I am back from my staycation for the past week. I was the on-duty for the Rawlins Police Department Chaplain for the week so I took full advantage of attending briefings, and had a ride along on Friday. Also throughout the week I was running the kids out to a local VBS (vacation bible school) in the morning and was frustrated with the evening rain showers that kept us from fishing. Overall it was a good time. I got to attend both Moo Sul Kwan workouts and relax. I squeezed in a sermon for Sunday and avoided being washed out by the rivers. Now there has been some talk about building an Ark and a neighbor of mine is gathering animals. Yesterday I ran a fun run 5k (three miles) and did well in the snow/rain, wind and cold. Enough about me, on to what took place a couple of weeks ago and today. I hope this letter finds you well.
St. Thomas (Rawlins) – On June 2nd (Wednesday) I spend a couple of hours at Kraft Hall. It was a time to write my vestry report and work on an order of service for Mark and Diane’s wedding. The next day I wrote my sermon and addressed a transit need concern. On Friday (June 4th) Marilyn, Karen and I got together for a wedding rehearsal. Marilyn had some really good ideas on how to incorporate the three of us into the service and I believe it was a balanced approach in blessing this relationship. The wedding itself (June 5th) had over three hundred people in attendance I the responses I received after the service as favorable. Last Sunday (June 6th if you are keeping the dates straight) St. Thomas had the kids who were promoting recognized. Promotion is that time when kids move from pre-school to kindergarten, grade school to middle school and onto high school.
St. Paul’s (Dixon): I arrived in time to catch up with Tommy for a run last Sunday; however, we got our wires crossed. I took advantage of the quiet at the church and planned out my next week of activities (my staycation) and reviewed my sermon and made some changes. As everybody arrived Linda Fleming and I played around with the sound system trying to get it to work. We did, however in the middle of the service the system went on the fritz. The funny thing was a three year boy watched us and wanted to play around with the equipment during the service. Jo had her hands full keeping the little boy away from the “forbidden apple”. No problems all ended well.
St. Luke (Medicine Bow): I caught up with Arlen Rounds in Cheyenne on June 5th for a Preaching workshop. He was really engaged and contributed to the conversation nicely. He also told me that he would not make it to Medicine Bow on June 13th as he was going to attend a baptism in another part of the state. He laughed when he told me and said that (Rev) Jess Smith will have to go solo again. I smiled and said that I believe the fine folks of St. Luke’s will take care of everything quite nicely.
St. James (Encampment): I was in Encampment this Sunday (June 13th) for services. The day what is becoming its usual weather cloudy and raining. The girls wanted to come along and so I had two girls chatting away in the back on the way. The Johnson’s had one of their grand-daughters with them and so we had a church with the youth well represented. Upon the completion of the service I drove around the block with Lois and we visited Julia (I think I have that right) who is in her 90’s. She smiled and said I was expecting Roxan, but you will do.
Summer time is a time for me to “reload” on some ideas that I have in regards to formation in the Fall. I am looking at using a book that has been recently published Born of Water, Born of Spirit that talks about Shared Ministry that is being lived out throughout the United States. I am excited about the conversations we will have as the congregations of Region 4 look at Shared Ministry knowing that they are not alone in this work. Also Andrew Kerr is moving on to another career opportunity and will be leaving the Diocese at the end of the month. With that in mind I have agreed to set into his ministry of communication for the interim to provide some stability as Bishop Elect John Smylie decides on what direction he wants to go with the Diocese. I do have some ideas about how to use the video teleconferencing or VTC for training and other various education opportunities and will use some of my experience in writing this weekly posting with the eSpirit. When Andy talked to me about taking over I laughed and said that he will forget more than anything I have ever learn when it comes to this kind of work. Andy assured me that I am up for the challenge.
What is coming up? Monday I will be spending the day in Casper so that Andy can train me about how to send the eSpirit, Moodle, WebSite administration, VTC (video teleconferencing), WebEx, and other various things. I am sure we will not cover everything, but we will get a good start. That evening I will be on a WebEx meeting with the Regional Reps and Ministry Developers at 5:30 pm. Tuesday I will be on a WebEx meeting with the Ministry Developers starting at 8am and then at 9:30am Karen and I will begin training on how to use Prepare/Enrich pre-marriage counseling the first of three training sessions. Wednesday I will once again meet with Karen as we practice a baptism for preparation for a baptism that Karen will be presiding this up-coming Sunday at St. Thomas. Then there will be office hours at Kraft Hall. Following that I will meet with the leadership of St. James for lunch as we review what has taken place putting together a bid to build a parish hall. Wednesday evening I will be meeting with Jason and Nicki (Green River) to continue with our pre-marriage counseling sessions. Thursday I will meet with the Ministry Support Team of St. Thomas in Rawlins at 5:30pm. Saturday I will be heading over to Cheyenne to attend the regional confirmation service for Region 4 which will be held at St. Christopher’s starting at 11am. Sunday I will be heading to St. Paul’s in Dixon for a service that starts at 10:30 am with a Ministry Support Team meeting following the service. Yes, vacation is over and it is time to get back to work.
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