Reverend Ref +

THE REST OF THE STORY

The basics: Fly to Seattle, go to a funeral, drive to Spokane, meet with the bishop, get ordained, go to church, drive to Seattle, fly home. Remember that "roller coaster week" I alluded to a few posts down? Well, it kept going.

My funeral post immediately precedes this, so I won't go into that. The drive across the state was uneventful and we got ourselves settled into the guest room that our friends let us use.

On Friday The Kid went to school for her friend's last day, one of those two-hour-days-that-is-only-good-for-counting-hours-for-our-legal-records thing. While she was doing that, Mrs. Ref and I headed up to the cathedral and diocesan office respectively. She has been practicing the carrillon for about a year and was going to play a few songs for my ordination. Very cool. I had a meeting with the bishop.

The meeting was good. Paul, the other ordinand was there, and we talked about all kinds of stuff ranging from seminary to COM experiences, to expectations, to the ordination service itself. We had a little prayer service in the bishops chapel and generally had a calm hour before the flurry of activities really started.

That night we invited all of our out-of-town guests to have dinner with us at a local restaurant. Not everybody showed up, but it didn't matter. Those who made it had a good time.

I found out at my meeting with the bishop that they changed the propers from those of an ordination to those of St. Barnabas, whose feast day was June 11. This meant that the NT lesson The Kid had been practicing was different. Did I mention that she doesn't do change very well? Minor crisis at home which included some near tears, a plea either get a new reader or reprint all of the ordos with the lesson she knew, and a very restrained dad who managed to keep his cool better than expected.

On Saturday we headed up to the cathedral for practice. Figured out where we were all to be seated, stand, move, etc etc. I was very pleased to see that all of my presenters were there on time, as well as my mother and the litanist, whom I had invited over from Vancouver, WA. The Kid practiced her reading with the microphone and stumbled just a bit, but did fine.

The service itself was grand. Both sets of presenters managed to stay in sync, and so did the ordinands. During the Psalm, the verger came to our pew, leaned over and said, "Ms. Ref, are you ready?" And he led The Kid up to the lectern where she promptly disappeared behind it. At only 4'8", even the step didn't make her tall enough. And she read well. It was the only part of the service where I cried, proud papa that I was. In case you are wondering, she read Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3.

Paul and I both set the table for communion. It was a little odd doing that, but we worked it out rather well. Our mothers were the oblationers, so that was cool. He and I had previously decided that we would serve communion to our own family; however, as a new deacon, when someone says, "Follow me," you follow. So Paul served my family and I served his. Reflecting back on that, it was really pretty cool.

The Diocese of Spokane is committed to being more inclusive of Spanish-speaking people. So the gospel was read in both languages and the dismissal was done in both languages. Paul did the Spanish version and I did the English version. After the dismissal and procession out, Paul and I stood and greeted everyone as they headed out of the church to the reception. Mrs. Ref went up the bell tower and played the carrillon one more time.

Pictures galore, enough mingling to drive an introvert batty, and lots of well-wishes. From there we proceeded to my friend Jan's house where she hosted a less formal reception. More family and friends, and three people from my days at Whitworth were there. That made my day. I gathered them all around and said, "After service, I changed into my jeans and tenny's. That's ALL I changed." I proceeded to take my clerical shirt off to reveal my Witworth Cohort V Shut-Up-And-Color t-shirt, which I wore during ordination. Very Cool. And lots of fun.

Sunday we went to my former home parish for the last time. Let's just say that "former parish" is a good description.

Monday we drove back to Seattle, did laundry, and packed for the flight home. Tuesday we flew back to Chicagoland, unpacked, and wound down. Today will include the writing of many thank you notes, some house cleaning, talking with Montana about the details of the new job, and maybe some packing.

All in all, it was a good trip. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.