I am sitting in my home office for the first time in a long time, maybe 2 years. It is as I left it before I went to Lexington to serve as the Interim Dean at Christ Church Cathedral. I have brought with me momentos of Christ Church Cathedral and I have placed them with other momentos that I have of some of the 11 or 12 parishes I have served. Most of them are pictures and as I look at them I notice that each of them is not what someone might think about when they think about church. I have a picture of 2 wild turkeys that used to come to visit me outside my office at St. Martin of Tours (Kalamazoo) and then followed me when I went to Emmanuel in Petoskey, MI. I suppose they weren't exactly the same turkeys but I thought it was nice that when I sat down at my new office in Petoskey there were two wild turkeys outside my office window! It made me feel at home. The pictures are displayed with a poem that a very holy woman wrote for me as I was leaving St. Martin's entitled Some Fine Feathered Friends.
Another picture is of a church door that I particularly loved. On Sundy when it was hot and the back doors were opened I had a view of the county prison that was right across the street. When I preached it made me aware that God's word went to all the prisoners: Those that were in jail and those that were imprisoned in their own personal world of shame, fear, remorse, guilt or some other pain.
Another comes from East Lansing and an unusual altar setting that I have never been able to duplicate in my other churches. I loved that altar area with the artistic talent and gifts that were used to create it. We did an All Saints altar with pumpkins carved with symbols of the saints and somehow the picture picks up the light in such a way that surrounds the altar area with beams of light and warm tones. It reflects the parish that seemed to understand it was surrounded by the saints in light. Many unique and artistically talented people attended this church and it was such a freeing experience to worship with people who may not look, act or even pray the same way. It left each one to be free to be themselves.
Another is the light of a stained glass window reflected upon the shiny brass cross. I remember that it was a stained glass window of the crucifixtion, St. John and Mary at the foot of the cross. I remember the gift of the people of that parish that shared their faith even though they had been through horrendous and tramatic events. Somehow, the pain was holy and sacred.
the one I add from the Cathedral some from an Art Exhibit presented by Ludmilla Povloska (sp) called The Icons of Transformation. The show was filled with ancient Russian Icons and responses that Ludmilla had given to the icons. Yet, there was this stunning but simple piece that I kept returning to time and time again. I often sat beside it to pray. It was called You Are The Icon. It was a 3 dimensional pentagon with reflective material inside the shape. It might have been in the shape of an old coffin, or a cut diamond. When one walked by it reflections of the self immerged. Not perfect reflections, but reflections changed by the light and the angle. Lots of good sermons came from that piece.
At this point in my journey I am often frustrated that I do not know where I will go next or how far from home and husband this time. It struck me how privildeged I have been to have experienced all of these people of God. Each encounter, each conversation, every worship service has shaped me and given me something that I did not have before. From very small congregations to quite large parishes I am undone by the amount that I have received from it all! It is a bounty of God's blessing, mercy and correction. All has not been extremely pleasant (although a large majority of it has been pleasant) but it has all been spiritually meaningful and growth producing.
Are all parishes basically the same? is the question I frequently get asked. Well, yes and no. Each parish has a unique signature, personality and mode of operation. The problems of every parish are basically the same: Stewardship, attracting young families, facing change in polity and policy and dealing with adults behaving badly. Yet each parish has such a unique and different way of approaching these problems that it almost seems to make the problem different!
It make life interesting, challenging and blessed.
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