Earlier, I wrote about the awesomeness of girlfriends, and how they are totally a gift from God. Last weekend, before I left for internship, I spent the weekend with my BFF from high school. We don't get to hang out or talk too often, as our lives have gone radically different directions since high school, and particularly since college. However, occasionally we're able to make time for a good phone call or quick visit, and last weekend I got a whole day and a half with my "bestie."
It was fun to see her kids, as they are so flippin' adorable, but her husband was also gracious enough to really keep an eye on them a lot of the time, and to entertain himself when they were asleep. We had lots of time to catch up on the important and not-so-important things that are going on in our lives, to spend more money than we should at an awesome little bookstore, and even to do a little yoga. (It was my first time doing yoga, and I kind of liked it. Man, I worked hard, but it was kind of relaxing, and I didn't finish feeling frustrated at my total inability to "grapevine across the room" or whatever.)
It was a great weekend, and also a very relaxing weekend, and I was reminded again of how wonderful these relationships - and this one in particular - really are. It's also fun to see how no matter how much time or distance separates us, some things never change.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tales of a Country Parson, Vol I
That said, while I'm not naturally a megachurch person, I also never thought I would be a very small, very rural church person. And yet, here I am, on my internship.
I should note, first of all, that the fact that I am on internship at all is utterly bizarre. I was never supposed to be getting my MDiv. When I showed up at seminary two years ago, it was to get an MA in Educational Leadership, and I was going to...I don't know, write curriculum or something. I was not, under any circumstances, going to be a pastor.
Well. Throw a little Holy Spirit into the mix, and two years later, here I am on internship, and a detached-site one no less, which basically just means that my supervisor is 90 miles away and I am out here on the prairie all by myself. I am "the pastor" at a 2-point parish. I preach, I teach, I do baptisms and weddings and funerals.
And I live in the parsonage. Built in 1910, it's a 3 bedroom, absolutely incredible house. It has a little front porch I can sit out on, and a separate dining room. There's a little study area, and absolutely gorgeous woodwork. I just moved in yesterday, and I love it! I've spent the last two days getting settled in the house, and getting to know the area and the people.
I'm still lacking a little in the self-confidence department - I'm kind of out of my league here, but everyone here is really supportive. My supervisor has actually been on vacation, but I will get to see him on Sunday, and then again all day on Tuesday, and that will help me too, just to get a basic framework. So, time to get started!
I should note, first of all, that the fact that I am on internship at all is utterly bizarre. I was never supposed to be getting my MDiv. When I showed up at seminary two years ago, it was to get an MA in Educational Leadership, and I was going to...I don't know, write curriculum or something. I was not, under any circumstances, going to be a pastor.
Well. Throw a little Holy Spirit into the mix, and two years later, here I am on internship, and a detached-site one no less, which basically just means that my supervisor is 90 miles away and I am out here on the prairie all by myself. I am "the pastor" at a 2-point parish. I preach, I teach, I do baptisms and weddings and funerals.
And I live in the parsonage. Built in 1910, it's a 3 bedroom, absolutely incredible house. It has a little front porch I can sit out on, and a separate dining room. There's a little study area, and absolutely gorgeous woodwork. I just moved in yesterday, and I love it! I've spent the last two days getting settled in the house, and getting to know the area and the people.
I'm still lacking a little in the self-confidence department - I'm kind of out of my league here, but everyone here is really supportive. My supervisor has actually been on vacation, but I will get to see him on Sunday, and then again all day on Tuesday, and that will help me too, just to get a basic framework. So, time to get started!
Oops!
Oops! It suddenly occurred to me today that this entry could be interpreted as referring to my home congregation, or any of the other specific congregatations that I attend on a frequent or infrequent basis.
It's not. I love my home congregation, despite my critique that it is too loud. In many ways, it is kind of strange that I have such an affinity for the place.
It is nothing short of gigantic, and in many ways is the low-church, generic American Evangelicalism that I just don't resonate with. Not really the place for the high-church, Evangelical Catholic introvert that is me.
But the thing is, Jesus is there. And when I first moved to town and started looking for a church, there was just something that continued to draw me back. Of course, I was always at the early morning "traditional" service, and rarely made it past the chapel. But God really worked on my heart and my attitude while I was there, and I found myself getting acclimated eventually - making friends, becoming more comfortable with (or at least less judgmental of) the general atmosphere there, and finally becoming involved in some really cool things.
Like I said, Jesus is there. He is present in the leadership, and in the thousands of members who worship there each week. He is present in the vision and the mission and the values. He is present in the transformed lives and the built and rebuilt relationships. He is present in the bread and the wine, the water and the word.
The Holy Spirit is hard at work in my home congregation, and I absolutely love it. I myself had somewhat of a "conversion experience" there, and it was where I really learned to be excited about my faith - where it moved from my head to my heart.
Is it everything I would do, if I ran the zoo? Hmm...maybe - probably - not. But praise God for his graciousness, and his love, and the incredible things he's doing at, in, and through my church!
It's not. I love my home congregation, despite my critique that it is too loud. In many ways, it is kind of strange that I have such an affinity for the place.
It is nothing short of gigantic, and in many ways is the low-church, generic American Evangelicalism that I just don't resonate with. Not really the place for the high-church, Evangelical Catholic introvert that is me.
But the thing is, Jesus is there. And when I first moved to town and started looking for a church, there was just something that continued to draw me back. Of course, I was always at the early morning "traditional" service, and rarely made it past the chapel. But God really worked on my heart and my attitude while I was there, and I found myself getting acclimated eventually - making friends, becoming more comfortable with (or at least less judgmental of) the general atmosphere there, and finally becoming involved in some really cool things.
Like I said, Jesus is there. He is present in the leadership, and in the thousands of members who worship there each week. He is present in the vision and the mission and the values. He is present in the transformed lives and the built and rebuilt relationships. He is present in the bread and the wine, the water and the word.
The Holy Spirit is hard at work in my home congregation, and I absolutely love it. I myself had somewhat of a "conversion experience" there, and it was where I really learned to be excited about my faith - where it moved from my head to my heart.
Is it everything I would do, if I ran the zoo? Hmm...maybe - probably - not. But praise God for his graciousness, and his love, and the incredible things he's doing at, in, and through my church!