Our island Lectionary group starts again today and we are meeting in our new building! Last spring, when today was just a hazy thought in our minds as we contemplated having some time off, the other ministers asked me if we could meet in our new building for our first get-together. At that point, our opening date was pretty hazy too but I said yes, but with a caveat, that we might end up meeting at my house instead of my church if it wasn't ready.
But it is ready enough to have a short meeting there, so the interfaith group I meet with every Friday during the liturgical year to study scripture will meet in one of the rooms of the new building. We are pretty much camping out until the inspections are passed, so we can't really settle in yet, and the kitchen is not fully equipped, but I can make coffee and tea and we will find a place to have our group.
This is the third year I have met with the Lectionary study group and I find it extremely helpful collegially and also intellectually. I haven't done much to improve my mind over the past few months, so this will be stimulating. We also have some issues to discuss about our joint ministry to the south end of the island: sex offender matters, a conflict within the local emergency help group, and, possibly, outreach to veterans. I don't know if we'll get to the Matthew passage for Sept. 14 or not. But I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
This afternoon, we have our last rehearsal before Wry Whiskey and the Whiskey Chicks hits the boards for tomorrow's Hunger Awareness Day sponsored by the local food bank. We were asked to sing as a group without having done anything but jam together, but it turns out that we sound pretty good with mics and we're excited about the possibility of getting another gig on the strength of this performance. I am even the lead female singer/Chick.
"Wry Whiskey" is an inherited name from a subgroup of this jam, but we've adopted it temporarily with the appellation "Whiskey Chicks" to indicate that there are actually "chicks" singing with the group, not just funny male drunks. (No PC jokes here, please, if you can possibly restrain yourselves.)
The name is uncomfortable for me for personal reasons, since I spent a few years in AlAnon dealing with my relationships with heavy drinking men. But I don't feel like pushing it right now, preferring to let it ride.
Tomorrow afternoon, I have to hustle up to Oak Harbor and perform a wedding for a lovely couple, spend the evening enjoying their festivities, and come home in time to get some sleep and prepare for Sunday.
Sunday morning is our Ingathering service, during which we will have our Water Ceremony, some stories and singing, and will enter the building for the first service under its roof. We will start out on the greensward, singing "Come, Come Whoever You Are" and process together into the sanctuary. Sunday afternoon, I plan to take a long nap!
In October we'll have a Grand Opening and in the spring a Building Dedication service to which we hope many local and district dignitaries will come. But for now, we're just thrilled to have what we can manage for Ingathering.
I'll post the homily on Sunday.
2 comments:
Very cool, Rev Kit! It's a good thing to have a place to meet with people in a similar position as you so that y'all can bounce ideas back and forth, improve yourselves professionally, study, and hopefully laugh together. And enjoy your Sunday afternoon nap!
Thanks, Pixie. And I hope Maddy is doing better today.
Post a Comment