Elaboration

I mentioned some changes rather obliquely in prior post. I can give you a bit more detail now, which some of you may have already sussed out. My supervisor in Field Ed, the vicar of saint Middle School, is leaving the diocese and Saint Middle School because her husband, also an Episcopal priest, is accepting a call to a church some three hours away. While I am delighted for her husband, it leaves me without a supervisor, a requirement for Field Ed. I will have completed three semesters of Field Ed (exclusive of my summer internship, which is different) when she leaves, which will fulfill Big Old Seminary's requirement, but my diocese, which refers to itself as The Diocese, requires four.

Now, the folks at Saint Middle School, especially the vestry, would like me to stay through the year, since having a familiar semi-clergy face while they search for a new vicar would be helpful, and since they know me and trust me. And I would like to stay there despite the lack of supervisor, since I feel a calling toward intentional interim ministry, have had the initial training, am going for the in-depth training next week (planned before the changes at SMS came to pass), and staying there would provide the opportunity both for observation of a parish going through this kind of change and the opportunity for me to complete a supervised project in interim ministry during that semester, which would complete my accreditation for interim ministry. That project would be supervised by an interim minister.

It would be non-standard for this diocese, though, and it would require the blessing of the diocesan coordinator for the ordination process, and most likely the bishop. So please keep my supervisor and her family, the good folks at Saint Middle School, and me in your prayers as we wait for the decision of the diocesan folks as to whether they would be comfortable with this.

On another note, I just got back from my senior class retreat out on the eastern shore. Elements of it were lovely, particularly a guided meditation led by two class members. Other elements were not so lovely - the retreat master was not my cup of tea, although some liked him. I like retreats to be about prayer and reflection, not about lectures that I fear I will be tested on. Ah, well. It was good to be away from urban/suburban angst for a little while and to stand at the edge of a bonfire at night with a thousand stars overhead. It was good to be with dear friends who will scatter to the four corners of the earth in eight months. It was good to have several hours in solitude in the car and with relatively light traffic, so the drive was a pleasure. Proof that reality is often different from expectations, and that's not necessarily bad.

And playing scrabble with my girlfriends until the wee hours, and laughing so hard that I nearly fell off my chair as the tears streamed down my face- that was a blessing, too.