Hello fine folks who gather weekly around the table to discuss what have taken place and will take place throughout the South-central part of Wyoming and beyond! Again this was a week in which I attempted to double the workload with various levels of success. I was talking to a fellow priest in the Diocese of Wyoming and I told him that I am giving up bad attitudes for Lent, which means that all complaints will be addressed AFTER Easter. He laughed and said that he is going to make a sign and post it in his door to his office. Well, off to the weekly musing of Carbon County and Beyond. I hope this letter finds you well.
St. Luke (Medicine Bow): I made it over to Medicine Bow for the Sunday service. There was a pleasant surprise as a family who lives in Hanna (the McCartney’s) had decided to make the trip over. They have been occupied for the past year or so with various other tasks and now are available to attend on a regular basis. Joy said that she knows quite a few Episcopalians in the area and Ida mentioned that it is one of St. Luke’s goals to reach out to the surrounding communities and to invite them to attend. Arlen preached and I was impressed by his message and found what he had to share was insightful – “Walk to Walk” as we as a church move of the mountain top experience and move into mission.
St. James (Encampment): Before I went to bed on Saturday evening (Feb 13) I realized that I had overlooked calling Jess to line up Wade in the Water program. So, first thing on Sunday morning I gave him a call and asked if he is ready to lead the discussion which Jess said with sincerity, nope. Not a problem when I called to Roxan about it. We talked briefly and got a quick up-date on St. James project of building a parish call and Roxan said they had some important work ahead of them. However, when the project is complete the building will be in great shape to last another 100 years or so. We will prayerfully look forward to seeing where God is leading the church in this endeavor. Nevertheless, Jess got to spend this first Sunday with this congregation as their Associated Priest.
St. Paul’s (Dixon or Little Snake River Valley): I arrived in the “Valley” last Monday (Feb 8) for their bi-monthly bible reflection also known as Winter Bible Café as they continue to read the Psalms. I bring along the Book of Common Prayer to read as we all shared and read from different versions of the Psalms. A phrase has caught my attention “Tears in a bottle” and when time permitting I am going to see if that has any cultural meaning in the bottle. Standing in front of the text I interpret this to mean great sadness. That however does not reflect upon the morale of St. Paul’s!
St. Thomas (Rawlins): Monday as it turns out was a full day. Before I headed to St. Paul’s I joined a bible reflection session at Kraft Hall on Monday morning in which Kathleen and I reviewed and pondered about the assigned Gospel reading. While I was there I quickly reviewed my calendar with Stephanie (the parish administrator). We did schedule a MST (Ministry Support Team) meeting for Wednesday, however I made a trip to Denver for an appointment and was not able to return in time. So, we will reschedule for another time.
Ministry Developments: This occupied most of the second part of the week as I drove to Casper for two nights. Thursday I spent time at the Diocesan Office to learn more about the compress video equipment as a backup administrator. It is not uncommon for “Murphy” to arrive when it comes to using and learning new technology and so Andy and I spent the day trouble shooting. The day was not completely lost and I learned how to “podcast” and soon I will be working on putting together my own podcast to post on this blog site along with the Diocesan web-site. On Friday I had lunch with Anthony Guillen who led a Latino Ministry Workshop on Saturday. That evening the Ministry Developers also met with Anthony to share what we are doing with Shared Ministry and to listen to what Anthony is doing with his ministry. On Saturday the workshop took place and something that I discovered was that in the Southern half of the state of Wyoming has the largest Latina/o population in the state. This also means that there is a large potential for ministry right in the area. Anthony has given us all new eyes to see and discern how we can connect with people beyond our walls. Good stuff!
What is coming up? Monday is President’s Day and I am planning on making a few calls and prepare for Ash Wednesday services. Tuesday is an All Day Web/Phone conference with the Ministry Developers and it will end with Strove Tuesday dinner in LSRV. Wednesday I will be at Kraft Hall (Rawlins) for a couple of hours and then will preside at St. Paul’s that evening. Thursday I will be hosting a Web/Phone conference in which Zone 4 (Torrington, Wheatland, two churches in Cheyenne, and Laramie) will decide collectively where to have a compressed video site for the coming year. Friday I will be in Laramie to working on my personal project and perhaps write a sermon for Sunday. Saturday I will be attending a worship breakfast at St. Thomas (Rawlins) and then participating with an Apostolic Team face to face meeting from 10am to 2pm. Sunday I will be heading to St. Paul’s to preside. I don’t think I could add another thing on my calendar! Have a great week.
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