It's No Fun Without David

I love doing interim or transition work, at least I used to.  I did not realize, though, that my ability to speak with David nearly every day, helped make this exhausting work fun.  I know it may become fun again, but I'm concerned that right now I cannot do the work these two congregations need for me to do.

Yesterday I was in a real blue funk.  I kept wanting to reach for the phone to speak with him.  It's not that we often spoke of what was on my plate, but after patiently listening to his latest ideas on medicine or (his latest) how he could contribute to the issue of overpopulation in the world, he usually had some uplifting things to say about me or us or nothing in particular.

Society of Ordained Scientists

As of this morning I am officially The Rev'd. Amelia Hagen, SOSc. It was really quite wonderful being with this group of men and women whose interests span both science and theology. The fields of science, medicine and technology that are represented are quite varied. There were five of us who became members this morning. We need to renew our commitment in a year. At that point we can commit for three years and after that we can commit for life. The Rule of the Society is:

1. To pray daily for the aims of the Society and for its members.
2. To remember the Society and its members regularly at public worship. (when appropriate)
3. To endeavor to attend the annual gathering and retreat of the Society.

The aims are:

1. To offer to God in our ordained role the work of science and technology in the exploration and stewardship of creation.
2. To express both the commitment of the Church to the scientific and technological enterprise and our concern for its impact on the world.
3. To develop a fellowship of prayer for ordained scientists by the following of a common rule.
4. To support each other in our vocation.
5. To serve the Church in its relation to science and technology.

I had wanted to join this fellowship after I was first ordained, but the time commitment of my work as an interim made this nearly impossible. Attending the annual meetings just wasn't on. Now I feel that by doing part-time interims, I will have time and energy to commit to the Society.

For the Lack of an Interim, a War was Lost

A few years back I was at a meeting of Interim Ministers in Boston. Our outing consisted of going to Christ Church (Old North Church) where we had evensong with a fascinating homily given by the current rector. Built in 1723, it is the oldest active church building in Boston. According to him, the rector had left and a very unpopular curate was in charge. It seemed that the curate spent most of his time trying to get the post of rector.

We heard how even though Paul Revere was not a member of the church, he had been a bell-ringer there in his youth and the church sexton, Robert Newman, who of course had keys to the church, was a fellow Sons of Liberty. Newman was the one who climbed the tower and put the two lanterns there. He barely escaped because the British troops had also seen the message and were at the church door before he had gotten down the stairs. Newman escaped through a window near the organ.

General Gage was a parishioner of Christ Church and the majority of parishioners were loyalists. The current rector speculated that if Christ Church had had a proper interim, without all the intrigue of the curate (if I remember his story correctly, they wouldn't let him have the keys), entrance to the church might have been stopped and the Redcoats might have taken Lexington and Concord, and the notice posted at Old North today near a donation box which says "If it weren't for Old North Church, you might be making donations in pound notes" would be true.

Happy Fourth of July!

Discernment

Tomorrow is the big day.  The Search Committee will meet to discern which of the two final candidates they will recommend the Vestry call to be the new rector.  From the little bits and pieces I've heard, they will not find it easy to pick one candidate over the other.  I'm sure the Holy Spirit will be right in there working with them.  The group has worked well together and have been diligent in every part of their work.  Here in Maine the process has been for the Discernment Committee (aka Search Committee) to recommend one candidate to the Vestry who then says yea or nay, makes the call (after speaking with the Bishop), and negotiates the contract. Of course until the candidate says yes and the contract is agreed to, the whole thing could fall apart.

So, I will assume that all will go well and that my work here is done.  After my three weeks in Europe, I will pack up what I haven't finished packing of my belongings and will have to make decisions of my own.  Option 1: put things in storage and travel about the US with Izzie visiting friends and relatives until an interim comes up.  Option 2:  find an apartment in Portland as a home base and move things there and hang around Portland until an interim comes up.  Option 3: see if I can afford a small place on one of Maine's island and use that as a temporary base (probably means putting most things in storage)  This option is most affordable after September though, so maybe I could combine it with option 1.  Option 4:  really retire and only do supply work and some consulting and pick a place to settle down (just writing that down made me wince-so I guess I'm not quite ready for option 4).  I'm sure I'll think of more options over the next week or so, but they are likely to be variations on the ones I've listed.

Isabelle is doing well on her new meds.  I bought her some steps so she can climb on to the bed instead of jumping.  Teaching her to do that will be interesting.  Unless she's really hurting, she will not let me pick her up and carry her.

Beginning the Good Byes

I've been here for 20 months now, a long time for an interim (the new term is transition ministry specialist).  The Search Committee is starting to interview candidates.  Most of the work I could do as their interim has been done and now the winding down is beginning.  It's good that they're doing their interviewing at this time of year, since winter is bleak and long here in the mountains of Maine.  The summer folk are starting to return with the major influx beginning in June.  The lake is clear of ice (ice out happened some time during Monday night (April 27) so that was pretty early.  Of course having two days when the temperature reached 80°F helped.  The daffodils are just beginning to open and the trees are budding.  The lilac in front of the Rectory is almost ready to leaf.

This part of the work of transition ministry is about commitment to a new future.  That is the work of the congregation.  I will start preaching about all that has been accomplished in these 20 plus months together and pointing them towards the future.  I hope we do a lot of celebrating.  The first "celebration" is a pork roast dinner to raise a bit of money to spruce up the Rectory.  It's quite new so it really doesn't need much, but a new coat of paint, some repairs to the decks and porch roof, work on the drainage in the garage (melting snow gets under the door and since the drain is frozen it just sits there only to ice up) and a new carpet in the living room.   The meals that the church has are lots of fun.  A lot of people from town come, not just parishioners.  Our kitchen and hall are much in demand by local groups.  Then we'll celebrate Memorial Day with a brunch after church and in July there's the BBQ on the third, which I won't be there for since I'll be in Europe.  After the new priest accepts and sets a starting date we'll have a party to celebrate my time with them.  So there's lot of celebration around here.

I'm really glad that Izzie doesn't care where she lives, as long as I'm there.  It can be a bit unsettling to not know where you're going next.  Izzie does take a proprietary interest in the church buildings though.  They're hers.  She seems to feel the same way about any place we go, after we've been there a bit.  It takes her a few weeks to get her bearings and then she figures out who will bring her treats and where she's allowed to go and then it's hers.