Friday, November 16, 2007

This can't be my office...

...I can see the top of the desk.
Stayed late, or later, last night and went ruthlessly through several cubic feet of paper, finding many amazing relics of this'n'that.
One more Big Pile, one more Little Pile...I've also been to the bottom of both the handbag and the book-tote in the last 24 hours.
I think that may be the discipline I need -- to empty everything I carry every 24 hours and look at every single item I'm carrying around.
Good and happy developments in the last 24 hours -- vestry meeting is impending on Monday night -- but now I have two excellent positive things to report!
Long-standing parishioner of great tact and acumen, here at Most Holy and Undivided (actually a 3rd generation parishioner) has volunteered to take charge of co-ordinating Pastoral Care--keeping track of who's in hospital, or in difficulty, who needs to be visited, who is willing to do parish visiting, when training sessions for parish visitors can be held, and so forth.
One of many Engagingly Quirky Practices in this parish is to refer to the co-ordinators of the various ministries, all of them, as "Stewards." This means that there is no one-word label for, er, actually, what other churches call "Stewardship" -- which is therefore called "Financial Giving." (No, I don't know why they decided to do this. Possibly to confuse the Boche, who can say...)
But I digress. This is a happy appointment, for the newly appointed Pastoral Care Steward has extraordinary awareness of how our people are--ALL our people, from the oldest inhabitant to the most confused newcomer.
And the second happy development is that the Purple-Shirted-One appears to have recruited me an Honorary Assistant for light clerical duty in the parish, chiefly liturgical and homiletical. Please note "Honorary" = "without pay." I am hoping for "respite" to the tune of one sermon and one celebration per month, which would make a big difference. We meet tomorrow to confer and collude, over coffee.
And I am eating tabbouleh salad.
And a young recitalist is practising Chopin, with great skill and brio, on the Big Piano in the nave -- about 20' from my office...in preparation for Sunday afternoon's concert here.
God is very good.

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