A Day in the Life

Today is one of those typical days for a parish priest -- a day in which not much happened, but was full of activity anyway:

The day began with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at 6:30 a.m. -- this early morning custom has been observed most every Friday at Trinity Church for nearly 50 years. What made this morning's celebration interesting was beginning it when no one was in the congregation -- just the priest and the acolyte in attendance (after all, Jesus said, "Where two are three are gathered in my name, I will be in the midst of them," right?). Fortunately, three folks arrived shortly after we began, so we had 5 in attendance for the day. We continued our time together with breakfast afterwards, shared a few stories and laughs as well.

After a quick break to take my son to school, I was back for a meeting with our parish Deacon a bit past 8 a.m. -- at my favorite meeting place, a coffee shop near Trinity. We enjoyed two hours' worth of conversation as we reflected on the ways in which God was working both in the Deacon's ministry beyond Trinity Church and the ongoing movement of the Spirit within our congregation. We outlined some next steps for two initiatives that we'll be sharing with the parish going forward.

I was back at the office by 10:15 a.m. and spent the next hour and a half answering e-mails, returning phone calls and initiating a few calls as well. By 11:45 a.m., it was time to dash across town for a meeting with a member of my support team who assists me in my own spiritual/psychological development. After a ninety minute meeting, it was back to the office to gather materials to take communion to one of our newer parishioners who is recovering from a recent surgery. By 4 p.m., that appointment was done and I realized I hadn't had lunch yet! So lunch was procured. A bit of reading done. Another few phone conversations.

And then, it dawned on me, "Oops! I never managed to post something to my blog!" So I sat for 30 minutes attempting to figure out something "meaningful" to write...and in the end, figured I'd offer a travelogue for my day. This is the thing about the work of the priest. Sometimes it doesn't look much like work. But, given the fact that I've been at it for twelve hours, it seems like I've done enough for today. I promise a better post tomorrow! Good night!