of sandpaper and sanding it by hand. As I do so, I'm having much less task orient thoughts. I'm thinking about how material things are like this wood under my sand paper: No matter how permanent seeming, they ...