The body

I haven't done a Friday Five in a while, but it sounds like a good exercise today to get me into the writing groove--I have a lot to write today.

So how about you and your beautiful temple of the Holy Spirit?

1. What was your favorite sport or outdoor activity as a child?
It always has been and always will be camping. Getting outside, slowing down, enjoying nature, and spending time with people who are important to me.

2. P.E. class--heaven or the other place?
I did not have good PE experiences, mostly because of having a pretty lousy PE teacher. (She knit scarves while we played kick ball or volleyball.)

3. What is your favorite form of exercise now?
running and hiking

4. Do you like to work out solo or with a partner?
By myself. It is my time to focus on me and my body and to let everything else slide away.

5. Inside or outside?
Out. Definitely out.

Bonus: Post a poem, scripture passage, quotation, song, etc. regarding the body or exercise.
Psalm 8 connects me with a summer of volunteer ministry, many hikes with good friends and a great overlook in Grand Teton National Park. Not about the body per se, but it is meaningful to me in the context of a good sweaty hike and a great view.

another church meeting

Tonight was a meeting of the "pastor support committee." It is made of members of the call committee that worked together for a year and a half to discern how God was leading this country parish, and interviewed, prayed, waited, interviewed, prayed.... until they and I discerned that God was calling me to country parish to be their pastor. This group of faithful people covenanted together that they would actively support whomever they called to country parish. Tonight we gathered together for prayer, mutual support and conversation, uplifting of concerns.
I am truly blessed beyond words to have a group of people who hold me in prayer, who ask how I am doing and actually want an answer. I heard thanks for the preparatory work that goes into preaching and for sitting with a family while their mother died. Words of thanks that remind me what I do is important. They challenged me to make sure I am taking enough time off--they challenged my husband to do the same. They appropriately ooed and ahhed when my children showed off.
This is the church. This is the body of Christ, and I am so blessed to be their pastor.

and good riddance

I'd like to say goodbye to June. Not my favorite month so far in ministry. Two funerals. Two weddings. My husband's job kept him away from home most of the time. Attempting to do long(er) range planning. Like, looking beyond the next two weeks. And, note to myself, August Vacation Bible School should not be planned in late June. (See: long(er) range planning) Oh, and all those weddings...lots of pre-marital counseling sessions. The new pastor should not require premarital sessions for weddings she did not schedule, for people who live more than 100 miles from the church. Thank goodness I get say over the weekends I make myself available for weddings in the future.

The weather has been wonky too. Tornados, serious storms, heat above 100. Today the high was 63.

I also paid my nanny more this month than we ever have before--something about my hubby not being home much this recently, I think. Add in two funerals (extra hours of work with home visits, the wakes)

But I am also thankful for many moments of grace. My brother's wedding and the rain and the way it worked out after all. The trust and respect that people in this rural parish have given to me. Prayer. Colleagues who ask how I am and really want to know. A husband who supports me. A church that doesn't mind if I bring my kids to church functions. (they like it). My flexibility of hours--this morning I took the boys grocery shopping, and in the afternoon wrote my sermon while the babysitter played with them upstairs. The joy that people experienced when we returned to a familiar old liturgy this month (ELW 4--wow are they happy!) A glass of Cabernet, my iBook, and children who went to bed easily.

I thought summer was supposed to be more laid back.

On Saturday I officiated a wedding for "Fred Jr." and "Jane." Tomorrow I'll officiate the funeral for "Fred Sr." On Saturday there will be another wedding.

Today, my day off, includes:
-writing the newsletter article
-wake and family prayer service
-writing the funeral sermon

to add to the fun, I shall
-do laundry,
-clean, clean, clean
-bake bread (not the best day for baking, heat index to hit 100 today)
-seed bare spots in the yard
-pray for the people affected by tornados last night
-pay bills
-send card of congratulations to dear friends who became parents on Father's Day. (I'm so thrilled!)

Also, I think that my day off is when I should spend time with my children.

Signing off,
mother, pastor, housekeeper, cook, and all around super-woman. (who needs sleep anyway?)

I've been connected on *ace*ook. (feel free to look me up) My blog feels neglected. But I'm still here, enjoying rural ministry and looking for the way that the Holy Spirit is moving in this place.
I'm also loving the spring weather. Thanks be to God!

Ministry

She does pastoral care via Facebook

computer angst

My laptop is dying a slow painful death.
Hubby's died a quick dramatic death.
In need of two computers,
We are considering becoming a mac family.