GlennFrazier.com

My religion, New Christianity (aka Swedenborgianism) is a small one, still. Nevertheless, quite a few New Christians are serving in the U. S. military, some even in Iraq. Tristan Smith, of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a U. S. infrantryman in Iraq, was one.

Yesterday, while on patrol, Tristan was killed instantly by a bomb

There will be a prayer service at Bryn Athyn College of the New Church at 4pm today, and one at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral later at 8pm. A memorial service will happen later in the week.

UPDATE: Tristan's story is a lead story on tonight's news on Philadelphia's NBC10 station. You can read about him on their site, and watch the video coverage there as well. Apparrently there is an in-depth story airing tonight as well about the remarkable way Tristan spent his last leave in Bryn Athyn.

UPDATE2: Here's the Philadelphia Inquirer's article on Tristan. Local CBS and ABC affiliates also covered the story.

Posted by Mac at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey all!

I and mine are on the third and final leg of our vacation. Leg one was a 300 mile drive from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to visit with friends and relatives and to perform a baptism. Leg two was a drive further east from Philadelphia to Lavallette, NJ (just north of Barnegat and Long Beach Island) to enjoy Monday through Friday at the beach and on the boardwalk. Leg three is back here in Philadelphia for my littlest sister's big wedding. The wedding is tomorrow. My daughter is flower girl and my brother is one of two priests involved in the service. I'll be MC'ing festivities afterwards.

It's all loads of fun, but I'll admit: I'm getting very tired. Mostly it's the driving, combined with the motel/hotel living, mixed in with the parenting of (among others) a one-year-old. Plus I think I'm getting sick.

Sick but happy.

Well, mostly happy, fairly tired, and so far only a little sick. So, overall, things're pretty good.

But, given all this, don't expect more blogging from me until I am home and rested. Some time next week.

Posted by Mac at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Continuing from yesterday's post, here are some other personal goings on worth mentioning.

First of all, I've got TheoBlog.com up and running. Eventually, the idea is to move from having a once-in-a-blue-moon guest speaker to having full-blown multi-blogging going on. Right now, the big thing happening there is TheoPod, the new podcast that carries (so far) all of the sermons I preach.

And speaking of podcasting, the website for the congregation I work for, PittsburghNewChurch.org, is also podcasting sermons, both the ones I preach there (but not my other sermons) and also the ones preached there by our senior Pastor, Amos Glenn.

And, speaking of Pittsburgh New Church, there is another thing going on, but it's big enough that it deserves its own post...and I need to go deal with something at the moment.

Posted by Mac at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, now that the blog is back on its (wobbly) feet, how about an update?

Sure thing. First of all, I am about to go on a vacation, of sorts, and so will probably not do a lot of blogging in the coming week. Heh.

Tomorrow I am driving from Pittsburgh (my new home) to Bryn Athyn (one of my old homes) with my wife and four kids. There I will be performing a baptism. I'm really looking forward to it as it is for my sister's little baby. Also, this will be my first baptism.

The baptism is actually on Sunday. Friday night and Saturday we will be enjoying the hotel pool and catching up with various friends and relatives. Sunday evening, after the baptism, we will attend a small get-together for family, and then head out on the road again, to a place on the Jersey shore.

Then, we have several nights at a hotel at the shore, with no plans beyond relaxing and walking the boardwalk and swimming.

Then Friday night (a week from tomorrow) we will be back at a third hotel in the Bryn Athyn area. That night is my youngest sister's rehearsal dinner, and also my mother's birthday. The wedding itself is August 19th, which also happens to be my own wedding anniversary.

Then it's back into the car with everyone, and back to Pittsburgh, with work again Monday morning.

Okay, so that's the travel plan for the coming ten days. There's more to say, but it's time for dinner, then I have an evening meeting.

Posted by Mac at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There, that's better.

Maybe the current color scheme and layout isn't your (or anybody's) idea of "pretty", but (as far as I can tell) the layout actually works now.

Oh, and yes, I know my blogroll on the right there is rather...um...stale. Give me time. Lots of time...

Posted by Mac at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yeah, it looks like this place is pretty dead. But if you think I'm not blogging, it's because you're reading the wrong blogs.

I do still intend to resurrect GlennFrazier.com at some point. And in fact, perhaps this post is the first step on that path. But most of my blogging energy has gone into my explicity religious New Christian (Swedenborgian) site, TheoBlog.com, and into managing the website for the congregation I now work with, PittsburghNewChurch.org. Both sites have podcasts up and running, now, which is very exciting. (Well, it excites me.)

Plus, I've had a couple of other blogging and website projects, but they've been more under-wraps kinda things so far.

So keep checking in to GlennFrazier.com now and then, and eventually the Impamena tune will stop playing. (Huge points to anyone with the faintest idea of what that's supposed to mean...) Until then, though, head on over to TheoBlog.com and PittsburghNewChurch.org, now. I said now!

P. S. Okay, the Impamena reference was too obscure for any but the oldest of warbloggers to get. Here's a hint, though, for those who still care to play the game.

Posted by Mac at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)