5:50 a.m. - Prayers in the Memorial Garden for ten members of our youth group and two adult chaperones headed to Rochester, NY for a week-long mission trip.
9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with the Celebration of Holy Baptism
10:30 a.m. Pre-marital counseling session.
1:45 p.m. Prayers at Miles Funeral Home before calling hours - funeral tomorrow
2:30 p.m. Anointing of a parishioner at home with hospice
4 p.m. Church league softball v. the Lutherans!
6 p.m. Social event at the home of parishioners
The agenda for this day is not typical but neither is it completely atypical either. What I love about being a parish priest is that while I firmly believe that all ground is holy ground, there are more opportunities for clergy to be aware of that because we are involved in these important life-moments from birth/baptism to death, with all the stuff in between, from marriage to mission trips and fellowship opportunities. Funeral directors and hospice care people deal with death more. ObGyn docs and nurses deal with more birth. But I know of no other job that gets to see it all in the span of one twenty-four hour period.
A lot of clergy complain about how busy they are. I try not to fall into that trap. Many lay people really don't know what we clergy do with our time; because unless they are in the midst of baptism or marriage or burial or mission they may not see us for more than an hour a week. So if they only see us one hour a week, that must be when we are working...
The truth is that I wouldn't be very good at a 9-5 job and I'd hate being a commuter. One of the things I like is that there is a fair amount of flexibility in most weeks, although death is beyond all of our control and all of our carefully planned schedules. With all due respect to the Peace Corps, I think parish ministry is the toughest job you'll ever love. I am grateful because for me, at least, it helps me to live into my faith and days like today remind me of why I'm so grateful that I am called to do this work.
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