Today I preached my first itinerant gig in many years. It went well, the congregation was very warm, but it still felt weird. It felt weird just to leave afterwards and ride off into the distance. Preaching is such a relational act, and I put so much of myself into it, that it's diconcerting to preach out of context, not to hear the response to your part of the dialog.
My son came with me because he wanted to help with our children's lesson "Tacky the Penguin" which we had done together at our old church. He was clearly thinking about the old church on the long ride out into the countryside, because he mentioned missing his Sunday school teacher, and missing his close friend who was there at church with him almost every week, and often played with him while their moms were in a committee meeting together. After we arrived at the church gave ourselves a tour and introduced ourselves to some of the children, I think my son felt the strangeness too. The form of UU worship is so familiar, and we know "Tacky" by heart, but everyone around us was new to us, and perhaps he felt like I did; somewhat like an odd penguin in a Hawaiian shirt and purple bow tie.
I've been asked back to preach later in the fall. I'm really glad. It will feel good to be in dialog with a congregation again, even if they find a permanent minister to fill their pulpit right away . It's a small UU world up here, and I hope to be here for at least a decade or so. It will be good to get to know the neighbors.
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5 comments:
i'm glad to hear this. it's what is right. hope you get more.
so glad to hear this. it makes things feel more right all the way over here too.
I think it's kind of cool that the first person I clicked on who is also a Tanya Donnely fan is also an ordained minister like myself!!!
It is very different, isn't it? I guest-preached a lot when I was in seminary. It was good practice, and there were always small churches around looking for more preachers. At the time it seemed normal enough, but then I did my internship. The next time I did a guest stint, it felt so distant and strange. I didn't know these people! How was I supposed to know what to say to them? And read their thoughts in their faces as they listened?
But people who don't have settled ministers need love and inspiration too, so go you. What did you preach about? (Other than Tacky.)
I saw Tanya Donnely live once at a record store the size of a large closet. It was amazing. She signed "Lovesongs for Loosers" for me.
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