This Week in Ministry was very incarnational.

Sunday (12/15)

• Baptized a 6-week old.
• Children’s Pageant #1 was classic, funny and delightful. O was excellent as Joseph.
• Children’s Pageant #2 was more contemporary and equally delightful. O was excellent as a shepherd. A was excellent as one of the narrating actresses. Also observed a town-acquaintance gracefully help is father enjoy the pageant.

Monday

• Last real office day before Christmas. Ate a lot of chocolate.
• Premarital Counseling for a wedding in January.

Tuesday

• Came down with a terrible cold. Missed Taco Tuesday and my one of favorite home visits.
• Wrote most of my Advent 4 and Christmas Eve sermons as well as prepped graveside funeral.

Wednesday

• Officiated a graveside burial in an Abbey. This place was unique. The deceased was 97. Got some Christmas shopping in on the way home.

Thursday

• Managed some office time to finalize liturgy and bulletins for Advent 4 & Christmas Eve.
• Attended a “Family Matters Summit” headlined by a local elected official. I attended with a new PFLAG friend. The presentation was a lot fake vicitmization, a lot of war rhetoric, a lot of anti-vax and anti-government stuff. The crux of the protest was a comprehensive sex education bill in the state that teaches kids the proper names of body parts as well as concepts such as consent and consequences of actions. More on that in a later post.

Friday

• Accompanied a friend to a divorce settlement hearing. That was a first. I even got appointed by the judge to help settle a property matter.
• Attended a vigil for a young trans teen who was brutally murdered this summer. Her remains were finally found in a remote part of the county. Local LGBTQ+ advocacy groups presented. It was a heavy night.

Saturday

• Day off…Finished Christmas Shopping
• Had to totally rewrite my sermon based on the Friday evening vigil.

Image via columbian.com