Today was my first Sunday as a provisional elder. I arrived at the church early and, with the help of my lead pastor and the sound guy, got all wired and robed up in time for our early service. During the service, the congregation welcomed me through the liturgy for the celebration of an appointment, and I had the opportunity to lead the people in prayer and help preside over communion. I even got to do the epiclesis and fraction during the communion liturgy, which was both powerful and humbling. After the first service I met what felt like hundreds of people and talked with them over a reception. Then, with fewer nerves the second time around, I served in the 11:00 service as well.
My new church gives a very good first impression. So far, they seem very friendly and kind. Nearly everyone I met greeted me with a smile, a kind word, or an offer of help, should I need it. And most of them seemed to realize that, as hard as I might try, there was no way I would be able to remember all of their names.
A few observations:
I never know quite what to do with handshakes. There are people who hang onto your hand for a full minute or two, throughout the time you're talking with them. There are those who, after grasping your hand for barely a second, drop it immediately, as though you have cooties. You seem creepy if you hang onto the hand of a grab-and-drop person longer than they hold onto yours, but you also seem cold and antisocial if you try to let go of the hands of the hang-on-forever people. But at least at my new church, no one gave me the dead fish handshake!
The church also has the sort of headset mikes that remind me of Britney Spears. The problem with this, though, is that I have small and slightly misshapen ears, so the headset doesn't stay on quite right. I've bent the earpiece in a very strange manner, and it still wobbles in a disconcerting way. I was nervous the whole morning that my headset would fall off and make loud screeching noises out of all of the speakers.
I need to get my robe hemmed. Soon. I stepped on the edge of my robe twice today, and I was just lucky that it didn't happen while I was carrying the elements up and down the stairs from the altar table. I'd had nightmares all yesterday that I might trip on the hem of my robe and fall down, or knock the communion elements off the table accidentally. On the upside, with those alternatives in mind, the worship seemed much better by comparison!
6 comments:
The little old ladies are the worst about the "lingering handshake"! ;)
I had to use the Britney mic for our commissioning service. They used scotch tape to keep the mic from moving.
Isn't it hilarious the kinds of things that you dream about as a pastor? Seriously - who else would EVER dream about spilling communion elements?
Also, enjoy the handshakes. Soon, they will be hugging you and that can be VERY awkward...
Congratulations! I'm so glad to know that it went well. We were all thinking of you this weekend.
You might ask Ry about the tape that performers (yes, like Britney) use to secure their mics. I'm sure he would have some good info for you. :)
I'm so glad your 1st service went well. I too had some awkward handshakes. Also, I took my robe to be hemmed today. The cleaner called it a choir robe and then gave me a very surprised look when I told her it was actually a CLERGY robe.
Rock on, Pastor Lauren!
The tape we use to hold mics on is medical tape, the clear plastic kind. It's not too noticeable and sticks well, but is easy on the skin coming off. I haven't worked intimately with the headsets at Bon Air. If I recall correctly, they tend to stick out from the face more than the mics we have here at Montreat, but if you put a square of tape right below the ear, like where the mic starts to stick out from the earpiece, it should help a lot.
I was absolutely delighted by your comment on my blog. I've heard only wonderful things about you (and I've also heard of people uttering our names in the same sentence), and I look forward to meeting you when I get back to VA!
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