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
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