Monday, November 17, 2014

A full Sunday: bishops and rock bands

I had the first two Masses; Archbishop Schnurr was coming up for the 11, for confirmation. So in-between everything else, I had a few things to attend to:

> Getting out the sacramental books for him to examine, as is traditional when the bishop comes;
> Cutting up a lemon and remembering to bring it over to church;
> Making sure the servers know what they need to;
> Watching for the Archbishop and seeing to any of his needs;
> Making sure the right readings were set out -- different from the other Masses.

Thankfully, all went well. Our servers were on it; my mistake was to assign too few. Nothing bad happened, but we only had two torches during the consecration.

I was especially proud of our tenth-graders. When the Archbishop addressed questions to them, they didn't freeze as so often happens, but they actually answered! Correctly! Well done!

So the Archbishop was able to get on the road to his next engagement, and we got the church back in order. Next up was a baptism; that went off with a hitch; but by now, I was ready to stretch out on the couch, which I did for a couple of hours.

Then, around 5:40 pm, it was time to link up with the youth group. They were gathering to car-pool down to Troy for a concert with Matt Maher and Toby Mac. These guys:



So I sent off the kids with a blessing, then got in my car -- I was going too! But I wanted to drive separately, as I didn't plan on rocking out with the youth group to the end.

I never heard of these guys; have you? What are your thoughts?

I can't say that TobyMac (or tobyMac or t0bYmaC or Mac and toby or however he styles himself) was my cup of tea, but Hobart Arena was rocking as I slipped out during his third song.

On the ride down and back, there was some snow coming down -- not a lot -- but much more came later. The kids and the chaperones were banking on at least a two-hour delay this morning, which they got, plus a subsequent cancellation of school.

I know this thanks to two helpful phone calls with perky recorded messages from the school between 6 and 7 am.

There was one nice surprise on the way back. Even though it was after 8:30, I hadn't eaten supper; I wasn't hungry earlier. So I'm thinking about what to eat when I get home, when what catches my eye, but the Skyline in Troy is still open! Praise the Lord! Can I get an amen!? I turned in, and got me a Three-Way and two coneys with everything. There's nothing quite like driving home on a snowy evening with the fragrant aroma of Greek "chili" in the car.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Your post on life as a pastor are funny and instresting. Give us lay Fathers that we have somewhat easy. Especially when the boss stop by. Continue to showing us you views as you Shepard you flock which yours much bigger than ours.

rcg said...

Cincinnati Boy was drawn by the Siren Smell of Queen City Chili.

John Stegeman said...

Father, Matt Maher is something else. I saw him in concert at a benefit for St. Gertude but my favorite moment of him is probably this video from World Youth Day where he knelt in adoration while performing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZa6spYqHsA

truthfinder2 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
truthfinder2 said...

Deleted my first comment, as it had numbers from the captcha in it. Don't know what happened. I am fond of classical music, chant, and Catholic hymns (the real ones.) Matt Maher is one of my few favorites in the current Christian music milieu. I also like Audrey Assad; they have sung together. Check out Audrey's "Death Be Not Proud" cuts on YouTube. Some lyrics from "Receive" -
"Holy wisdom—God in heaven, here in human time"
"Humble Godhead, bending low and touching bread and wine"
"Faith is making plain the truth beneath the veil;"
"Faith supplying where our feeble senses fail..."
http://youtu.be/WLKsUc5FEDg ~ Rosemary A.