go here to buy my stock photography
------------------------------------

Alan Creech
born: 09-25-1966
where: Harlan, KY
lives: Lexington, KY
married: to Liz - 19 yrs
children: 4 - Katey, Meaghan, Conor, McKenzie


Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Add to Google

Subscribe in Rojo

123

My Amazon.com Wish List

Alan Creech's Facebook profile


Subscribe to a feed of stuff on this page... Subscribe to my Flickr Photo feed
www.flickr.com
adcreech's photos More of adcreech's photos




> subscribe to my podcast


Mark Palmer Memorial Fund





my recent posts |::

desk > storms > retreat > etc.
stuff this week
constantly inadequate
burn me at the stake
nouwen podcasts
monastic dreaming
we have to be mystics
remain in me
favorite tv shows
two thousand year old sacred ceremony > oooooo

stuff |::

my family
abbey of gethsemani
new american bible
thomas merton center
apple computer
google
off-the-map
christian flights intl.
food network
trout unlimited
guinness

faith communities |::

vine & branches
vineyard central
matthew's house - ca
matthew's house - fl
the landing place
ordinary community
saint patrick's
indy church
the well
communality
vineyard of montpelier

blogs i read |::

aaron klinefelter
aimee milburn
amy welborn
andrew jones
asbury seminary
beth keck
bill bean
boar's head tavern
brian phillips
brother maynard
bryan sherwood
chris marshall
dan phillips
darren rowse
david finch
debi warford
dwight longenecker
eric keck
eric kieb
glenn johnson
heather hofacre
jason evans
jeana clark
jeff prosser
jim tucker
john michael talbot
jordon cooper
kelli shearron
kevin rains
kyle potter
laura ogle
lisa ponchak
liz creech
malcolm hawker
michael spencer
mike & amber bishop
mike noakes
palmer
paul fromont
pete matthews
peter white
roger bourland
scot mcknight
steve bogner
steve thompson
tom ponchak
will humes

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.


May 28, 2006 >> 10:41 PM
anniversary > gethsemani > merton

Yeah, I know, how cute. 18 years ago today, Liz and I were married in St. Mark's Catholic Church in Richmond, Kentucky. It was a Saturday and, much like today, it was HOT and humid. There weren't very many people there, maybe 100. I doubt there were that many. I wore a suit, as did my groomsmen. Liz had her wedding dress and the bride's maids had matching dresses, but that was about it. We were young. Liz had just turned 20 and I was 21 that May. I think there were even some people, friends of ours, who told Liz not to marry me. I know one Priest, too, said we shouldn't get married because we scored too far apart on a personality test (what the?). I'll probably talk about this another time, but this recent business about having to be "totally compatible" with someone in order to have a successful marriage - load O' crap. Oh, yeah, and her family weren't too hot on the whole thing either. I was Catholic and slightly cocky and that didn't go over well. Our divorce was predicted that day. There have been divorces, but none of them ours. Not happnin. I have made a choice and a commitment to love and live life with this woman for the rest of my life. Good stuff.

I made it to Gethsemani yesterday. The plan was for a half day retreat, leaving after lunch. Ended up there most of the day, till around 4pm. It was a good day. I got there around 9:30am, went into the church and sat quietly by myself for a while. It was hot yesterday too, so even with air conditioning I was sweating already. My running photography for the day is largely in black and white. I may have taken 3 or 4 photos out of 75 in color. I made myself do that - set my camera on b/w and stuck with it for the day. I think I got some decent shots. After my meditation time, I walked, prayed the stations of the Cross in the retreatant's garden in front of the monastery - good time of saying thank you to Jesus. The shot above right there is a close-up of one of the stations. Then I walked up on St. Joseph's hill and sat for a while, said the midmorning office (terce) on my own up there. I came down and went into the visitor's center/gift shop for a bit, then off to sneak around and find out what that little building surrounded by trees in the middle of a field was. Midday prayer in the church with the monks, then lunch.

Dan Phillips and I had arranged to meet each other there and eat lunch together, as he was there for a retreat with some members of the International Thomas Merton Society. So we spied each other in the lunch line (no talking) and then went to eat in the "talking lunch room" - there's only one, the rest, quiet please. Great to meet and talk with Dan. We've been in some degree of e-contact for a few years and we finally met. Very cool. We had a good time chatting, telling our stories to each other, talking about this and that.

Dan is a member of said society and, as such, gave me the gift of sneaking in on one of their retreat sessions - a Q&A panel session with a few of the monks there who knew Thomas Merton (Father Louis). Fr. Matthew Kelty and Bro. Patrick Hart didn't make it - one sick and one something else - anyway, as you can imagine, this was one of those little gifts from God that you get every now and then. I got another one at Gethsemani once - getting to go up to and into Merton's old hermitage. So, Bro. Paul Quenon over there, laughing at something Bro. Chrysogonus said in a story. Also Fr. James was there, whom I had known as guest master at a retreat I took. They had all been students or novices under Fr. Louis in the monastery back in the day. Great stories, very funny, good stuff. Thanks Dan! So, I was there a little longer, but it was worth it. Don't forget to check out the photos. Pax vobiscum.

technorati tags > , , , , , , , ,

Labels: , ,

::: ::: permalink ::: e-mail me :::  

 

 

 


daily prayer |::

ordinary time
psalter week 3
LOTH book iv

> morning - lauds
> evening - vespers
> night - compline

lectionary readings |::

> today



stations of
the cross
meditation
here


three quotes |::

"Then, if we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we may love alike. Herein we cannot possibly do amiss."
John Wesley

"Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever."
Fulton J. Sheen

"...I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self."
Henri Nouwen



my blog post labels |::

blogging
catholic
church
community
cooking
emerging church
family
leadership
liturgy
merton
monasticism
spiritual formation
theology

zines |::

next wave
the ooze
ginkworld
house2house
ship of fools
christianity today
regenerator

archives |::



august 03
july 03
june 03
may 03
april 03
march 03
february 03
january 03
december 02
november 02
october 02
september 02
august 02
july 02
june 02
may 02
march/april 02
february 02