Numbers

There was a time when I said, that I only stayed in one profession for six years. I was a Technical Director of Dance Theater for six years. I was an interior designer for about six years. But, then I was a massage therapist for nine years. So, the six years thing wasn’t really accurate.

Along the way I also moved often. Before Dan and I bought our first house I moved from one apartment to another every couple of years. Our first house was a little Chicago bungalow in Polish/Hispanic neighborhood. I adored that little house. It’s where we lived when both of our kids were born. We bought it in 1987 and we sold it in 1994. Seven years in one house was a record for me. The next. Several years were bumpy, moving several times to one place at seminary and then another, and then to one place after seminary and then another. It wasn’t until 2001 that we settled down again. This was for my first church as a rector. We lived there and I served that parish until 2008. So that was another seven years in one house. We moved to Arizona and then back to Illinois, and then to Dearborn in 2011. Now we’ve been here for 9 years. That is the record for living in one house for any length of time. I like to think that we’ll be here for another six or seven years, and then I’ll retire. But who knows?

The more amazing number for me is that on June 28, 2000 I was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church, and I have remained a priest for twenty years. And An even more amazing number is that, this August Dan and I celebrate thirty five years of marriage. Okay, maybe it’s not all that amazing that we’ve been married for 35 years since we are obviously compatible and good for one another. It is amazing though that 35 years have gone by. When we married the world seemed so very different. It wasn’t really, not underneath all the surface stuff that I thought was important then. All the problems of the 1980’s were not new nor have they gone away. My awareness of them is greater and their impact on me is greater. 

Back in 2000, as someone preparing to be ordained, I thought I had an interesting take on life and faith. I thought I was part of an emerging way of being church. For twenty years I have tried to be on the edge of this emerging church reality, how to be church in an age of decline. For awhile I tried every new thing I could find out about, this, that, the other. Then I gave up trying new things and went for what ever was the most authentic, honest, mission focused thing I could lift up for the community I served. Now I am re-engaging with people who are on the cutting edge of emerging church realities. This is particularly relevant in the age of cyber worship and pandemic stay at home directives. And always always there is the truth about church decline. At least in the sense of attendance and dollars. Maybe not in the sense of the Spirit working in us. Maybe not in the sense of the church continuing to work to change the world for the better, for justice and compassion, for love and equality. In this sense I think the church is emerging again and the Spirit is leading us. 

We’ll see. 

I don’t know what will happen in the next year.

I don’t know what will happen in six years, or nine years. All I know for sure is that my life has been vastly different than I ever imagined. And I suspect that will continue to be true.

So, here’s to twenty years ordained. I am heading off on my first ever sabbatical. I look forward to some time for rest and renewal.