"While fantastic acting and direction can help evoke emotion in an audience, nothing sets the tone in a film quite like its soundtrack. But while scores and songs are usually carefully chosen to match the dramatic arc in a film, there are times when a scene and accompanying song seem entirely mismatched. This dissonance between song and action has the power to make the scene even more poignant, emotional, or in many cases, more terrifying."

Today, Friday the 10th of August, a parishioner had surgery early in the morning, and a deacon is getting married in the afternoon, or has already been wed depending on when you read this. We can sing, "Ruan and Dennis are Going to the chapel and..." well, you know the lyric, and we all say, "Alleluia."

Living in Florida in the summer and in Orlando in particular (the lightning capital of the world), we know a little something about losing power. Then add in the hurricanes, I am sure you all remember that little gal named Irma. Many of you spent days without power. Sometimes when we look at the church as a whole or at our individual Christian lives, we and the world looking at us might ask, "Where's the power?" In the lessons this week God wants to remind us that there is no shortage of power with him.

The prophet Amos is shown a string in our passage for Sunday. More exactly, a plumb line. God shows him this instrument used by skilled builders; held above and weighted below. A simple tool with powerful diagnostic potential. There is much more to the prophet Amos and the book that collects his ministry-long span of messages and visions. You can see a brief overview of the book here that may help put his message in context.

I remember a conversation between my

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Seventy kids, and a large number of our parish, have been showing up this week. It's been fun, a little wild, and every day has been a blessing. Here are a few snapshots from the week. From Bishop Carl: VBS impacts the spirit and soul. First of all it's the interaction of the people, kids and adults smiling, laughing, serving, focusing on our Lord together. I love being with the staff as well as the children. It is refreshment at its best and more. The soul gets nourished. A friend of mine used to teach that when we taught, the first thing forgotten was the content. The second thing forgotten was the style, how you taught what you taught. And the thing remembered longest was the attitude with which we taught. Our attitude nourishes the soul. We also can bless the spirit of those present. We can awaken a thirst. A parishioner sent me the following, borrowing from Max Lucado. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). The phrase "train up" descends from a root word that means to develop a thirst. Hebrew midwives awakened the thirst of a newborn by dipping a finger in a bowl of crushed dates and placing it in the baby's mouth. To "train up," then, means to awaken thirst. Parents and teachers can awaken thirst "in the way [the child] should go." What an awesome gift it is! This is a work of the Spirit to the spirit. Roberta: