Sunday off?

Not hardly. We did have a supply priest at St. Mary's this morning (Ted came over from Kokomo to preside at the Eucharist) so I wasn't in the pulpit today-- the only week during this internship I won't spend time prepping a sermon. I was glad to hear another preacher, but I still found I missed my chance at the lectern. I'm not so experienced yet that I look forward to time off-- I still relish the opportunity to preach, every time. But it was good to hear Ted's take on the scriptures this morning; he had some things to say that I appreciated.

Meanwhile, this did not mean that I was off the hook, or unoccupied. The congregation was very sparse (two women, and Ted's sweet wife, who was his copilot this morning), and contained none of the folks who regularly read, or operate the Synthia for our music. So my role expanded to lector/intercessor/LEM/acolyte/music player. It went more or less smoothly, but I was occupied enough to have a hard time worshipping. An interesting experience, especially when the Gospel for the day was Luke's story of Mary and Martha. How much of what I was doing was needful? A good question, and one I'm continuing to consider.