Pinhoti Trail Hike

Yes, we are crazy. Yes it is August, and we live in the deep south. And yes, we went on a 6-mile hike last weekend. We hiked the Pinhoti Trail from the trailhead at the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail and went south to the Oakey Mountain shelter, then back again. It was a surprisingly comfortable hike, as our neck o' the woods was experiencing an unusually cool and not-so-humid day.


There's a beautiful spot just before the Pinhoti leaves the bike trail called the Terrapin Creek Watershed. (And I must apologize for the poor quality of the photos - we forgot the Canon and had to rely on the cell phone. And we don't have one of those fancy high-tech versions!)


From the valley we hiked up, along the boundary of the Talladega National Forest, to a new shelter on OakeyMountain, built by the Pinhoti Trail Alliance.

To get to the shelter you hike along the ridge of the mountain for quite a ways. It's summer, and the trees are in full leaf, but we were still able to get one good pic from our eyrie across the valley below.


We've failed miserably in our quest to get a lot of hiking in this summer. Or perhaps we simply underestimated the allure of air conditioning in 95 degree weather with 70% humidity. Regardless, as the weather starts to cool next month, we have grand plans. ::heh:: And you'll be the first to hear about them!

Anamnesis

I learned a new word today! Anamnesis (The philosopher would be so proud... well, he would if he actually read my blog. He's of the firm opinion that if I want him to know something, I should tell him face to face. He doesn't believe me when I say I'm much more eloquent on paper!)

Anyway, new word. I especially like the "Encyclopedia" entry in the link above.

So we did have a busy weekend, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Friday we went to the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta and laughed for a solid 2 1/2 hours at "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged." We met up with some fellow Stand Firmers, Matthew (aka mousestalker) and his delightful wife. Much fun was had by all! It's amazing. We met folks with whom we have a lot in common, we went to the same college, we have similar religious beliefs, the same opinion of what makes food nasty (it's all about texture!)... and we never would've met if it hadn't been for blogs. How cool is that?

Saturday was my father's birthday. Happy birthday, dad! In three weeks we'll start up our Saturday Football days again, and I'm so looking forward to it. Go Noles!!!! WooHoo!

Sunday we headed south to my sister-in-law's house. Her family has grown by one with the addition of Milton the puppy, who was *completely* worn out at the end of the day by our niece, an active 2 1/2 year old. My mother-in-law was there too, and it was wonderful to visit with her as well. We arrived home late to the indignant protests of the cat. I had neglected to feed her before we left, and she was extremely cross. (as an aside - she had plenty of dry cat food in her bowl. I merely neglected to use my opposable thumbs to pop a top on a can of food.) Finicky beast.

So I have two days of work this week, then I get my last "mini-vacation" before The Holidays. I can't believe it's August already. So I'll leave off this rememberance of things past and work on completing today's projects!

Political Spectrum Quiz

OK, since everyone else is doing it... ::snort::

My Political Views
I am a center-right moderate social authoritarian
Right: 2.26, Authoritarian: 1.67

Political Spectrum Quiz


Not surprising at all. I'm a neo-conservative and a cultural conservative. (As probably any of my two readers would've guessed if they read my blog post about Crunchy Cons!)

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: 4.06



My Culture War Stance
Score: 5.75

The G. S. E.: Church C

So this Sunday we ventured forth for another installment of the Great Sociological Experiment! This time we visited another Baptist church, but one *very different* from Church A. Church C was founded in 1902, and maintained that "traditional" feel in terms of the sanctuary and facilities. It also proudly proclaimed itself as Southern Baptist, both on its website and in the bulletin. Oh, and no lobster tank! Instead, the baptismal pool was discreetly tucked away - visible to the entire congregation of course - but not clear-sided like what you find in Red Lobster.

I think powerpoint has become ubiquitous. Thppt. And they also had drums. But no electric guitars... just a piano, clarinet, flutes, and some brass... non-amplified. We sang a mix of music, some from the Baptist Hymnal and others from the current praise music scene. The choir was large, but surprisingly unenthusiastic. (More on that in the next paragraph.)

Here's an interesting side note, though. We suspect this congregation is currently in a crisis about their music styles. There were many more seniors attending, and from where we were stitting not a single one sang the praise music. They stood there stonily, not even pretending to sing (as one often does when one doesn't know the music). When we sang the hymns, though, the older folks were much more participatory. (Heck, who wouldn't sing along to "Victory in Jesus"??) So we think there's a conflict with the music leaders - the seniors don't hold for that new-fangled stuff! And we both noticed it independently, so it was pretty obvious.

The preaching was definitely of the "old-style Baptist". He said some good things. Using John 15:3-5... we should be cleansed from sin, then cling to Jesus, then cultivate ourselves in that relationship in Christ. Still, it's hard getting used to a 45 minute sermon!

This service was by far more comfortable than Church A. Church A was just so... LOUD. Too much flash and not enough time for prayer, maybe. Or when there was time for prayer, the music was still overpowering. At Church C there was a much better balance of prayer, and worship, and message.

I'm still not sure about their small group/sunday school offerings. There wasn't much info in the bulletin, and their website failed on that count as well. I just don't see any indication of a broad small group program of any kind. There's a college ministry, and a seniors ministry. and a singles ministry (The singles ministry, which has an announcement for a trip to Atlanta "Singles! Join us for a Braves game, and bring your family!" A little dissonant, eh? I know what they meant, but it just sounded wierd phrased that way.) But there's nothing on any other small group options.

So the experiment continues!

Adult Sunday School

I'm on a roll this week, aren't I?

I’ve been posting on our visits to different churches, and wanted to elaborate on a comment I made earlier this week. It’s a simple question, really. Why do adult Sunday School organizers assume that ‘same-gender, same-age’ groups make the most sense for adults? I can buy that for children, maybe, but adults?

I am a married 40-ish woman, without kids. I’m nerdy and intellectual. So I don’t necessarily have the same interests as other married 40-ish women. I am not a fan of Beth Moore Bible studies. I don’t really want to talk about “bringing God to your children.” I’d rather study some of the works by Augustine, or the Church fathers, or heck, even C.S. Lewis. If it’s a Bible Study I want something that gets to the meat of the texts, not just the poofy parts. But when you can actually FIND a class that offers those, it’s usually a men’s group. So I am decidedly un-inclined to go to any Sunday school class at all.

I’ve heard of ONE church (several states away) that has a great way to do Sunday School. Teachers pick the topic, then anyone who is interested in that topic can join. That’s the only restriction… you have to actually be INTERESTED in the TOPIC. This runs for three months. Then the groups disband, a new list of classes is announced, and off you go! Amazing. And you still meet folks and make friends. If you attend the classes that are typically nerdy and intellectual, then who else do you think will attend the class? Yup – other folks who are nerdy and intellectual! If you like Beth Moore, and you go to the classes that offer Beth Moore, you meet other women who like Beth Moore.

Brilliant!

So for those of y’all out there who are Sunday school planners for your churches, think about it. Are you really helping by enforcing age and gender parameters on your adult classes?

The G. S. E.: Church B

So, last week we undertook Step Two of the Great Sociological Experiment and visited Church B. It was a large PCA church, well established with a nice website. (Heck, what did churches do before they had websites??) We arrived about 15 minutes before the service, and parked. I was exceptionally happy that no one met us with a golf cart, and I was also happy that the church campus had excellent signage so we found the main building quite easily. As we walked in a greeter asked if we were visitors, and showed us into the sanctuary. Organ on one side, grand piano on the other. Choir stall against the center wall in the front. Pulpit in the center. A large screen which indicated the upcoming use of powerpoint. (sigh) The choir director looked oddly familiar... yup. He was the chorale director at my high school. Have I mentioned how WIERD it is to live in my hometown again??

Announcements, and apparently they're in the search process for a new pastor. The layman gave a very good talk about the process, so it must be a recent thing. The choir.... ahhhhhhhh. Four-part harmony. Absolutely beautiful. And we sang out of the standard hymnal. Ah, creeds. I love the Apostle's Creed. The sermon was good, but as the philosopher mentioned later, very predestination-ist. (Is that a word?) And this pastor too also mentioned God challenging you in your complacency by taking you out of your comfort zone. (Is there a message here??!?)

Afterwards several folks stopped us and welcomed us and introduced themselves. It amuses me that the philosopher is uncomfortable admitting he's, well, a philosopher. He says it makes people uncomfortable when they hear the answer, like they don't quite know how to respond. So I told him that he should tell whoever asks, proudly, "I teach philosophy at the local university!" And if they are freaked out by that then it's their own fault for asking! ::heh::

But I liked this service much better. "Of course you did", you say, "it felt more like a liturgical service!" Yes, you are correct. It was familiar, and that has a very powerful draw. So this week, the philosopher gets to pick where we go to visit. He's mentioned a Roman Catholic parish, and another Baptist church as possibilities. So we'll see what happens next!

An Aside:
I've been noticing in my research that adult sunday school classes are almost always organized by AGE. I'm a middle-aged woman, but Beth Moore Bible studies are poofy and tedious to me. Yet that is often what the Middle-Aged Women Sunday School Classes use. Pfft. Why don't they organize classes by TOPIC, that way those of us who want to do an in-depth study of, say, the early church councils can do so, and those that like Beth Moore can do that somewhere else?

The Great Sociological Experiment

As you probably know, the philosopher and I are Anglican. Unfortunately for us, we live in an area of the country where there is a paucity of Anglican churches (at least of the kind we would be interested in joining). So we've come to the point where - if we want to worship weekly with a group of Christian believers - we need to find a different denomination. One of the things we both deeply desire is the opportunity for fellowship in small groups, an opportunity to meet folks and "make friends." It sounds a bit childish, perhaps, but when you're in a place where you have few face-to-face friends, you realize how much you long for that kind of friendship.

With that in mind, we decided, rather than go for a church which is "closest to our theology", we should look for a community that has Christ-centered teaching first, and lots of opportunity for fellowship second. The philosopher immediately dubbed this our "Great Sociological Experiment." We would be venturing out of our comfort zone of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and into the world of Southern Baptists, PCA, Bible churches, Methodists, and goodness knows what else. And who knows, maybe we'll learn a little about ourselves too.

Our first visit was to Church A, which we identified as the "stealth Southern Baptist" variety. It's one of the largest churches in the area, with "Community" situated prominently in the name. Their website was filled with information... however, it wasn't until we went to the regional Southern Baptist website that we realized they were listed as a member of the regional Southern Baptist convention. (Thus the phrase "stealth-Baptist.") We showed up about 20 minutes before the service, and were met in the Visitors Parking Area by a nice gentleman in a golf cart, who toted us to the main doors. (How embarrassing!) We walked in and stopped at the information desk, situated between the two doors leading into the sanctuary. We were given a hearty welcome and a hefty packet of materials (including a DVD). The sanctuary? At first glance it looked like a concert hall with squishy chairs and a lobster tank. (OK, I discovered a bit later that the lobster tank was a baptismal font with one side glass so everyone can see the full immersion...) Full choir! Full orchestra! Repetitive praise music all the time! Electric instruments! Booming sound system! Video equipment for the weekly tv program! Powerpoint screens in three prominent locations! Immersion Baptism! Loud and exhortionary sermon ending in an altar call! SENSORY OVERLOAD. Whew.

Reactions? (Other than the ringing of the ears and the slight dizzy feeling?) The preaching was all about getting to heaven, so that was good. And the preacher did say one thing that stuck with me. He talked about God putting us in uncomfortable situations for a reason, so we can learn how to better serve Him. Yeah. I am So There. I also like praise music, probably more than the philosopher, and I enjoy singing with a guitar. But I prefer hymnody, and I deeply appreciate a choir in four-part harmony singing beautiful choral anthems. So I don't know that I could worship that was every week. There's just too much going on and not enough "down" time. They do have about 50 Sunday school and small groups, tho. That's a plus!

I plan to continue posting about each church we visit. So look soon for the next one!