Intern reunion

Earlier this month, I was in Wooster, Ohio, with some of my best friends from college. This is Kauke, the main class building at the College of Wooster, with a bunch of us standing in front... (Jonathan took this picture).


It was really great to reconnect with these folks -- they were my first colleagues in ministry. It was very grounding for me, starting out this year as a priest on my own at St. Benedict's, to spend some time with them and remember the roots of my sense of call to this work. And to see them in their ministries, in so many different arenas, doing well and facing challenges.


I also got to reconnect, sort of, with my family -- five of us went to Wooster, and when they renovated Kauke, we all got together to give money for a brick with our names on it! It was fun to finally see it.


We stayed with a wonderful family from the Presbyterian church we all attended in college, Westminster. They had this wonderful deckhouse where we spent a lot of time (see below; and those are hammock chairs behind us -- wonderful things. I'm trying to register for one for the wedding!).

We looked at pictures from college, listened to music from that time, and did a lot of nostalgia trips, but we mostly talked about our lives in the present, which I think was a good and healthy thing -- and I think it means we'll continue to stay connected, since our friendships aren't just in the past.

Adam's travels in Bosnia

Memorial at Srebenica, Bosnia.

Right now, Adam is traveling with his denomination (The Christian Church: Disciples of Christ) and Church World Service in Bosnia, where they do combined mission work in microloans and peace and reconciliation work. He and 5 other seminarians are there with 2 leaders who have long-standing relationships with many people in Bosnia, until Sunday.

Adam is posting photos of what they are seeing on his photo website. There are photos of the memorial at Srebenica (8732 men and boys shot in warehouses, woods, and fields there in the summer of 1995), of Sarajevo, of an Interfaith Chorus, and things like baclava! -- with more to come. They are meeting Muslims and Christians both, working together.

Sometimes miracles can come out of great evil.

Our 2-week deacon!

This is Rev. Phil Fackler -- our new transitional deacon (that means, he's a deacon on his way to becoming a priest, rather than a permanent deacon). On the left is Callie, our next deacon (1-2 years away) as well as his wife.

I got to have Phil as my right hand man these past two weeks -- he read the gospel, he led the confession, he set the table, he counted communion wafers!!! he said the dismissal, and he even preached one Sunday. (Callie preached the second Sunday -- and let me tell you, they are both crackerjack preachers.) For two weeks, I got to share worship leadership with a deacon. It was great fun, although I started to feel like a lazybutt -- all I was doing was celebrating the Eucharist, for goodness' sake. And I'll really miss having someone count out wafers for me. I always mess that up, it seems.

Farewell, Phil and Callie! Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip back to Berkeley. (Phil is doing an MA, and Callie is looking for a job... and in six months, Phil will be ordained a priest, and SOMEDAY, Callie will get ordained, too.)

New photos!

Just wanted to draw everyone's attention to a new little slideshow I added in the right column -- showing pictures of the church and its environs, so you can get an idea of what it looks like! If you click on the photos, you can see bigger versions via Picasa.

Many movements

I spent three days last week in Ohio, and then this weekend was the diaconal ordinations in our diocese, including one of our own folks, Phil F., ordained as a deacon! He served and preached in church on Sunday.

I'm still getting back on the wagon here. It's amazing how much can pile up after a few days away and then a few busy days, and then a day off. And Adam and I are trying to work more on wedding stuff -- we chipped away at our registries today and both felt overwhelmed at the amount of choices facing us. How many kinds of towels can there be in the world???

In Ohio, I was spending time with old college friends -- and it was just great to soak up their presence.

More soon.