Reverend Ref +

BEST OF TIMES

I was torn as to which Styx song I would use as the title of this post. "Fanfare for the Common Man," "Born for Adventure," "Great Expectations," and "Quick is the Beat of My Heart" were all contenders. But then, so was Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water."

I finally decided on "Best of Times," because last night was certainly one of those. I attended the ordination to the priesthood of John, the Deacon-in-Charge of the Pintler Group -- Anaconda, Deer Lodge and Philipsburg. The service was held in Anaconda at St. Mark's. And for those of you who are wondering: yes, the school nickname is The Copperheads. Anyway . . .

The service was held at 7 pm, and I saw that rehearsal would be at 4 pm. Being a clergy-type myself (not to mention a little OCD), I thought it would be a good idea for me to be there at 4. Turns out -- I didn't really need to be there. But it worked out rather well.

John had some last minute things that he needed done during the service, and since I was there, I was asked to help out. I became the official "clergy herder," which could have been a problem (since this is often like herding cats), but it worked out okay. I was also in charge of the declaration that the ordinand signs; as in, take care of this, don't lose it, and make sure it gets back to the right person. Then I was put in charge of delivering the gifts to the bishop to present to the ordinand. This entailed handing the oil stock to the bishop so he could sign the cross on John's hands, giving the bishop the rope-cord to bind John's hands, as well as giving the bishop the Bible, chalice and paten that were then presented to John.

The service was great. His wife made his chasuble, stole and maniple. They were gorgeous, and looked like something that came from the Whipple catalog (I can't find a link, but trust me -- this is good stuff). She also writes icons, and had two icons on the altar that were blessed by the bishop. There were smells and bells and an ordination litany that included the saints from Mary down to the Doctors of the Church. His preacher was one of his classmates from Nashotah House. Her name is Heidi.

Yes, you heard right -- SHE graduated from NH. The rumor is that her bishop sent her to NH because she's an ex-Marine (seven years in the USMC), and if anyone could survive that environment, she could. I first met her when SWTS went up to NH for the football game. I told her I was the ref for that and then she remembered me. We had a good chat talking about being a new priest in a small parish, and how she was terribly nervous about delivering an ordination sermon. She did a great job.

Afterwards, we went to the reception at the Anaconda Country Club. (Hey! None of that. Anaconda, I will have you know, has a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus). That was a good time. I got to chat with several people from the Pintler Cluster that were on the search committee when I came out and interviewed. They are nice people and genuinely happy that I'm doing well where I am, and they are happy to have John.

I left the party at 10, which put me home at 11:30. It was a good drive back. Weather was good, saw a few deer on the other side of the road, and drove passed a few places that looked good for a picnic. All in all, it was a good drive, only hard in spots, and I managed to stay awake.

It was, in its own way, The Best of Times. And now, I'm not the newest priest in the diocese.