girltheology

It occurs to me that I've really never published any entries on what my internship is LIKE. I've told you about the manse and posted pictures of the churches... actually, I think there is only a picture of Grace United on the website, so I've posted a picture of Alsask United here.

Anyways - I have been busier than I ever would have imagined living in a rural town. Part of this comes from the necessity of driving so much. This month I'll pass the 20,000km mark on my new car (4 months old). I drive about 300-500km on a slow week, sometimes much more. But what am I busy doing?

Well - I am still visiting the shut-ins in our congregation (there are 4) who I absolutely love. Three especially have absolutely great personalities, and we get on quite well. I am part of the Alsask book club - I was away to something for the October meeting (Oh - Toronto - will explain later in this entry), so tonight will be my first meeting with the club. We have read "No Crystal Stair" by Mairuth Sarsfeld. It's a "passing" novel about life for the Afro-Canadian community in Montreal during the 40's. I had never heard of a genre of literature about "passing." Passing is a term used to describe races other than caucasian passing for white. So it was, obviously, a very interesting read for me!

Every week I go five pin bowling with the Alsask Ladies Afternoon Bowling League. Now... some of you may scoff and think "5 pin bowling! That's not work!" But be gentle with me... For one - it's actually extremely challenging physically, and I'm always sore for a good 2 days after my bowling day. Secondly - I don't particularly like 5 pin bowling. But it is a great time to be in community with the women in my community, and they have a great time laughing at me. My average is something like 113. That with a 50 handicap. For those of you who don't know scoring for 5 pin bowling.... that's NOT good. And for those of you who know me well enough to know that I sometimes don't like things I'm not good at - this is not the case. I actually LOVE 10 pin bowling. I think in this situation it's more like I am not good at 5 pin bowling because I don't like it. Enough about that!~

I'm a member of Prairie Pine Presbytery (presbytery = the regional body of the United Church of Canada). In September I attended my first presbytery meeting, and Friday/Saturday of this week just past I attended the annual "two day" meeting of presbytery. The meetings are usually held north of my area since our presbytery is so large geographically we need to choose somewhere somewhat central to meet. This meeting brought about very little parliamentary business (our presbytery executive has the power to make decisions on our behalf, so is actually more episcopal than some), but we did have presentations on conspicuous consumption, visioning feedback for Saskatchewan Conference (facilitated by SK Conference president John Yeo of Moosimon), and Desmond Parsons (my predecessor at Marengo Pastoral Charge) did a presentation on his experience in the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine, where he worked as short term Overseas Personnel for the United Church.

I presided at the graveside interment of ashes of a former resident of this area last month, and Monday will be my first big full funeral. The family is expecting 200-250 people, and so the folk at St. Paul's United in Kindersley have graciously allowed for me to use their church, rather than trying to find space in a hall or using the funeral home (which is not the best laid out place for a funeral, funnily enough). The death was expected, and although he did not come to church, he was affiliated with our congregations, and a great deal of his family attend. I had met him, and was grateful for that experience, as it makes my job easier, both pastorally and liturgically.

This coming week I have a trip back to Vancouver booked! It seems both soon and very much appreciated to have a week's vacation at this point. I got taken down a notch with a nasty flu last week, and so I'm actually quite ready to go home for a visit and take a load off. Although one of my internship goals is to maintain a healthy work/life balance, what profs and other ministers have told me: that there will always always ALWAYS be more ministry to do than you ever have time or energy for.... is very true. I think I do do a good job of taking time out for myself - I have a healthy social life here, and I often escape to my quilting group or into the city to see friends. But there is always an undercurrent of pressure which does not subside - it's like an awareness that there is always something that needs to be done soon, or should be being done now. That may be something I simply have to get over. Then there is the fact that my job is sort of on-call 24/7. This week, for example, I spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday doing very little work in order to recover from the flu I had. I decided not to go quilting, since Thursday I would have time to write this weekend's service. Friday and Saturday I was scheduled to be at presbytery in Unity. It seemed manageable. Then we had the death in the community, and all of a sudden it's Thursday morning, and I am 1 day away from a 2 day trip out of town, and have to do two services on Sunday, and then a funeral on Monday - not to mention pastoral support for the family.

This is not to complain, but rather to say that I think in ministry it is important to have resources and time built in for weeks like this. I guess how I am achieving my learning goal in this area, is that I had a support network which I drew on, I got the work done, and I actually got 8 hours sleep last night! (Or almost)...

On a personal note... Robb and Susan (my brother and sister-in-law) are expecting their first child any day. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and are hoping for a fast and safe delivery of this healthy baby! Hopefully, if things turn out as I'd like them to, the baby will either be born before Wednesday when I head back to Vancouver, or while I am home. Keep our family and Susan's in your prayers!

I was meaning to write about my role in the World Council of Churches General Assembly delegation, but this is starting to get rather verbose, so I'll save that news for my Christmas letter.

Off to preach about the promises of the Prince of Peace!