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edenfallingI haven't been writing much these past few days. There's no real reason for that, just a general lack of motivation. I'm not feeling any of my stories in my bones, and while I can sit down and write anyway, it's not as fun as usual, so I've been reading instead. And repairing torn clothes, and calling relatives, and doing other useful things that I tend to put off in favor of writing, so I suppose it all works out in the end.
It's just kind of gray.
On to other things. My church has been without a settled minister for four years now, and this was after several years of extreme acrimony ending with the phased retirement of our previous settled minister, the Rev. Stan Sears. (He was nearly fired, but luckily sanity prevailed and the board and voting members stepped back from such a boneheaded move.) Over the year of his retirement and the two years the Rev. Dick Gilbert served as our interim minister, the congregation slowly pieced itself back together and started figuring out how to be a community instead of a squabbling collection of irresponsible drama queens.
(There is a reason I held off signing the membership book for several years even while I was donating money and occasionally attending services -- which is more than some members did, btw! I just didn't want my name officially associated with such a mess, especially since I knew what a congregation is supposed to be like. [Also, I liked Rev. Sears, having known him through his personal involvement in the young adult group. He wasn't a great preacher, but he was very good at outreach and pastoral care.])
Anyway, we seem to have finally pulled out of that tailspin and have been searching for a new settled minister. Last year's search committee found a candidate but another congregation nabbed that person out from under us. Such is life. This year, though, the Rev. David E. Grimm (more info here) is interested and is coming for a rather intense week starting on Saturday the 14th and ending on Sunday the 22nd, when we have a congregational meeting and vote on whether or not to call him.
I've been lazy about attending services this year, but I will definitely be at church on the 15th and the 22nd. I've also volunteered to help with set-up and clean-up at one of the dinners during the candidating week, on Thursday the 19th.
I really hope everything goes well and Rev. Grimm is a good fit. It will be a great thing to have a more permanent minister in Ithaca.
(In a sad and mostly unrelated note, Rev. Sears's wife, Linda, died of breast cancer in March. She was a wonderful, gracious woman, and helped me get my first job in Ithaca. She will be missed by many people.)
It's just kind of gray.
On to other things. My church has been without a settled minister for four years now, and this was after several years of extreme acrimony ending with the phased retirement of our previous settled minister, the Rev. Stan Sears. (He was nearly fired, but luckily sanity prevailed and the board and voting members stepped back from such a boneheaded move.) Over the year of his retirement and the two years the Rev. Dick Gilbert served as our interim minister, the congregation slowly pieced itself back together and started figuring out how to be a community instead of a squabbling collection of irresponsible drama queens.
(There is a reason I held off signing the membership book for several years even while I was donating money and occasionally attending services -- which is more than some members did, btw! I just didn't want my name officially associated with such a mess, especially since I knew what a congregation is supposed to be like. [Also, I liked Rev. Sears, having known him through his personal involvement in the young adult group. He wasn't a great preacher, but he was very good at outreach and pastoral care.])
Anyway, we seem to have finally pulled out of that tailspin and have been searching for a new settled minister. Last year's search committee found a candidate but another congregation nabbed that person out from under us. Such is life. This year, though, the Rev. David E. Grimm (more info here) is interested and is coming for a rather intense week starting on Saturday the 14th and ending on Sunday the 22nd, when we have a congregational meeting and vote on whether or not to call him.
I've been lazy about attending services this year, but I will definitely be at church on the 15th and the 22nd. I've also volunteered to help with set-up and clean-up at one of the dinners during the candidating week, on Thursday the 19th.
I really hope everything goes well and Rev. Grimm is a good fit. It will be a great thing to have a more permanent minister in Ithaca.
(In a sad and mostly unrelated note, Rev. Sears's wife, Linda, died of breast cancer in March. She was a wonderful, gracious woman, and helped me get my first job in Ithaca. She will be missed by many people.)
