This week Jeff, Amanda, and I got together to plan the themes and some of the worship and gathering details for July-September. It took us 3 and a half hours of praying, reading scriptures, listening to Jeff play songs, laughing, trusting, and collaborating. Afterwards I felt more than a little foggy, so I took a nap. These aren’t skills I’ve had to use in a long time.
Back in Boise Jeff and I worked with a team to plan worship. At Veneta I did it on my own. At Capitol Hill I simply worked a month ahead. To do this work of listening to the spirit within the Southeast Portland Parish pastoral team was wonderful and exhausting. Next time, planned for the end of August, I know it will be easier. We already figured out that picking scriptures for a month and then going back to pick songs didn’t work as well as when we went week by week picking out scriptures and songs at the same time.
Another thing that will make it easier is by next time we will have been all working together at Southeast Portland Parish for a few months. We’ll have an even better sense of what God is calling us to share with the folks in our faith communities and neighborhoods.
I know that this next year is going to be full of moments like this week. Moments of incredibly rewarding hard work. Moments when my brain is foggy and tired from using old skills I haven’t called on in a while. Moments that require me to rest afterwards. I also know I’ll be learning lots of new things along the way too.
I am so fortunate to do this work with such great partners and with God leading the way.
-Eilidh
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