A Week of Learning, Cooking, and Crafting

It has been a busy week and weekend, which is why I'm so late writing this, but it has certainly been a good one.

Last week was my week of Sacristan training, beginning Monday morning. It went fantastically, and despite the frequent busy-ness of the job, I absolutely loved it. For instance, when I was running from one end of the seminary to another to get a stole out of a locked cabinet three minutes before the service, I was happy as a clam. I am so much looking forward to doing this all the time next year, now that I've experienced a week of it here. My next step in sacristan training is to help with the commencement worship, so those who are graduating won't have to be sacristans for that worship. That process should start next week.

Last week I also helped with Russ and Sarah to cook Common Meal on Thursday. We had made scones in advance, and on Thursday we were making breakfast casseroles, fruit salad, and bacon. My job was the bacon, which meant spending a couple of hours cooking seven pounds of it! And of course, every bit of that bacon was gone by the end of the night. It was really fun, if a bit exhausting, to do common meal and it made me happy to be able to serve it for once, since I eat it every week.

But after Thursday I wasn't quite done cooking. I also worked a retreat this weekend, which meant cooking dinner on Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning for a group of kids and their chaperons. It was fun work, and I got to eat too, which was definitely nice. One of the best things about working on the retreat team is that you're paid in food as well as money.

I finished and showed my Luther quilt in class last Wednesday, and I will have pictures to post up here next week, hopefully on Instagram and Facebook sooner. It was a fair bit of work, but I'm impressed with how much I was able to create in just a couple of weeks while I was at school. I probably won't expect to do a project of that scale in that short of a time here again, but it definitely inspired me to keep working on my projects when I can. I'm still making granny squares in classes, which will come together as something in the future, potentially a pretty stole. This weekend I worked on a scarf/wrap that I started awhile ago and got to the halfway point on it on Saturday. On Sunday I cleaned my house and cooked for the week, which may not seem exciting, but it is amazing how nice it is to wake up to a clean house every day. I keep trying to keep it up during the week, and maybe one day I'll get there.

This weekend was pretty exciting for several reasons beyond cleaning and cooking as well. On Saturday evening I came to the realization that I had left my phone in my locker here at the seminary, which was closed and locked until this morning. So I had to make do without for the weekend, but I had enough other ways of connecting with the people I love that it wasn't too bad. On Saturday evening, my  mom as well as several other people from Abiding Grace were attending a dinner at the NT-NL Mission Assembly, and my mom accepted a pretty fantastic scholarship for me. I was nominated for a Fund for Leaders scholarship for my synod by my candidacy committee. I feel very honored to be thought of, and it was wonderful to see pictures of my church family back home cheering me on.

The other exciting thing this weekend was working at All Saints. I assisted at the earliest service and read at the late service, which was also the confirmation service. I wore a clerical collar for the first time this Sunday, and it was a certainly interesting experience. For one, everybody at All Saints recognized me as the MIC student more easily - it's a big church so there are lots of faces. Also, I went out to Starbucks between services, because I hadn't had time to eat breakfast, and it was interesting to see how people out and about responded to the collar. I'm going to continue wearing it for the time being and see how it fits with my own forming pastoral identity.

The end of the semester is only a month away, which is just crazy. I have a few projects left to get done, but my end of semester isn't too bad this year. I'm getting ready to do my CPE this summer, and I am excited for it, even though I know it will be a tough experience. I've grown a lot over this first year of seminary, and I think that growth will be helpful to me come this summer. For now though, I just need to get ready for my Old Testament class tomorrow - we're learning about the Judges!

Peace,
Kathryn

Holy Week

Well it's been awhile since I've written - having break week/holy week last week threw me off pretty well. It has been a good couple of weeks, though, with some fun things scattered throughout.

I spent a large part of my holy week working on my crocheting. I am nearly done with my project, which is pretty exciting. Today I have been stitching it together, and I should have it finished by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. It's turning out beautifully, but I don't think I'll take on a project quite this big mid-semester again. However, it has been fun to say that I am doing homework when I'm crocheting.

The one thing I did to make up for much sitting on a couch crocheting this week, was to to the Central Ohio AIDS Walk this Saturday. It was the first 5k I've ever participated in, and it was really fun. I was proud of myself that I could walk the 5k in just about an hour, because I have not been able to work out nearly as much as I might like while I'm in school. I've been doing better on my yoga lately, but I'm also glad to know I can walk 3 miles without much problem. Thanks to everyone who supported me in the AIDS Walk - the walk as a whole raised $250,000, which was really exciting.

I also spent awhile during my break creating the internship manuals for those who will be leaving for internship this year. It was a lot of collating, but it went well. I had a whole classroom to use for two days, and I was listening to a book on tape while I did it. It was fun work, and I was glad to help.

The other major work I did this week, I did for free. My sacristan training officially began, as I joined a team who was preparing Gloria Dei, our main sanctuary at Trinity, for Easter. It was funny to be decorating for Easter on Maundy Thursday, but that is what has to be done sometimes when you're actually working in a church. We hung five huge banners across the ceiling of the sanctuary, which was no small feat, and we did it all while the brass band was practicing for our Easter service on Wednesday. It meant a lot of use of sign language of sorts. I was pleased to be able to help and to help set the altar for this upcoming week. I am still really looking forward to my sacristan job beginning next year, and I hope I always find it this rewarding, even when it is a lot of work. (I was there on Tuesday for about three hours for this one job).

Holy week at All Saints, my MIC site, was wonderful. I assisted for the first time on Palm Sunday. I was wearing a mic that I had to control, which was an interesting new thing for me. I forgot it once, and it was pretty loud when I turned it back on after the prayer I was saying, but my next word was "Hosanna" and there are worse things to shout in church on Palm Sunday.

The Maundy Thursday service there was beautiful. It had both first communion for the children who would be beginning it, as well as a footwashing/handwashing service. I had never participated in a footwashing on Maundy Thursday before, and it was a really lovely thing to be a part of. Good Friday was equally beautiful, with a procession of the cross out into the narthex at the end of the service, and singing "Were You There," one of my favorite Good Friday hymns, acapella around the cross.

Finally, Easter was this morning. I woke up to George, my cat, cuddling me, the sun just beginning ot rise, and birds chirping outside my window. The services at All Saints were beautiful, as well as packed, and I was happy to help serve communion. I was one of the bread deacons, and it felt absolutely fantastic to be able to serve communion to so many people at such an important service.

This afternoon, a few of us had a cookout here in our courtyard, which was a nice way to do Easter lunch. It's getting warm, unfortunately, so I came home and actually turned my air conditioners on. I may be the only one around here who misses the cooler temperatures, but I will always prefer winter to summer.

I am off to another busy week, as I wrap up my semester in the next few weeks. I will be doing a lot with worship, this week as a sacristan in training, and next week with my I-group who will be putting on worship. I should be a lovely couple of weeks. And it is absolutely wonderful to be in the Easter season again.

Happy Easter to you all,
Kathryn

Planning and More Planning

Yesterday was an absolutely wonderful Sunday, and the only thing I didn't get accomplished was finishing this blog. I went to church, went grocery shopping, cleaned my entire apartment, cooked my meals for the week, and had a lovely date with Silas to watch Cosmos, which has been our regular Sunday date for awhile. I was also able to practice yoga again, something I'm trying to do more regularly, as my body is very upset with the typical grad school lifestyle of sitting nearly constantly. It felt wonderful, and I am hoping I can actually make that a regular habit - it's good for both my body and my soul.

It's been a wonderful week, as well. I had my regular classes, although with one fewer, which makes my schedule so much easier, and they are all still going really well. We're moving right along and the end of the semester will be here before I know it. We only have one week left until our next break, since the seminary always takes Holy Week off.

This week I was also in a few processes in preparing for next year, which I think will be good. I am part of a small committee which is forming some structure for Life Together, our community organization, which will hopefully lead to more community activities and a generally more coherent community. I also attended a dinner of those who will still be on campus next year, and we talked a bit about that as well. The dinner was fun, it was nice to spend some fun time with people from my class and consider what life here might be like next year.

My I-group began worship planning for our week of worship, which is the second week after Easter, and I think it will be a good week. I and another woman are planning the Thursday service, and I think that it will be a really good service. I love planning worship and being involved in it here. On that same note, the first week after Easter I will be shadowing our current sacristan so that I can learn about the job for next year. I am still very excited about the role, and I am looking forward to learning what exactly the job will entail, so that I can understand how to plan my time next year. My shadowing has already begun, as I am included in all the emails about bulletins and worship assistants, so I can see how we plan for the worship in advance and what the time-table of planning typically is.

I have also been working steadily away on my Luther wall hanging, and I am almost halfway done now. It's been fun to learn a lot more about crocheting and to actually be able to consider crocheting homework. I'm hoping to have it done right around Easter. I meet with my craft group to work on it on Saturday and we watched the Mets v. Reds game. It was a good game, with a rather spectacular ending, and it was fun to watch and explain the workings of baseball to Sarah. I have only learned them since dating Silas, but it's an interesting game, and well suited to crafting.

I am now sitting at the Library planning on a rather productive day to start off my week. It's a beautiful spring day here, and it will probably rain soon. I am looking forward to this week, but even more I am looking forward to Holy Week and Easter. I love Easter, and everything that goes along with it, and I think this year will be no different. I'm looking forward to experiencing what Easter will be like at All Saints. I hope everyone is experiencing as beautiful a spring as I am, and keeping dry in the spring rains.

Kathryn