Reverend Ref +

SATURDAY

Well, we all survived Boar's Head. The Middlers did a decent job at roasting us. Baby pictures of "in the beginning," pictures of our so-called "twin" (mine was Sheriff Woody from 'Toy Story') and future pictures of where we might be in 20 years were all a big hit. They used our menu from last year (smoked turkey legs that weighed a good 5 pounds each), so dinner was also good. We brought three of those things home and they'll feed us for the rest of the week.

Afterwards there were a variety of parties in a variety of places. I stopped in on one and was informed that when you type "Caroline Divines" into Google my blog site comes up something like sixth on the list -- who knew!! I apparently had one too many drinks and had some bizarre dreams Thursday night.

Friday morning came way too early as I had to be at church by 6:50 am for their Friday morning eucharist. I forgot about Boar's Head when I committed to being there. Oops. I decided that since I was involved in that service, and then the rector and I were going out later in the day to visit a parishioner (who has the first stages of Alzheimers) and his wife that I would wear the collar with the training stripe. (Sorry David).

I think that I'll wear it whenever I'm at church functions -- Sunday and Friday services, home visits, etc., but not the run-of-the-mill meetings and workday. People see it connecting me to the church on a different level than if I were to show up in a shirt and tie. In my book, that's a good thing. One thing that was hard getting used to (no, not the 75 year old man who called me "Father") was the physical feeling of it. It felt very much like wearing a tie, and it was somewhat annoying to look down and wonder where it had disappeared to. The tie, that is.

I went to a deanery meeting today. It was an interesting experience. I'm wondering how different deanery meetings will look at whatever diocese I end up in.

Tomorrow is my first sermon at St. A's. I'm not worried about delivering it -- after both preaching classes and preaching in Walla Walla this past summer I'm passed that. It's a different kind of anxiety though. It's more like: I've been with these people for the past 1-1/2 years while attending seminary and I want to show them that, yes, I can talk to adults. And as promised, I'll post the sermon Sunday afternoon.

Finally, I need to do some reading for my field ed group as well as clean house. For those of you out there who are getting into the clergy business, or are already in it, I highly recommend reading 'The New Rabbi.' It's the true life adventure of a Jewish synagogue looking for their next rabbi and all of the ups/downs/ins/outs that that entails. From what little I've read of it so far, I think that this will be one to re-read whenever I'm involved in a search process.

Have a great weekend, sermon tomorrow.
Peace