And you thought I had died or something.....
No such luck! In fact, I was just swallowed by the insanity that is Middler Year. (otherwise known as Year From Hell.) So there has been much class taking, much organizing of things, and much field-placement-ing. (yes. i invented a word. deal.)
I'm working at a lovely church down the street with an insanely large soup kitchen program. Upwards of 1100 people a day. Seriously, it's like a semi-scary feeding machine in there. And I trot myself in, and lead Morning Prayer and a Bible Study for the guests. Because that's pretty much all my skill set allows me to do. I provide coffee, I pray, and I can explain in great detail the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and also the Q Source Theory, but that's about it.
But this church is great, and they enjoy my odd little skill set. So much, in fact, that they let me teach a Lenten series on the Israeli/Palestine conflict. (hahah! Mortals. They know not what they do.) And my bible study group is fabulous. Example:
One day, I come in and sit down, and notice that we have a new face among us. I say, "Hi, I don't think I know your name!" New Face Guy says, "No, I can't tell you my name. Because the feds are after me. But you can call me Tree."
I think Oh boy . We have entered a med-free zone.
I say, " Ok. Well, no one's after me, so you can call me by my name."
We continue, without incident, looking at that part where Jesus lists the 2 greatest commandment hits (love God, love your neighbor, tada!). Suddenly, 'Tree' slams down his book, causing some alarm to me. (See above comment about my skill set. It doesn't include stopping non-medicated people from throwing things. I'm not a large person.)
Quoth 'Tree': "Man! This Jesus stuff is hard!"
Me, not sure where he's going: "Yes, Tree."
Tree, continuing as if I had not attempted CPE-style affirmation and failed miserably, and very serious and earnest: "I mean, I thought doing my bid was hard, and you wouldn't know what that is, Teacher, you bein' a preacher and all, but that was rough, with the knucklin' and the fightin' and people bein' all up in your anus, but this! This is harder than that!"
Me, trying not to giggle maniacally at poor Tree: "Yes, Tree. Christianity is hard."
Tree, again, to hell with my affirmations, and thankfully, my fighting back the laughing: "I mean, you gotta figure out who the good people are, and you can't go to clubs no more, and you can't be with your bad friends.....Shit! I mean, ....shit! can i say that in here, Teacher?"
"Sure, Tree, cut loose."
By this point, everyone else was staring in consternation at poor Tree, who was having some sort of spiritual something-or-other, and I was trying to figure out how to build on the concept of Christianity-is-harder-than-a-jail-sentence, without getting totally derailed. Sometimes I love my job. :) Though how i'm going to work poor Tree into a sermon is currently beyond me. Tweaking the language just makes it lose all its original impact.
In other news, I think I'm going to start posting my sermons on this blog. I got the idea from a fellow classmate, and it seems like a good idea. (And of course, you people need more sermons to read, right?) Also, it cuts down on the emailing and the sending of sermons that I do. Less work for me!!!!
I'm working at a lovely church down the street with an insanely large soup kitchen program. Upwards of 1100 people a day. Seriously, it's like a semi-scary feeding machine in there. And I trot myself in, and lead Morning Prayer and a Bible Study for the guests. Because that's pretty much all my skill set allows me to do. I provide coffee, I pray, and I can explain in great detail the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and also the Q Source Theory, but that's about it.
But this church is great, and they enjoy my odd little skill set. So much, in fact, that they let me teach a Lenten series on the Israeli/Palestine conflict. (hahah! Mortals. They know not what they do.) And my bible study group is fabulous. Example:
One day, I come in and sit down, and notice that we have a new face among us. I say, "Hi, I don't think I know your name!" New Face Guy says, "No, I can't tell you my name. Because the feds are after me. But you can call me Tree."
I think Oh boy . We have entered a med-free zone.
I say, " Ok. Well, no one's after me, so you can call me by my name."
We continue, without incident, looking at that part where Jesus lists the 2 greatest commandment hits (love God, love your neighbor, tada!). Suddenly, 'Tree' slams down his book, causing some alarm to me. (See above comment about my skill set. It doesn't include stopping non-medicated people from throwing things. I'm not a large person.)
Quoth 'Tree': "Man! This Jesus stuff is hard!"
Me, not sure where he's going: "Yes, Tree."
Tree, continuing as if I had not attempted CPE-style affirmation and failed miserably, and very serious and earnest: "I mean, I thought doing my bid was hard, and you wouldn't know what that is, Teacher, you bein' a preacher and all, but that was rough, with the knucklin' and the fightin' and people bein' all up in your anus, but this! This is harder than that!"
Me, trying not to giggle maniacally at poor Tree: "Yes, Tree. Christianity is hard."
Tree, again, to hell with my affirmations, and thankfully, my fighting back the laughing: "I mean, you gotta figure out who the good people are, and you can't go to clubs no more, and you can't be with your bad friends.....Shit! I mean, ....shit! can i say that in here, Teacher?"
"Sure, Tree, cut loose."
By this point, everyone else was staring in consternation at poor Tree, who was having some sort of spiritual something-or-other, and I was trying to figure out how to build on the concept of Christianity-is-harder-than-a-jail-sentence, without getting totally derailed. Sometimes I love my job. :) Though how i'm going to work poor Tree into a sermon is currently beyond me. Tweaking the language just makes it lose all its original impact.
In other news, I think I'm going to start posting my sermons on this blog. I got the idea from a fellow classmate, and it seems like a good idea. (And of course, you people need more sermons to read, right?) Also, it cuts down on the emailing and the sending of sermons that I do. Less work for me!!!!
posted by Dajjimeg at
12:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home