resurrection...

I have appreciated the reflections by many of my fellow bloggers regarding the Lenten and Easter seasons. There is a lot to think about and definitely several ways to think about things. My cynical thought about Easter (and please know that it makes me giggle, not be pissed off) is that I wonder what it is about Easter that resurrects so many people quickly in one week and then kills them off so quickly the following Sunday! :) Even the baseball season has slumps...

We did have excellent worship experiences in our congregations. It was wonderful to meet some folks who I haven't had the chance to meet yet. It is just plain fun to have a packed church singing Jesus Christ is Risen Today!

This past weekend we had a neighborhood Chili Feed. We got to try 15 different crock pots of Chili and meet the rest of our neighbors. This really helped us feel more at home. The host/hostess invited many of their friends as well and there were about 150 at this event. Huge--for Esdaile in all of our size 40 population!

This week ended up being the busiest weeks I have had in 9 months. I received a call on Tuesday and a call Wednesday for two funerals. So I had a funeral on Thursday and I have one tomorrow. It was good they were spread out. The interesting part is that I have been covering for a neighbor pastor and both of them are from one of her congregations! The one on Thursday the family was not able to meet with me at all so we had to go with that one cold turkey. Pretty interesting for my first funeral (I know, my first!). No one has died yet in a congregation I have served, even on internship! If I keep that streak up I may be able to get the big bucks!!

Sunday I introduced Now The Feast and Celebration liturgy, and created a bulletin for the entire Easter Season. A lot of work, but for 7 weeks all we have to do is an announcement insert. It was a lot of fun to put together and I included columns with the 'shape of the rite' explanations to teach about each part of the liturgy.

So, resurrection...I have been talking about it a lot lately. It is a gift to be able to talk about it with others, and it is quite interesting to hear people reflect on what they think about the resurrection as well. Paz

A Hope

I thought I would send Easter blessings in the direction of any readers of this blog. What a great celebration! Paz

surprises

Wow, it has been a while. It was my plan to blog last Sunday about my experiences, so I guess I will go about that a week late.

It was an interesting service last Sunday because we had a baptism of a neighbor baby that I wrote about a few weeks ago. I had a great conversation with the mother the week before and I do hope that I impressed on her the importance of hearing our baptismal promises in church, and that we don't know we are baptized unless we are told. Well...anyways...

She called two days before the baptism and said that her paternal grandfather was a pastor and that his feelings were hurt that he wasn't participating in the baptism at all. She asked me to call him and talk to him about whether I would let him help. She told me he was an ELCA pastor. So I took a deep breath and called him, thinking unity and the shared ministry we have, plus I am sure it is great to baptize your grandchildren. I heard back from him later, actually, and we agreed that he would do the actual baptism and I would do the rest.

When time came in the service to introduce him I stated who he was and that he was a retired ELCA pastor, which he quickly corrected me saying "no, I am a LCMS pastor". I wondered if I was in trouble, but took a deep breath and spoke mantras of ecumenism and hope. AND the baptism went great and he and his family came to the table and showed their interest in sharing in the communion we had that day. I was overjoyed in the way things went and it reminds me to hold off on my opinions and my categorizing that I may too quickly do.

What I have learned this Sunday is that Palm Sunday may be the most populated service of the year, for whatever reason. There wasn't a seat in the house and I was really taken by surprise. I was ramping up for Easter, but I will ramp up for Palm Sunday next year as well.

Yeah, I suppose it is the time of year to look for surprises. I will change my perspective once again. Paz