reverendjaneausten

Wow- what a whirlwind! The service at St. Mark's was so sweet, even if the music did not work out as planned--that there was any at all is a tribute to Markie's heroic efforts and his rendering of Go Tell it on the Mountain was a real highlight! My first Children's service was so wonderful--the children made it so! There will always be smiles as I think of Alexa and Megan's earnest responses to the questions and Blake's shining eyes as he opened his hand to show me that he still had the Baby Jesus sequestered there. As a best gift, I got a hug from him--my first! I hope not my last. Christmas Eucharist was special too, thanks to the fresh bread that Mary Jane provided. All of her love added in was so touching. Graff and Shannon were wonderful as Crucifer and Server, and Granny Lee sang "I wonder as I wander" in her wonderful way. There were things I would have wished to be different, but the important pieces were in place I think. Then home and a few days

They speak for themselves!

Reprinted with Permission, Gary Hall St. Mark’s, Hazard, KY December 16, 2007 [Janey Wilson Ordination] It is a great pleasure for Kathy and me to be here with you in Hazard celebrating Janey Wilson’s ordination to the priesthood. Although Janey was only at Seabury–the seminary in Evanston where I work–for a year, it was an intense year: she managed to do about two years’ work in one year’s time and emerge from the experience still married and healthy and in one spiritual and psychological piece. I have long admired her intelligence and compassion and energy, and I know she is already serving her congregations with grace and wisdom and love. I also know that about the last thing you came to her ordination for was the sermon. So I won’t say a lot, just enough to help us all focus a bit on what God might be up to in calling and ordaining Janey Wilson to the Sacred Order of Priests. I went to seminary in the Boston area, and one year a classmate of mine decided that she would buy a

Courtesy of my brother Richard who was very dedicated in getting these.

Ordination to the Priesthood was one of the most amazing experiences in a very blessed life. After fretting and fuming in ways I usually do not (but whose idea was it to make Ordination at the end of finals week??) it was perfect, perfectly wonderful and I am still floating--in fact I missed a meeting yesterday. [oops.] There were either 90 or 93 people there, and it was everything I wanted it to be, both for St. Mark's and for myself. It was very simple and the word people keep writing to me is sweet. They hasten to assure me that they do not mean cloying or trite, but rather that old-fashioned sweetness of Spirit. The people who made the trek through the awful weather were treated to a beautiful falling snow outside the clear windows of St. Mark's. The people of St. Mark's, used to 20 in church on a well attended Sunday, got to be surrounded by love and singing and a most powerful Presence. Everyone sang, and prayed and laughed together. Graff was a wonderful Crucifer and

I need to go for the latter. As usual, even though this cold has me slogging through a haze, I cannot stay Eeyore for too long! Enough of that. People are being wonderfully kind and supportive. My beloved has fed me today, cleaned the kitchen and done laundry so that I can do whatever I need to do. That would be tomorrow's sermon, working on the bulletin and finding and excavating the portions of our house that are rumored to exist. This service a week from tomorrow will not be perfect--and I doubt that I would want that kind of plastic, really. There will not be many people there, but the people who are there will want to be and that is more than enough. My prayer is that all of the major bumps get smoothed before hand or kept from me until I can laugh over them later. Oh and a lack of ice and snow for transportation purposes would be appreciated. . .

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!