Interesting Day

Most days around here are run of the mill stuff.  Today .. not so much.

It started with the Men's Breakfast group at a local deli.  We meet twice a month and simply talk about this, that and other things.  We had a new guy join us, so that was nice.

Shortly after I got back into the office, my secretary popped her head in and said that there was a guy who had been told he needed to talk to a clergy person.

When he came in he told me about his alcoholism and drug addiction, his two kids (which he has custody of), his attempts to get clean, his time in and out of jail for burglary in order to pay for his habit, all while squirming in his chair and being very agitated.  He also asked for proof that he had been here so he could take that back to his parole officer.

We talked for awhile, then we prayed, and then he went on his way hopefully in better shape than when he came in.

I had lunch with a parishioner and one of his friends.  I was apparently irreverent just enough for him to be intrigued about coming to church.  Something might be said for clergy who don't take themselves too seriously.  We'll see how it turns out.

Began working on the sermon for this coming Sunday.  We are following Track 1 in the RCL for the next three years, so that means that we'll get the semi-continuous readings from the OT during the Season after Pentecost.  I've decided to preach on the first lesson through Genesis, so this Sunday is the casting out of Hagar and Ismael.  Next week is the near Sacrifice of Isaac.  Depending on your point of view, it might get better from there.

I met with my Senior Warden for our usual Tuesday meeting, and that went well.

And finally I met with a parishioner who stopped in and wanted/needed to talk about when he was 17 and had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary and what it might have meant.  So we talked, did a little exploring about what was going on in his life back then and came to the conclusion that she stepped in, however briefly, to keep him from going down the wrong path.

Yeah ... I would call this one a good day.