Do NOT use this business! They have a POOR track record of charging your credit card and NOT delivering the merchandise!!!!!
Name:
Songs and Creations, Inc.
Phone:
(415) 457-6610
Address:
18 Mariposa Ave
San Anselmo, CA 94960-2809
It's been really frustrating!
Showing posts with label Stuff I Hate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stuff I Hate. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Can WeTalk?
Sigh. I have two retired pastors in Church-Around-the-Corner's congregation. One is an old-time EUBer, who I've known for years and the other just retired last year and CATC is his home church. I dearly love both of these guys. They have been valuable resources for history and advice. They also continually tell folks, "I'm retired. You need to talk to the Pastor." I really appreciate that.
Dilemma. The most recent pastor has also retired, but doesn't live in the area. So far in my tenure here, he's tried to get the Administrative Assistant fired for not finding his wife's transfer into CATC years ago. He's been inviting former parishoners to take cruises with him and his wife (You know - get six couples to accompany you and you get to cruise for free.) And last night, I was informed that he will be coming back to perform a baptism on June 28th for a couple who wants their baby baptized.
The cruise I don't mind. The Administrative Assistant issue and baptism I do mind.
The Pastor is ultimately responsible for the church records up-keep. It isn't the AA's fault that he didn't notice that his wife's membership had not been recorded. In fact, the records during his tenure have been hit or miss at best. In greater fact, his three predecessors had lousy record keepers too. Retired Pastor #1 (the EUBer) was the last best record keeper.
I appreciate the AA. She's like Message Central in the church. We get a lot of folks who just "pop" in. She is gracious and handles the interruptions well. She's also the gatekeeper for the Community Food Pantry which CATC hosts. She treats everyone with dignity and respect. She keeps track of meetings, meeting minutes, changing meetings and meeting reminders. (Previous pastor was never here, so PPRC only met once a year to set his salary.) She also puts together our powerpoint for worship. She juggles the demands of church and Community DayCare requests. She rocks! Is she the best secretary I've ever had? No. But she has my back and I have hers.
Previous Pastor got his shorts in a twist and demanded the Church Council Chair fire the AA. CCC ame to me and asked if I knew about the problem (Thank the Lord he is a reasonable and rational guy!). I hadn't and thought the request to dismiss her was a bit extreme and asked CCC to have Previous Pastor contact me. And of course, PP did not. And of course, AA wasn't.
PP was here last week to officiate at a interment of a former church family member who died on Good Friday. He and the family were close. I was told by a family member that he would be doing the service AND the church WOULD have a funeral dinner for them. I helped serve the dinner. And did PP talk to me? No. He said "Hi, Pastor," ate his meal and left. In all fairness, I didn't go to him either. He was constantly surrounded by CATC folks who wanted to renew acquaintances and I was busy washing dishes.
Now, we have this issue of baptism. Did PP contact me to ask if he could perform the baptism or did he advise the parents to contact me? No, he did not. PP performed dedications upon request (Not allowed anymore.) He performed baptisms upon request without counseling the
parents or the baptized-to-be if a youth or adult. He made my life more difficult by performing the dedications of infants. "But PP did it!!!"
But to come in and do this! June 28th is our GAP Service (Gather at the Pavillion) and we will be outside. We've already got the Worship lined up. And I got to tell the parents that (1) I will not let PP officiate (he can assist - if he asks me ) at the baptism and (2) June 28 will not work.
PP left this church a mess. His life was his Mission Corporation and he was not here more often than he was here.
I think I'm going to send him an e-mail and CC it to the DS.
Dilemma. The most recent pastor has also retired, but doesn't live in the area. So far in my tenure here, he's tried to get the Administrative Assistant fired for not finding his wife's transfer into CATC years ago. He's been inviting former parishoners to take cruises with him and his wife (You know - get six couples to accompany you and you get to cruise for free.) And last night, I was informed that he will be coming back to perform a baptism on June 28th for a couple who wants their baby baptized.
The cruise I don't mind. The Administrative Assistant issue and baptism I do mind.
The Pastor is ultimately responsible for the church records up-keep. It isn't the AA's fault that he didn't notice that his wife's membership had not been recorded. In fact, the records during his tenure have been hit or miss at best. In greater fact, his three predecessors had lousy record keepers too. Retired Pastor #1 (the EUBer) was the last best record keeper.
I appreciate the AA. She's like Message Central in the church. We get a lot of folks who just "pop" in. She is gracious and handles the interruptions well. She's also the gatekeeper for the Community Food Pantry which CATC hosts. She treats everyone with dignity and respect. She keeps track of meetings, meeting minutes, changing meetings and meeting reminders. (Previous pastor was never here, so PPRC only met once a year to set his salary.) She also puts together our powerpoint for worship. She juggles the demands of church and Community DayCare requests. She rocks! Is she the best secretary I've ever had? No. But she has my back and I have hers.
Previous Pastor got his shorts in a twist and demanded the Church Council Chair fire the AA. CCC ame to me and asked if I knew about the problem (Thank the Lord he is a reasonable and rational guy!). I hadn't and thought the request to dismiss her was a bit extreme and asked CCC to have Previous Pastor contact me. And of course, PP did not. And of course, AA wasn't.
PP was here last week to officiate at a interment of a former church family member who died on Good Friday. He and the family were close. I was told by a family member that he would be doing the service AND the church WOULD have a funeral dinner for them. I helped serve the dinner. And did PP talk to me? No. He said "Hi, Pastor," ate his meal and left. In all fairness, I didn't go to him either. He was constantly surrounded by CATC folks who wanted to renew acquaintances and I was busy washing dishes.
Now, we have this issue of baptism. Did PP contact me to ask if he could perform the baptism or did he advise the parents to contact me? No, he did not. PP performed dedications upon request (Not allowed anymore.) He performed baptisms upon request without counseling the
parents or the baptized-to-be if a youth or adult. He made my life more difficult by performing the dedications of infants. "But PP did it!!!"
But to come in and do this! June 28th is our GAP Service (Gather at the Pavillion) and we will be outside. We've already got the Worship lined up. And I got to tell the parents that (1) I will not let PP officiate (he can assist - if he asks me ) at the baptism and (2) June 28 will not work.
PP left this church a mess. His life was his Mission Corporation and he was not here more often than he was here.
I think I'm going to send him an e-mail and CC it to the DS.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Pastoral Courtesy and Integrity
Once again I seem to have found myself in a dysfunctional ministerium. There is another woman - an extremely part-time Episcopal priest - five male clergy and me. One of the male clergy is my husband. I know he's pretty high functioning.
Our ministerium has two Free Meths, one Catholic, one Lutheran, the aforementioned Epsicopal and us two United Meths. We say we want to be united for the good of our Small Town community, but I am afraid we are anything but united.
Father Catholic Priest painted himself into a corner a couple weeks ago with the Small Town Council and then sent out e-mails to Small Town Ministerium with pleas for back-up. Father Catholic Priest write arrogant, condescending Letters to the Newspaper Editor and assumes he speaks for all the Small Town clergy.
Let me tell 'ya: Hubby has learned in the thirty years we've been married that he cannot speak for me. He knows and respects the fact I have my own mind, my own intellect, my own opinion and my own big mouth.
And resent the fact that FCP thinks I'm going to die in this particular ditch with him. He agrees with stuff we talk about in ST Ministerium meetings, but goes ahead and does his own thing. He's the loudest voice calling for a united front - but on his terms and with his agenda. He used the Community Lenten Luncheon last week for a podium for his political views and using communal scare tactics, said, "I don't want to stand alone. If you're a Christian then stand with me." Golly gumpers, grandma!
The second thing that's pressing my buttons this week is the fact that the two Free Meth clergy are visiting my parishioners. I arrived at the hospital this morning for a parishoner's surgery only to find the FM Associate Pastor there with the family. He "graciously" deferred to me when I prayed with the surgery patient and family, but patted the patient's foot and said he'd be back tonight. And I had another parishoner in the ER at the same time and they went north to Small City Hospital on one of the Great Sinkholes for a cardiac problem. Assoc. FM Pastor called his Sr FM Pastor and Sr. Pastor told him to tell me that he would meet the Cardiac Patient at the Small City hospital.
To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement. I'm too well-mannered to raise a fuss in front of folks, but you can bet the Small Town Ministerium meeting tomorrow morning will be rough and wooly.
Hubby went to the Small Town Council meeting last night and returned disgusted. Of course, Father Catholic was there (his usual arrogant self) and the Free Meths because they're standing up against "politically correctness." Hubby received a report on my transported parishoner - "he had his pacemaker tweeked and he will be fine."
What happened to pastoral integrity and courtesy???????????????
Our ministerium has two Free Meths, one Catholic, one Lutheran, the aforementioned Epsicopal and us two United Meths. We say we want to be united for the good of our Small Town community, but I am afraid we are anything but united.
Father Catholic Priest painted himself into a corner a couple weeks ago with the Small Town Council and then sent out e-mails to Small Town Ministerium with pleas for back-up. Father Catholic Priest write arrogant, condescending Letters to the Newspaper Editor and assumes he speaks for all the Small Town clergy.
Let me tell 'ya: Hubby has learned in the thirty years we've been married that he cannot speak for me. He knows and respects the fact I have my own mind, my own intellect, my own opinion and my own big mouth.
And resent the fact that FCP thinks I'm going to die in this particular ditch with him. He agrees with stuff we talk about in ST Ministerium meetings, but goes ahead and does his own thing. He's the loudest voice calling for a united front - but on his terms and with his agenda. He used the Community Lenten Luncheon last week for a podium for his political views and using communal scare tactics, said, "I don't want to stand alone. If you're a Christian then stand with me." Golly gumpers, grandma!
The second thing that's pressing my buttons this week is the fact that the two Free Meth clergy are visiting my parishioners. I arrived at the hospital this morning for a parishoner's surgery only to find the FM Associate Pastor there with the family. He "graciously" deferred to me when I prayed with the surgery patient and family, but patted the patient's foot and said he'd be back tonight. And I had another parishoner in the ER at the same time and they went north to Small City Hospital on one of the Great Sinkholes for a cardiac problem. Assoc. FM Pastor called his Sr FM Pastor and Sr. Pastor told him to tell me that he would meet the Cardiac Patient at the Small City hospital.
To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement. I'm too well-mannered to raise a fuss in front of folks, but you can bet the Small Town Ministerium meeting tomorrow morning will be rough and wooly.
Hubby went to the Small Town Council meeting last night and returned disgusted. Of course, Father Catholic was there (his usual arrogant self) and the Free Meths because they're standing up against "politically correctness." Hubby received a report on my transported parishoner - "he had his pacemaker tweeked and he will be fine."
What happened to pastoral integrity and courtesy???????????????
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ain't No Hollenback Girl
You wanna piece of me? Bring it, Babycakes! (Imagine Kenau Reeves facing Hugo Weaving in the waning moments of The Matrix.) This shit is bananas!I've put in over 70 ministry hours in each of the last three weeks. I'm tired, worn out and extremely irritable.
That being said, I got a phone call last night from the daughter of a perpetually whiny, chronically anxious, learnedly dependent and feignedly helpless parishoner who is having ELECTIVE surgery in TWO weeks. (Said daughter is a non-churchgoer). "Why didn't I mention that (her) mother is having surgery in two weeks at prayer time?"
Lessee ... Both of your parents were in church yesterday. Why didn't your mother (who is not afraid to speak out during a worship service) mention something about it? Or better yet, why not your father - he was sitting right there beside her? Or even better: If you are so concerned, why weren't YOU in church, lifting her up to the throne of grace?
Could it be perhaps I was blown away when another faithful daughter of God announced that she had terminal cancer and asked to be supported in prayer by her church family? Could it be that your mother - who loves to be the center of attention - thought she couldn't place a trump card on that news?
Or, how about the other 50 people who assault me before worship saying, "Would you announce ... ?" And the 20 others who say, "I know you're busy, but could you do this for me?"
And the folks who wait until the end of the service to dump on me.
Please, give me a break!
Bring it, Chickie. This shit is bananas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
