Missing Worship, Sick Kid, and a Carpenter
I’m currently sitting on my couch in Lone Oak while a very capable carpenter bangs on a door frame literally over my shoulder. He’s fixing one of 5 doors in the house that need repair. Remember last week? Well, he’s here fixing all the doors that won’t close, all the knobs that won’t turn, and all the locks that aren’t appropriate for someone who’s the product of a house fire to have in her house.
Aiden is ‘somehow’ sleeping in his room 15 yards away as the carpenter bangs away. Bless his miracle-sleeper heart. He needs his rest.
Aiden’s little body has been fighting off a summer cold for 3 days that he probably picked up at daycare. Yep. Our first week of daycare. I guess I should’ve called that one.
Last week with all the time I had thanks to daycare and preschool I, with an amazing worship team, incredible secretary who’s also an incredible choir director, and a graphic artist, managed to put together one of the more exciting worship services of my [short] career. Yesterday, Aiden woke up with a fever.
It happens. Also that thing that rhymes with “it” — it happens too. I don’t think I’ve ever been so bummed to miss worship.
But here’s the good thing. Before I ever got here, Fountain Avenue anticipated me needing to be a mom. They anticipated that I’d be a good mom — the kind that pauses to wipe away tears (which might make me late for a meeting) and stays home to nurse the sick ones. Who else would they expect me to be? They anticipated and knew these things and they prepared.
I had not one but TWO people in my congregation I could’ve called yesterday to preach and one of them did without blinking an eye and I KNOW he did a GREAT job. One man is a supply pastor at a church that worships earlier. The other is a retired pastor from the KY Conference and one of my members. My choir director is also good enough that she could’ve pulled off a beautifully orchestrated “music” Sunday that would’ve been more than a sing-along and more than a performance — it still would’ve been worship.
I was bummed. In many ways I still am. I was really looking forward to worship and all the amazing elements that we put together for yesterday. That service will still happen. We’ll give it a few weeks and try again. But all that is beside the point.
Ministry is a communal activity and we’re all in this thing together. We all have circumstances, hurdles, weakness, and stumbling blocks. We all have gifts, graces, strengths, and talents. Ministry works a lot better when everyone is using each of those attributes to contribute to the whole. Parts of the body? Sound a bit familiar?
I’m so thankful for the plan. I’m thankful that they were thoughtful. I’m thankful that it’s working.
It was a tough Sunday for #UMPastorMom but I’m still thankful.
Aiden is on the ‘up.’ He’ll go back to daycare tomorrow. I’ll work frantically the rest of the week to iron out all the kinks of the last 36-or-so hours of being MIA. It’ll be ok. There’s a plan.
