The quote that named the blog

It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
But no pressure. . .

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Like the leaves

This week I was about as organized as the leaves falling off of the trees. A dear friend died a week ago today. His funeral was Thursday this week; for those of you who know, it was the Deacon who gave me all of his stoles. His funeral was lovely and it was a huge honor to wear his white stole and serve at the Altar as Deacon. His wife was so touched to see that. I have been nesting prior to hibernation I think! I have washed quilts (after the washer died and was replaced) and rearranged things for winter somewhat. That is my usual mode of procrastination when I ought to be doing other things. On the other hand, it is one of the few times the house claims my attention! I had a better domestic week than a professional week, but I think that was perhaps overdue. How do people balance this?
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Whining, glassy-eyed and bewildered

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Here are photographs of the transformation at St. Mark's in Hazard! I feel as though the days to Ordination are in reverse proportion to the energy, time and talent I have to prepare for the service. One of my comrades, trying to be supportive, said, "Gosh, how are you doing this without a secretary?" You will be glad to know I did not hit him. I have not even had time to ask all of the people I want to ask to do things; there is likely to be sparse music, and I am such a techno-idiot that the bulletin seems insurmountable at this moment. I cannot type or select music while driving. When I am home, despite living with incomparable men, there is so much home stuff that demands attention and we are literally wallowing in debris. Anybody got an extra fairy godmother or patron saint of the incompetent to share? Or extra kleenex? Maybe I will just sob in the shower and save another task. Here endeth the whining. Thanks for listening!
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    In the intervening time since my last post, I have been diligently pushing out a weekly column, From the Treehouse, for our church family.   That felt important during the Pandemic at its isolating height, but now we have returned to a crazier life, fraught with all of the anxiety Covid has brought, but missing the slower pace of the previous months.   I have been advised that people are now too busy to read those sorts of things,—and if my own inbox is any witness, I absolutely get it. I have been pondering this culture of ‘both/and’ that has pervaded keeping a church going in these challenging times.   Many things have two sides.   Streaming our services means those immunocompromised folks in our parish family can still stay connected, which is something we absolutely desire.   But it also means that those who might choose to return to church in person instead select an easier route.   I imagine them staying home in their jammies, with coff...
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