Julie’s News from Maryland

I’m doing my field education this year at Big Manhattan Church. It has been a great experience and I really love it. I’m doing some research about church growth and development and it has been really informative and interesting. However, at Big Manhattan Church there are lots of clergy, which means that there are virtually no opportunities for the seminarian to preach. I knew that this was the case and it really isn’t a big deal. I like to preach and I’m pretty good at it (if I do say so myself) so I don’t really feel like it is a huge issue if I don’t get preaching opportunities during field ed. Heck, I have a lifetime of preaching ahead of me, I’m sort of glad that I won’t be using all my good ideas now. =)

I work at Big Manhattan Church on Thursdays and my “office” is in the Vesting Room. The Vesting Room is a big room behind the altar where all the priests’ vestments hang. I have a desk and a phone and a network connection. I thought I might be lonely so far away from all the staff offices, but it turns out that it’s a busy place. Lots of different people wander in and out of that room all day and I’ve met some really cool and fun people. Today I got a tour of the choir rooms and the community outreach ministry from one of the choirmasters.

Anyway, I was sitting in my big “closet” (as I affectionately call it), when one of the clergy came in to vest for noontime Eucharist. This particular clergy is a friend of mine from seminary (he is a recent graduate). He asked if I wanted to preach at the noontime Eucharist that was starting in 10 minutes. Being a little chicken, I asked to read the gospel first. It was Luke 17:20-26, which has one of my favorite quotes in it, “For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” When I saw that, I knew I could preach pretty easily, so I agreed.

I put on an alb and followed my friend to the small chapel. Only one person was there as we walked in, but then 4 or 5 more came in right away. It was a great little service and I got to preach a tiny little sermon with almost no preparation. It was really fun and I’m so grateful to my friend for giving me the opportunity.