Notices by ReverendRef (reverendref@episcodon.net)

Today is #HolySaturday It’s the day Jesus lay dead and buried. The day all creation holds its breath. The day between what was and what is promised. The day crucifixion and violence have won, and the day of hoped-for Resurrection is yet to come.

And in reality, this is where we live: In one long Holy Saturday between the already of yesterday and the not yet of the promise.

#HolyWeek #Triduum #Episcopal #Hope #SLECBuffalo

First service of the #Triduum is in the books. In some respects, this one went better than last year (Altar Guild was more organized), but in other areas it wasn’t as good as last year (lower attendance). But still, it’s #MaundyThursday and it’s always a moving experience when we strip the altar.
#Episcopal #HolyWeek #SLECBuffalo

It’s #ShroveTuesday. In my small town, there are certain things you don’t do. One of them is that churches don’t compete with other churches over major events. The RC parish has held a fish fry on Shrove Tuesday for ever. That means no pancake dinner for us. So last year I instituted #GameNight.
People can go eat fish and then come here for games.

@seanbala
Unfortunately, our own Herod will be taking office shortly.

#MerryChristmas
It’s the #TwelfthDayOfChristmas and the #SecondSundayAfterChristmasDay.
Sermon in a nutshell: 1) Actively look for miracles; 2) Welcome the stranger who shows up to worship; 3) Don’t be Herod and fight to maintain the status quo.
#Episcopal #Sermon #SLECBuffalo #PriestLife

Calling parishioners whom you haven’t seen for awhile be like: “Wait …. Don’t cancel now. What if we reduced your annual subscription price? And threw in a gift? And upgraded you to premium service at no charge?”
#Desperate #Episcopal #PriestLife

One of the hardest things for me to deal with as a priest is this: you put the Christmas service schedule (including only one service today) on the website, in every bulletin for the past month, in every church email that goes out, on the answering machine, and on the doors to the building, and still someone shows up an hour late because they didn’t know it was at 9:00 instead of 10:00.
#Dammit #Episcopal #Failure2Communicate #PriestLife

I was taking care of dinner dishes and Mrs. Ref swooped in and took over.
“I’ll do it,” I said, trying to be the nice husband.
“No … you go. I’m cold and the water’s warm.”
And there you have it …. Being nice is trumped by the need to have warm hands.