Monday, February 02, 2009

Perspective

Posted by Reverend Ref + at 11:31 PM

All of you know that the Super Bowl was yesterday (even Mark). And most of you know about my traditional clothing that day. For those who don't . . .

Every year on Super Bowl Sunday, I wear a special clergy shirt my good friend Jane made for me several years ago. It's a modified football officiating shirt -- I posted a picture of it a couple of years ago, feel free to go looking for it -- that allows me to slide in a tab collar. You can instantly tell why I've chosen the name Reverend Ref.

At the end of the service, I gave a blessing (which I will admit I didn't first make up, I am not that creative, but heard it once and then modified it) that went something like this:

May God the Father coach you through life with a game plan that gives you strength to succeed;
May God the Son quarterback you and lead you through all the blitzes and schemes that the enemy uses to stop you;
May God the Holy Spirit defend you against surprise pitches and long plays that drive into your territory;
And may the blessing of the team of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit keep you, guide you, protect you and lead you to ultimate victory.

I don't have exactly what said written in front of me, but that was the gist of it.

After service at coffee hour, one of my parishioners took a look at me in my striped clergy shirt and announced, "I think that's taking things a bit far."

And then he said, "I've never heard a blessing that puts God in the context of a football team before. But if God is coach, quarterback and defense, then you must be the water boy."

Yep . . . I'm apparently the water boy. Sort of puts it all in perspective.

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7 comments:

Anonymous | 9:32 AM, February 03, 2009  

That parishoner who said you "went too far" with the prayer and the shirt needs to lighten up.

And for those of you who'd like to view the shirt in question, here's the link on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68549216@N00/384967123/

Reverend Ref + | 12:06 PM, February 03, 2009  

Madame: This is one of those cases where the verbal words and inflections don't come through in the written word. He wasn't criticizing the shirt as much as he was giving me a bad time for my love of the game. Another parishioner wanted to know if I was going to wear a life vest when it came time for the American Bass Fishing Finals.

I told him, "No."

Thanks for the link, btw. People need to be reminded every so often just exactly why we replaced that carpet!

Anonymous | 5:46 AM, February 04, 2009  

Ack! my eyes!

That carpet, WHAT were they thinking?

Reverend Ref + | 9:06 AM, February 04, 2009  

Monk: I am not sure -- maybe it was on sale? I can tell you that the woman who gave basically all the money to have the church built (it's official name is "The Henry Elling Memorial Chapel of St. Paul's Episcopal Church) had a flair for the . . . um . . . dramatic. Her house in town sits directly across the gulch from the cemetery. The family tombstone is a rather large edifice that lines up pretty much with the living room window.

All that aside, here's what we to improve the place when we decided it was time for new carpet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68549216@N00/2689290014/

Reverend Ref + | 9:07 AM, February 04, 2009  

Um . . . "here's what we DID to improve . . ."

Jane Ellen+ | 9:56 AM, February 04, 2009  

The old carpet in St. Paul's nave was bad; but the stuff down in the parish hall is worse. The carpet at Christ Church isn't anything to write home about either. Dreadful floor coverings seem to have been a theme in western Montana....

~**Dawn**~ | 3:02 PM, February 04, 2009  

A sermon that has stuck with me ever since my childhood was preached with a baseball theme. At least you get them listening, right? ;-)

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