A full evening

It’s kind of a bummer when there are two things going on at the same time that you’d like to be a part of.  Even more so when there are three things!  That was the case last night.  The first was a “cluster meeting” for Ohio Conference.  Twice a year, aside from the annual assembly, congregations from different regions of the state get together for fellowship and hearing about Ohio Conference business.  There was significant business to hear this time as there is a budget crunch and the three regional pastors are having their collective time cut from 2.5 FTE to 1.5 FTE.  Beginning in April, our regional pastor, Andy Stoner, will go from full time to half time.  This probably won’t be felt much on the congregational level, but will certainly affect how pastors relate to each other as he helps facilitate this.  It will also put a strain on congregations in pastoral transition, as Andy does significant work with this process.  Fortunately Trent Hummel, one of our delegates to Ohio Conference, was able to attend that meeting and we’ll hear from him at the Council meeting tonight.

The second event was a book reading and signing at Joseph-Beth Bookstore at Rookwood by AJ Jacobs, the guy who wrote The Year of Living Biblically that I referred to in the sermon a couple Sundays ago.  Yeah, he was here in Cincinnati!  I hadn’t known about this until Jean Swartley mentioned something Saturday during People Working Cooperatively.  He would be an interesting guy to meet sometime.

The third event(s) involved an excellent Thanksgiving themed meal in the church basement with CMFers and community members as well as a meeting with the Health Care Access group.  The Community Meal time was well-attended and I was reminded again of the gift of Community (and, of course, the gift of Meal).  There are children to play with, there are the regulars and the visitors to talk with, and there is food to be prepared and served and cleaned up.  The collective effect of this regular practice twice a month has been the creation of a holy time and space where God creates community.  Our Health Care Access group met afterward and discussed ways we can respond to some of the information gathered from the survey many of you filled out earlier this year.  We are beginning by having an event December 9^th, during second Sunday potluck, regarding filling out Living Will and Power of Attorney forms.  We will have short presentations from the medical, legal, and faith perspectives and also have papers present for those wishing to fill out the forms that day.  If you do not yet have these on file personally, or would simply like to know more, plan on staying after church December 9^th, sharing a potluck meal together, and hearing about these concerns.         

So, it was a full evening.  Ten Thousand Villages met over in Peace House at the same time, so that could be considered a fourth event!  I guess the best kind of problems are the ones where you have several good options to choose from instead of several bad options.