Seven Years Hence
On Tuesday of this week (June 9), I observed the seventh anniversary of my ordination to the transitional diaconate at St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida. A few weeks after that event, I began my work as the Assistant to the Rector at Christ and St. Luke's Church in Norfolk, Virginia. Two years after that beginning, I was beginning again as the Bishop's Vicar (now Rector) of Trinity Church, Wauwatosa.
Seven years (Three hundred sixty-four Sundays!) isn't a huge stretch of time, but it has clicked off of my life pretty fast. One week after the next. Sunday Liturgies. Weekday Eucharists. Baptisms. Weddings. Funerals. Potlucks. Bible and Book Studies. Newsletter articles. Hospital visits. Stewardship campaigns. Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings!
In a denomination that prides itself on doing things with decency and in order, with good taste and in "all deliberate haste", no news is good news. Excitement is muted. Level-headedness is celebrated. To serve the Church on a daily basis is to sometimes forget that the Church is a Mystery.
The temptation to take the sacred too lightly is ever-present. If I am not careful, I can become too matter-of-fact about the tender places clergy are invited to inhabit. In the press of budgets, phone calls and e-mails I can sometimes forget that I am not called to be a mid-level manager for a small non-profit service organization, but that I am called to be a priest in Christ's one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. And yet, in spite of our best efforts to control the Spirit, every now and then the Spirit howls through and lives are transformed -- in wonderful and miraculous ways.
That's what happened to me -- a seemingly random invitation to an Episcopal Church for a Christmas Eve liturgy in 1990. An invitation to be a part of a parish staff in 1993. A supportive congregation and persistent rector who encouraged me to get off my duff and explore a call to Holy Orders (sometimes the Spirit speaks most clearly through other people!). And here I am. Seven years hence. Still the same guy...but changed in ways that I can't explain, but know to be a fact nonetheless.
On Tuesday of this week (June 9), I observed the seventh anniversary of my ordination to the transitional diaconate at St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida. A few weeks after that event, I began my work as the Assistant to the Rector at Christ and St. Luke's Church in Norfolk, Virginia. Two years after that beginning, I was beginning again as the Bishop's Vicar (now Rector) of Trinity Church, Wauwatosa.
Seven years (Three hundred sixty-four Sundays!) isn't a huge stretch of time, but it has clicked off of my life pretty fast. One week after the next. Sunday Liturgies. Weekday Eucharists. Baptisms. Weddings. Funerals. Potlucks. Bible and Book Studies. Newsletter articles. Hospital visits. Stewardship campaigns. Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings!
In a denomination that prides itself on doing things with decency and in order, with good taste and in "all deliberate haste", no news is good news. Excitement is muted. Level-headedness is celebrated. To serve the Church on a daily basis is to sometimes forget that the Church is a Mystery.
The temptation to take the sacred too lightly is ever-present. If I am not careful, I can become too matter-of-fact about the tender places clergy are invited to inhabit. In the press of budgets, phone calls and e-mails I can sometimes forget that I am not called to be a mid-level manager for a small non-profit service organization, but that I am called to be a priest in Christ's one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. And yet, in spite of our best efforts to control the Spirit, every now and then the Spirit howls through and lives are transformed -- in wonderful and miraculous ways.
That's what happened to me -- a seemingly random invitation to an Episcopal Church for a Christmas Eve liturgy in 1990. An invitation to be a part of a parish staff in 1993. A supportive congregation and persistent rector who encouraged me to get off my duff and explore a call to Holy Orders (sometimes the Spirit speaks most clearly through other people!). And here I am. Seven years hence. Still the same guy...but changed in ways that I can't explain, but know to be a fact nonetheless.
posted by FrGaryB | 10:34 AM
1 Comments:
Good piece, as usual.
For years, I used to think, "I am really not a priest." It gave me an out if I thought I could not do it any longer. And then, one day, I thought, "Oh, yes I am." And it was good. It was very very good.
Maybe, like you, I felt like I just sort of fell into it. I was avoiding Viet Nam, running away from a life and did not know where I was going.
And yet, I was running exactly where I was supposed to be going.
Happy anniversary.
jim
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