Adventures in Curacy
The sermon you see below was my official debut-- my first Sunday serving as the official curate (assistant to the pastor, for those who prefer to avoid churchspeak) at St. A's! I will be working there part-time for the next year, and I am purely excited about the position and the possibilities there. St. A's is a smallish congregation-- usually a bit less than 50 souls on a Sunday morning-- but they are lovely, warm, flexible people.
My four regular readers may remember that this was one of the places where I spent my field ed, during seminary; so I already know how much I enjoy working with the priest-in-charge there (Carol is a hoot!). When the vestry approved my contract, the treasurer professed to be nervous about the prospect of the two of us spending more time together. The Boss simply grinned archly and replied, "Be afraid. Be very afraid."
Yesterday was my first day of weekday work. We spent most of it laying out some scheduling framework for the year. We did this the old fashioned way-- with paper and pencil. We took all the pages out of one of those big monthly deskpad calendars, laid them across a couple of tables in the parish hall, and then filled things in, making notes as we went. It took a couple of hours, but we made a solid start-- and it was fun!
Yes, you heard me. Organizing. Is. Fun. F-U-N. A good thing, even!
That, and unpacking and arranging my office (formerly an unused classroom devoted to storage of Things Too Good To Throw Away, most of which is now gone) has taken up much of my time the last two days.
But then, there's prepping for next Sunday. The Boss will be out of town, so I will be presiding at a "Deacon's Mass." Geting ready for this has included running the bulletin (the parish secretary is also on vacation), and picking the music... and practicing.
My guitar. Oy.
I have never played the silly thing in public before. NEVER. Not once. And you know, that's been just okay. Really it has. Why I am doing this now, and in front of all those people for pete's sake...
Our regular organist is also out of town (let's everyone abandon the new curate all at once, shall we?!); so, in a weak moment, and with Carol's eager encouragement, I agreed to play one of the praise songs that the sub doesn't know.
What was I thinking?
There's something to pray for, my friends: that I do not screw things up as badly as I think I might, this Sunday.
My four regular readers may remember that this was one of the places where I spent my field ed, during seminary; so I already know how much I enjoy working with the priest-in-charge there (Carol is a hoot!). When the vestry approved my contract, the treasurer professed to be nervous about the prospect of the two of us spending more time together. The Boss simply grinned archly and replied, "Be afraid. Be very afraid."
Yesterday was my first day of weekday work. We spent most of it laying out some scheduling framework for the year. We did this the old fashioned way-- with paper and pencil. We took all the pages out of one of those big monthly deskpad calendars, laid them across a couple of tables in the parish hall, and then filled things in, making notes as we went. It took a couple of hours, but we made a solid start-- and it was fun!
Yes, you heard me. Organizing. Is. Fun. F-U-N. A good thing, even!
That, and unpacking and arranging my office (formerly an unused classroom devoted to storage of Things Too Good To Throw Away, most of which is now gone) has taken up much of my time the last two days.
But then, there's prepping for next Sunday. The Boss will be out of town, so I will be presiding at a "Deacon's Mass." Geting ready for this has included running the bulletin (the parish secretary is also on vacation), and picking the music... and practicing.
My guitar. Oy.
I have never played the silly thing in public before. NEVER. Not once. And you know, that's been just okay. Really it has. Why I am doing this now, and in front of all those people for pete's sake...
Our regular organist is also out of town (let's everyone abandon the new curate all at once, shall we?!); so, in a weak moment, and with Carol's eager encouragement, I agreed to play one of the praise songs that the sub doesn't know.
What was I thinking?
There's something to pray for, my friends: that I do not screw things up as badly as I think I might, this Sunday.
posted by Jane Ellen+ at
5:15 PM
6 Comments:
Wow! I will pray for you indeed. You're venturing into that much more boldly than I ever did - but I've no doubt you'll do just fine!
wow. wow. wow.
the guitar will be fine, though. i promise.
i wish we spent my first day organizing on big tables!!
You'll be great. Everyone will have fun. And if mistakes happen, they will make for great stories afterwards.
You will be fine. Honest.
So -- when does the creepy guy come down?
And have you noticed that he has the same initials as . . . . nevermind. :-)
Welcome to full blown Curacy! I was on the job 2 days before the Rector left for ITALY for 2 weeks! Seems a lot of Rectors plan vacations AS SOON AS THE CURATE ARRIVES!
Nothing like trial by fire...in the long run it will help, and your knowing the place and THEY knowing YOU is a BIG bonus.
Can't wait to hear bout the guitar! And who is the creepy guy?
you'll do great jane. just remember that the jesus and mary chain never even tuned their instruments for years and still became one of england's best punk bands. or don't. that really worked for me though.
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