2007-02-24 - 12:44 p.m.
Another busy week. I can't help but think of my slow-moving six months, and compare it to life now. Used to be I'd get up around eight or nine, depending on if the hostel had a lockout, wander out, find some brunch (generally bread and cheese) and spend the day walking, reading, and sight seeing. Oh, there were busy days, definitely, and some were downright stressful (especially travel days) but they were the minority. Now I'm up at the crack of dawn, working all day, and always somewhere to go in the evening.
This week was, of course, the week of Shrove Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday, two fairly important days in the life of the church. Shrove Tuesday is pancake supper day in many Anglican Churches, and this year the Young Adults were on the hook to cook the pancakes at St. G's. Jeff and I went out after work on Tuesday to get the ingredient and the sausages. We didn't have much of an idea how many to cook for, so we got enough for maybe thirty people. To be honest, I was expecting to have to eat a lot of that myself. Last year wasn't an unqualified success, and despite the many changes at the church since then I was not hopeful. Well, as it turned out, I was wrong.
We had to go out twice for more pancakes, and we couldn't cook them fast enough. It was a good night.
Wednesday I went to a really good Ash Wednesday service at the church. It's quite a powerful service, and two of my favorite parts are when the priest marks your forehead with the ashes of the palm crosses from last years Palm Sunday. As he marks you, he says "remember you are dust, and to dust you will return". At the end of the service, instead of the normal dismissal, the priest says "go now, and pray for me, a sinner" Then you leave the church in silence.
The real story this week was the ACPO information package though. ACPO is the Advisory Committee on Postulants for Ordination. In short it's a committee that interviews you over the course of a weekend to assess your suitability for ordained ministry. Then they make a recommendation to your Bishop. It's the last hurdle for me to get through before being able to go to school, so it's a pretty big deal. The weekend isn't till May, but I had to fill out an information form about it and hand it in this week. Stupidly I left the two essays (on on my background, cultural and social influences and pertinent religious experiences- 500-1000 words and the other on my views on lay and ordained ministry) till the day before. I got the lay/ordained ministry one done mostly at work (when everyone else was at the noonday Ash Wednesday service) and compiled the other one from the essays I had written for the diocesan version of ACPO. Still, I wish I had given myself a little more time, as I'm not sure how good the essays were. Not much I can do about it now though!
