Dear Friends in Christ,

I don’t blog. I will only send a text message in a pinch. And although I have come to appreciate e-mail, it took a long…..long…time. But even a Luddite such as myself finds that she is pushed forward by the changes in our world. So…maybe I will try blogging.

I am an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Wyoming. However, I lived most of my life totally unaware of God’s presence in my life and the world around me. Perhaps this is why it seems so important to me to discover, celebrate and share God’s kingdom in our world. My job title is Ministry Developer which means I drive thousands of miles each year to pray, learn, and visit with five wonderful church communities: Casper (St. Stephen’s), Glendo, Douglas, Lusk and Hartville.

It is these communities that I want to share with others -- all the stories that I hear and experience in these places. Not necessarily dramatic stories, but all the ordinary events that are a part of every congregation. And then I invite all of you to find where God is most present in each of them.

One of the things I have learned is that worship is usually much less planned and formal in the small churches of Wyoming. At first this bothered me, having come from a larger and more formal church. I still love the beautiful music and liturgy of the larger churches, but I have come to appreciate the way worship in each church seems to fit the gifts and needs of that particular congregation

This last Sunday I worshiped with the members of St. George’s, Lusk. The building is small, but the sanctuary is filled with beautiful wood and stained glass. I always enjoy sitting in one of the pews and just letting its beauty and comfort surround me. But the sanctuary doesn’t really come alive until the people gather. There is a huge age range in this congregation - from less than a year to over 100 years and all ages in between. The pews were pretty well filled this week I think in part because we were planning to bless two new candelabras. I am never quite sure who the acolytes will be each time I am there, sometimes there are many more than we can accommodate and sometimes there are none. This week, I knew at least one would be there to help with the blessing. In the end there were two. As they robed, I explained quickly that their part in the blessing would be to light the candelabras after the last prayer. You always need to be ready with explanations that are short and to the point, because there is never much time to prepare.

When it came time to bless the candelabras, all went well until the acolytes began to light them. One of the tapers simply ran out of wick. Now in a more planned and formal setting, this might have created a problem, but here it seemed perfectly natural when the two acolytes simply shared the one taper that worked. But more than this, what really struck me when this happened was the congregation and the looks of encouragement and pride on all their faces. It was in that moment that I knew what it felt like to be a part of God’s family.