When Shall We Three Meet Again?

Time slips through the slender creases cradled in our hands and yet is an ever present companion

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

When the hurlyburly's done, 

When the battle's lost and won.

That will be ere the set of sun.

Where the place?

Upon the heath....

Where shall we meet?

The semester is now racing through the closeness of the trees as the 

sun softly crawls and spills onto the horizon; as I fill my calendar with

deadlines for my own sanity offinishing strong and satisfied my world has

begun its transformation.

Our community here is a transformative and transitionary one; we spend 

two or three years soaking up the warmth of knowledge and stand in pools of

questions that trickle off o four feet, leaving an outline of dwelling among our

footsteps as we walk away,presumably to dry off. We attend Chapel and

gallantly observe as the names are breathed forth of those leaving our 
community; we hug one another and remark-"Next year, in front of the font." 
Now, that next year has arrived, and the realization that there are people I 
will never see again.

My biological class, as I am fond of saying, the class of 2014 will be returning

this summer as we, my adoptive Class of 2015 will be embarking towards the 

islands of Internship..and our paths may not cross. I won't have time to chat,

catch up, reconnect with them. And  yet, there is a difference. Our energized

class of 2016 will take their bow onto the stage and leap into the audience 
as the path to internship widens and beckons them forth-and I may miss their 

performance. And yet there will be a difference.

There is something that shifts in the atmosphere as one shifts away from the 

harmonious LSTC community: the realization that this, our vocation and what 

Our Creator has called us towards is concrete. Our souls sync up with others 

whose experiences reflect with our own; our bond reaches out and is as tangled

as stout ivy that covers and blankets statues and figures that belong to time

memorial.

There will be Synod Assemblies, First Call Pastor Conferences and Clusters, 

Churchwide Assembly gatherings and the magic of  Skype. We shall meet once

more but this time our feathers and our costumes will be slightly brighter. 

We shall recognize each otherbut the transformative blessings of the Triune 

God will encompass our very beings and we shall view one another in a
different light.

This shimmering pool of water speaks to me even now, as I have conversations

with dear friends of mine from the class of 2012, who joyfully come and visit 

these hallowed halls  which reflect back to them as an oasis. They now stand 

as my cloud of witnesses,to the indescribable joy and challenges of being among 

the ordained. 

This year was our turn among those gathered at Chapel; the Book of Life or 

rather our awesome Field Ed's binder was opened and we were called forth to 

boldly proclaim and to ask God to help and guide us. We traveled through the 

font as the waters of baptism were playfully splashed about; our conversations

as we passed  the peace turned to"So have you heard from your Intern
supervisor?"or"Where are you going to be staying?";"My intern congregation..." ,
"There are a couple of LSTC alum who are serving in the area and.."

Where shall we meet? Joyfully out in God's Creation where we serve, and 

continue to be nourished through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks Be To God.

Lape Bondye, God's Peace.

Wade in the Water

Not an image from this particular baptism...but look at our crazy font

Okay, so there was no wading in the water...because the font at my church is old school (like, it has a lock and a brass relief of a dove which actually looks like a raptor) but we had the first baptism since I've been there yesterday.  

Typically House does baptisms on baptismal festivals (like the Easter Vigil) but we aren't really all that strict about it and this instance was no exception...or maybe it was the world's largest exception.

About a month ago, a woman emailed House to tell us her story.  In it she recounted that she was raised an atheist and a cultural Jew, but in the midst of watching her family lose everything in Hurricane Sandy, she saw something odd.  A bunch of Lutherans and Episcopalians in New York cleaning up the damage and rebuilding.  It was something she hadn't experienced before, and wanted to learn more about these strange benevolent Lutheran people.

Through a series of circumstances she found House For All Sinners and Saints and listened to every single one of the sermons that have been preached here.  In her email she explained that she laughed with our community, cried with our community, and she felt the presence of God in her life for the first time.  Because she felt like she was part of our community, and had just discovered this God thing, she wanted to fly to Denver to be baptized into our community, knowing that it was unlikely she would be back often, or maybe ever.

After discussing the request in Housekeeping (our Church Council) one member of it pointed out that we unapologetically have an open table at House, so we had to have an open font as well.  I know that there is a lot of debate in the church about open tables, and it's likely that those same people will be in disagreement about our open font as well...(and we've worked to help our newest sister in Christ find a church home in her part of the country)...but, regardless of thoughts surrounding our practices, it was one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed thus far.  Baptisms, for me, are such a powerful and amazing reminder of my own baptism.  That, 25 years ago, I too had water poured over me and I was sealed with the Cross of Christ forever.