Anglican Parish "Review" - Christ Church Anglican, Columbus, Ohio.

Let me tell you, I am ecstatic about having found this parish. Because of all that it is, my likelihood of spending future vacations in Columbus, Ohio has greatly increased!

My Sunday began at the really cool Bed-and-Breakfast place where I have been staying for the Arnold Classic bodybuilding Expo, with (what else?) ... BREAKFAST! Here is the dining room:



Had I known how easy the church was to find, I would have walked; it is only about 3/4 of a mile from the Bed-and-Breakfast, and it was a bright, sunny day in Columbus.

I arrived early, hoping to take some photographs of the church building. I was greeted by this sign, which included those favourite words of mine: "Traditional 1928 BCP" ... I knew that I was in the right spot!



The building was large and lovely:







The interior was simple, but lovely as well.





Inside, I was greeted warmly by three ladies who were discussing painting ... does it get any better than that?? I then met one of the three priests on staff, Rev. Wale Fafiade. I made my way to my "assigned pew" (i.e., the one exactly corresponding to where Cindy and I sit at St. Bartholomew's), and soon I heard a very excellent choir rehearsing in some distant room. This was going to be really good!

And, from the first notes of the opening Organ Prelude, to the last echo of the Postlude, the entire service left nothing to be desired. We said The Litany, something I don't get to do so often, which I loved. And we sung some gems, a few of them previously unknown to me, from The Hymnal 1940. At first, I feared attendance would be low, but many parishioners arrived just in the nick of time, before the Processional began, so the nave was well-populated by the start of The Litany.

The sermon was given by The Reverend Michael H Cochran, and he used for his text the Epistle for the Third Sunday in Lent (Ephesians 5:1-14). But Fr. Cochran also read us the first verse from the Revised Standard Version, which urges us to be imitators of God, and that was the great theme of his sermon.

The Offertory Anthem was wonderfully done by the small choir. I had a strong temptation to try to sing along, which I resisted!

Communion was in silent reverence, and afterward I remembered (on the 2nd verse) the bass part for "O Saving Victim", Hymn #209, which also pleased me.

The Recessional hymn was a favourite of Cindy's and mine: #61 (The Glory of These Forty Days), a most appropriate Hymn in Lent!

On the way out, I was pleased to meet the third priest on staff, the Reverend John Battison.

In all, a most wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. My great hope is to visit again, but with my wife and children joining me.

RxMuscle Masters @ Metro Gym in Columbus, Ohio.

One of the many cool things about attending the Arnold Sports Festival (and Arnold Classic bodybuilding Expo) is having the chance to meet up with other enthusiasts of Physical Culture, and sneak in a workout at some local hardcore gym.

Saturday, I worked out with some of the "Masters" (that means "old") guys from the RxMuscle forums, at Metro Gym (9 E. Long Street) in Columbus, Ohio.

Though a couple of us were still drained from competing the day before, it was a stellar workout. We fed off each other's enthusiasm, and had better lifts than we possibly could have by ourselves, alone in our respective gyms back home. It is an incredible thing to have communicated for many months with these men on the internet forum, and then to have them suddenly spring to life in front of you, in full 3-D, muscles pumping, with spirits high!

The building itself is a beautiful old high-ceilinged bank building, and that early 20th Century charm only added to the energy of the workout.

But enough babbling. Here are photos!



Not bad for a bunch of old guys!




This is me on the flat bench press.




Here I am spotting Rod, a powerlifter friend.




Can you tell it was shoulder day?




Ed and Mike compare quads. Respect!




Blasting arms!

Sherri Gray at the 2010 Arnold Amateur Bodybuilding Contest

Back in November, 2009, I interviewed bodybuilder Sherri Gray. Yesterday, I watched her compete in the 2010 Arnold Amateur bodybuilding contest in Columbus, Ohio. I also had the chance to meet with her after pre-judging, which was really cool.

She brought spectacular size and conditioning to this show.

Sherri ended up 2nd in a strong Middleweight class. Congratulations, Sherri!

2010 Ms. International

I'm in Columbus, Ohio for the Arnold Classic weekend. Several different bodybuilding contests, as well as a host of other sports events.

I attended the Ms. International (bodybuilding), Fitness International, and Figure International finals last night. Spectacular.

Here is a video from the Ms. International pre-judging. Congratulations to champ Iris Kyle - last night was the 5th time she has won this show.

Anglican Poetry Contest - Second Place Winner

The Second Place winner of Anglican Beach Party's 2009 Anglican Poetry Contest is Virginia Crosswhite Hyde. Two of her poems appear below.

       UNWED MADONNA

Behold the girl madonna-yet-to-be,
Not Raphaelite, no halo on her hair,
No willing curve of arms that wait to bear
The unknown child who comes relentlessly.
No, rather, she is angry with the life
She shares with the fierce alien within,
The maggot in her flesh that would have been
Her own loved image--if she were a wife.

How pensively she stands, how pale and young:
She does not rave, she does not even cry.
Her brain thuds heavily, "To die! To die!"
Yet even her child will not arrive unsung.
Some hour her love will throb like blood to greet
The unknown atom pulsing in the womb
And, as her flesh cocoons him from dark doom,
Her heartbeat will be music, sad and sweet.

And this will be her child's first lullaby,
Far sweeter than the rest she may construe:
"There's no one else who can take care of you,
Not even your own ego, only I."
She will stand like a candle, and her soul
Will shed a warm, protective aureole.
"No other one, no other one, no other.
Just I myself can live to be your mother."

BALLAD OF CHRIST OVER JERUSALEM

At dusk He came upon the slope
Above green-tiered Jerusalem;
He came in grief of flagging hope
        For beautiful Jerusalem.
Men would die on of death within
When He had offered life to them;
With stern, pure eyes He saw the sin
       Of green, white-walled Jerusalem.

Her whitest stones would not remain
       In future, sacked Jerusalem;
Travailing girls would die in vain,
And driven men would die in war,
And they would give their lives in vain,
Both he who killed and she who bore.
       "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Jerusalem!"

Eternal angels whispered peace
       Unto the Son of God,
But oh, the eyes of Son of Man
Were turned away from them
To green and white (where lights increase)
       Jerusalem.

Where men would live in tragic pain
And men would die in tragic pain--
Ah, His great tenderness for them,
       For women and for men.
Their sorrows had no number;
His sorrows had no number.
       "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Jerusalem!"

Anglican Poetry Contest - First Place Winner

The First Place winner of Anglican Beach Party's 2009 Anglican Poetry Contest is Fr. Lennart Pearson. Four of his poems appear below.

MESSY DESK

The sound of bells and clicking clocks mark

the receding movement of the mass

and pebbles on my desk. I pass

along moraines of memos, minutes, fill

fossil folders, check dinosauric data, page

through the paper strata, sift the verbal till,

sedimented miscellany of a new ice age,

in hopes of finding bedrock. Once, I recall,

I saw a jagged thrust of outcrop in a field –

it was Gibraltar in Wisconsin, and all

plowing ended at its edge. Likewise, concealed

beneath these coffee stains and half-bent

Paper clips, the formica surface awaits

a fiery eruption of volcanic thought, sent

up to consume the clutter. The trash abates.

-- Fr. Lennart Pearson

MR. CHIP

“Something grand is coming!” So says the sign

announcing the new convenience store. Beside

the sign, four grey walls of concrete block confine

a cubic space for “Mr. Chip,” described

as if the structure were an old baroque hotel,

a Verdi opera with a singing cast the size

of Italy, a romantic continental tour for well-

bred Englishmen on holiday, the ultimate prize

for decathlonic agony, a funeral speech

for Pericles, a Churchillian political design

for winning war or peace, ideas that reach

for stars, a Steinway ready for a Rubenstein,

a finale worthy of a William Tell.

No, convenience grandeur only wakens pity,

as though Bunyan’s pilgrim, on fleeing hell,

had said his destination were “Sky City.”

-- Fr. Lennart Pearson

BEING FREE

It’s ironic how, being free, we choose,

become imprisoned in our choices,

and then want back the freedom that we lose.

Poor bride! Poor Groom! the noisy voices

of their guests (surprise!) are obligations

in disguise. That simple wish upon a star

ends up a managing of constellations

with bangs and holes and dwarfs as far

removed from honeymoon as laundry day

from Mardi Gras. The stupid parrot squawks

of eagledom as if there were a way

to flee the quotidian conspiracy while hawks

are soaring elsewhere. Now both caged

and counted on, I simply long to simply be

– no actor in another’s play, no staged

model of warning or example, no epitome

of anything. I’d rather have my flaws

rubbed down by one who really understands

how tiring it is to always represent a cause

and who, in turn, would welcome loving hands.

-- Fr. Lennart Pearson

THE KISS

They kept it simple, since they were but two.

The sacred words and actions were not new,

But subtly, there was now in her inflection

A tenderness that startled him – compassion

suited to a deeper seeing

into sacramental mysteries. Being

both aware, they waited. Suddenly, the wonder –

this time in, with, under

palace shadows, among tourists, in the roar

of traffic. But now it was not simple anymore.

-- Fr. Lennart Pearson

Anglican Beach Party Poetry Contest RESULTS

The results of the 2009 Anglican Beach Party 2009 Anglican Poetry Contest have been published.

LINK to Contest Results page.

We had a very nice collection of entries to work with, and we thank all the poets who took the time to enter! Prizes for the top three entries will be sent by mail this week. I will be contacting the winners of the Honourable Mention prizes, to determine the appropriate T-shirt size to send.

Poems from all prize winners will also appear here on this blog over the next several days.