Letters to the Churches of Carbon County and Beyond - August 17, 2009

August 17, 2009

Good morning fine folks you take time from their busy life to read a couple of words that I write on a weekly basis. I realized the other day that I have been doing these weekly up-dates for about nine years. That is amazing. When I was in college my writing skills were really lacking and my Grandfather (the guy was I named after) who is a good writer told me there is one proven way to improve your written communication skills is to write and write. Mission accomplished! Looking around Carbon County this is what I see. St. James (Encampment) had quite a gathering yesterday with families gathering from all their summer travel; St. Paul (Dixon) had family visiting and enjoying the lazy summer days before school starts up and I have heard favorable reports of the annual fall trip which a group from the church will be going to Yellowstone this year; I trust all is well at St. Luke’s (Medicine Bow) and I am looking forward to spending some time with them during this up-coming Sunday; St. Thomas is plugging along and have been working with Shirley Bates with pastoral care this past week. I hope this letter finds you well.

Monday (August 10) was a day of catching up and talking to Ministry Developers about various topics and happenings throughout the Diocese. I spoke with Linda Wilson about what is taking place in Region 5 as we work on our worship schedules and formation of the congregations that we work with. I got slightly confused on my scheduling with St. Paul and managed to miss everybody that day! It was quite amusing if you think about it, but the people in the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) took it all in stride.

Tuesday I spent about an hour with Andy was we continue to become more familiar with WebEx. WebEx is a program that is similar to Adobe Connect (but it is NOT Adobe Connect) in that it gives us (the Diocese) tools to communicate and to meet on-line. The more we become familiar with WebEx the more effective it will become in our gathering to do the work of the church. That afternoon I went to Saratoga to meet with Ralph Hicks to begin a process of discernment around preaching and getting licensed. I am looking forward to getting to know the people of Saratoga for the next six months or so.

Wednesday was the weekly web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers. We are becoming more familiar with WebEx and our meeting was quite productive. We discovered that having the notes being posted for all to read as they are written was not necessary. The ministry developers worked on planning for convention, ethics on-line course, a continuing education opportunity, and general check in – all in one hour! Impressive. That evening the regional reps and ministry developers met for a conference call only to talk about Safeguarding God’s Children resolution along with another resolution around the Regional Reps that needs to be modified to reflect the life of the Diocese. We also talked about pre-convention attendance along with the Mustard Seed Projects. We have several Safeguarding God’s Children training opportunities coming up throughout the state and keep any eye out for those dates in the eSpirit. If you are not signed up to receive the eSpirit go to this site and sign on (on the right side of the page) http://www.wyomingdiocese.org/.

Thursday I was “on-call” for a pastoral concern for St. Thomas in Rawlins. There is an elderly woman in the hospital who desired prayers from a priest and her daughter had questions about who does the church respond to a person who may be in the process of dying. Shirley and I worked well as a team and all pastoral concerns were addressed and the family experienced peace.

Sunday I presided at two services. The first one was at St. James in Encampment. Olivia came
along and she kept asking where are the people? I smiled and said that we were a bit early and not to worry. Sure enough right around 9am everybody arrived and we had about 12 people in attendance. It was good to see all those smiling faces. That evening I drove to St. Paul’s in Dixon and had a good conversation with Linda Fleming as we waited for others to arrive for the service. Jill Webb brought real bread for the Eucharist. She was inspired by all the Gospel readings about the bread of life. The bread itself was made from all the ingredients from the Holy Lands it was good!






The up-coming week looks like this – Monday I am heading to Cheyenne for eye appointments. Tuesday will be an administrative day and working on various projects. Wednesday is the weekly web/phone meeting with the ministry developers. Thursday I will be heading to Green River for the final Wade in the Water session with St. John’s that is amazing! Friday I am heading to Laramie to work on my personal project. Sunday I will be heading to St. Luke’s in Medicine Bow to preside and planning on hosting Wade in the Water session following the service.






Be well my friends,

Doug