Reverend Ref +

MOO?

The week after convention has been pretty good. People are excited about Montana and have a good feeling for the first time in a long time. I'm going to deliver a sermon/review of convention on Sunday that should be pretty good. Although by saying that I'll probably tank the sermon.

I'm working on marriage prep with a young couple who are thinking about maybe changing churches (see a few posts down for more on that). The sessions have been going relatively well. What made this one better than I could've done on my own was the help I got from Real Live Preacher. No, RLP didn't make a guest appearance in Sheridan, but he's got a killer post entitled "Marriage is Good Work to Do." Check it out. I printed off a copy and read it, and will read it, to the couple(s) in my marriage prep sessions.

And in the joining thing, one partner is baptized (in another tradition), and one isn't. So I've got at least one baptism to prepare for for the bishops visitation. Which brings me to the one's who are baptized -- confirmation or reception? Jane has a timely post on this topic. My answer to the debate is this: It doesn't matter what I think, it matters what my bishop thinks. I'll let you know how the debate turns out in Montana.

My treasurer from St. P's stopped by today. His wife passed away about a year ago, so I never got to meet her. There's some money in a memorial fund and we are going to use it to purchase some new altar hangings. He's excited about that. Then he took me to lunch and afterwards we drove around the countryside enjoying the great weather. On the way back to the church we ran into a cattle drive. Moooving the herd from one pasture to another. Comparing drives (you'll recall this isn't the first time), it is much easier to drive into a herd head on than to drive through a herd traveling the same direction. Cows aren't the brightest bunch of animals, so at least when driving into them they can see you and actually work to get out of your way. Not to mention that the view is better from the front than from the rear.

I'm also busy planning future services (what priest isn't?). Thanksgiving Day morning, the wedding, a St. Nick party, Advent lessons and carols, Christmas Eve and Day, and I'm trying to wrangle up something a little off-beat for Epiphany. Anything to draw attention to the church, right??

And that, my friends, is a Montana week in a nutshell.