Consider yourself invited

God willing
and the people consenting
The Right Reverend Jeffrey D. Lee
Bishop of Chicago
will ordain

Phillip J.A. Fackler
Shelley A. Forrester
Tyrone Fowlkes
Bradley W. Pace
Courtlyn G. Williams

to the Sacred Order of Priests
in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
Saturday, the sixth of December
Two Thousand and Eight
at eleven o'clock in the morning
Saint James Cathedral
Sixty-Five East Huron Street
Chicago, Illinois
Your prayers and presence are requested

The liturgical color is white
Reception following in the narthex

What a week!

Well, it is turning out to be an interesting week.

First, I was preparing for ordination on Saturday. Of course, this mainly consists of being antsy and trying to focus on all the work I should be doing (like preparing a sermon for Wednesday), but it is still something that is occupying my mind. In some ways I feel like I should be preparing in a more "real" way. I don't have time for a full-blown retreat, so it seems like a should be doing something "holy" and "preparatory," but I just have too much work to do between now and then. I truly hope I remember to bring my vestments that day!

Second, I just found out that I am officiating a funeral that day (no Eucharist). We had the planning meeting with the widow and it went very well. I learned a great deal about how that process works, especially how you get info to write a sermon for a person you really don't know very well (his wife is a parishioner and her mother is a founding member of the parish). The funeral is going to be very cool as the man was a policeman and the police and fire departments are providing honor guards. His police motorcycle will be parked by the church entrance and there will be a police bagpiper "piping" us as we process to the church yard for internment of ashes in the columbarium.

Lots and lots to do this week. At least it will make the time go by faster and I will quit fidgeting so much. I hope.

Well, It's Official!

The Standing Committee has recommended me for ordination and the Bishop has concurred! The Bishop's admin has sent an email letting me know that she has sent out the official letter to me saying that I am going to be ordained a priest! It is hard to imagine that after such a long process (7 years) that it is finally going to happen. So many work things fill my days that I hardly have time to notice that I only have 3 weeks and 3 days until my priestly ordination! Woo Hoo!

Fortune

I was sorting through some stuff in my calendar and I found a fortune cookie fortune that I had saved, but forgotten. We had gone out for Chinese shortly after my ordination to the Transitional Diaconate. My fortune read:
"You will be unusually successful in an entertainment career."

Confused about technology and youth

So, I have been encouraged by all (many of whom I would assume are "in-the-know") to create electronic ways to reach out to the youth. So I did. I have a blog and am familiar with blogging, so I created a youth blog for the church. I am on Facebook and am familiar with it, so I created a Facebook group for the youth group. I put links on our parish website so that youth and parents could reach these sites. I sent out emails to them with links so that they could reach the sites. I even set up parent specific areas on these sites, so that parents could remain in touch with what was going on. And then.........I found out that youth don't even use email. They consider email slow (and old) technology. They don't blog anymore ("so last year"). Facebook is still new and they use it, but I can't get them to join the group that I set up. AAARRRGGGHHH! I guess I go back to posting things on a bulletin board and then calling them on a telephone (oh my, how last century!) :-)

Paving!

Finally! After weeks of parking in an empty lot, hiking through the wood-lot, and tip-toeing through the mud, the parking lot is being paved. Yeah. Unfortunately, due to the ground still being too wet from our "biblical" rain last week, they won't put the second coat on until next Monday. Oh well, at least we are getting closer!
As I look at the parking lot, which up to now has been a mish-mash of gravel, newly poured concrete, and dirt, I am amazed at how pleased I am with uniformity. The sight of the black asphalt making the entire expanse of the parking lot a uniform color really pleases my eye and my sensibilities. Why? It makes me question whether or not I really do value diversity. Do I really prefer that everything look the same? Do I really prefer that everything is all one uniform color? I know that it doesn't really equate to compare a parking lot to life in general, but I really had to stop when I realized just how satisfying that uniformity was to me. I sincerely hope that in my day to day life, in my interactions with people, that I really do see and appreciate each piece of gravel, each section of newly poured concrete, and each clod of fresh, life-giving earth.

Feeling a bit selfish today (or maybe self-pity)

I'm a little down today because I wasn't invited to a friend's wedding. I know all the reasons that Brides and Grooms can't invite everyone to their celebration, but to see the pictures posted and all my friends there having a good time made me sad. Yeah, I know, it's not about me, but I really would have loved to have been there. Oh well, enough pity-party. Back to work now.