The Waiting

Well, it's been two weeks since San Jose sent me off with a lovely going away party. We had a nice reception after the 1030 service that I really enjoyed. It was a bittersweet moment because although Iwas happy to be done with another phase of my development, I was sad to be leaving this wonderful group of people behind.

A week ago today (on May 1) I met with Father Britt from San Jose for our final "chat" regarding my time at his parish. He seemed to pleased overall with my committment to the cause. We sat and talked for about an hour about how he'd entered the ministry in his mid twenties and the changes that he has seen as a life-long Episcopalian. He was especially helpful in encouraging me to reach out to others at seminary. He is not the first one to encourage this, nor was he the first to note that seminarians are real people who bring their real problems with them into the world of education and ministry. I hope that my family can contribute to the peace and spiritual health of the place while we are there...

As sad as leaving San Jose was (and it really was) it was also really great to be back at St. Andrew's for the first time in months. I wish that everyone could have the experience of leaving and then returning to their home parish. You learn to appreciate everything so much more, and you become much more forgiving of the little glitches that used to bother you. It was also great to be able to sit in the same pew as my wife and our 3 month old son Joshua. Every clergy person I know has indicated that they miss sitting with their spouses and family during worship.

I started out with the title "The Waiting" on this post because we are still waiting for an answer from Sewanee's housing and financial aid departments. Right now all we know is that we're leaving on July 15th. We don't know where we're going to live or how much seminary will cost us. I was getting pretty squirrelly about it, but now, after a lot of prayer, I have relaxed again. I know how blessed we are to even have this opportunity and I know that God will care for us throughout, so the rest is just details and they will work out fine. The best thing about waiting is that you've always got something to look forward to!

God bless

Jon