Joy

I have a call.

I was called after church on Sunday by a search committee with whom I have been in conversation for several months. They have been coming, two or three at a time, to hear me preach in various locations (I have several months scheduled doing pulpit supply). I hadn't exactly given up, but I was aware that they had a couple of folks they considered strong candidates; they had told me they had a "very difficult" decision to make.

I guess they made it! I have been asked to be pastor of a church, just a few miles from my home, with which I feel much connection. They are progressive, they are mission-minded, they are eager for adult education opportunities. They want someone to walk with them and they've decided I am that pastor.

If you had told me when I left seminary I'd spend four years doing interim work, I'd have said that you were mad, mad I tell you! I wanted so much to find a congregation, fall in love, settle down and get married to them. Well. That was not to be. God, evidently, had a bunch of other stuff in mind for me... getting interim training years one and two, working with a congregation in crisis, working with another congregation in deep conflict, and finding a passion for campus ministry were all things I needed to do first. And now that I have done those things, a church that feels pretty nigh perfect comes along, and decides I am the gal they want to be their next rev (their first woman pastor, with the exception of a short term interim).

I should say this: it doesn't feel like flowers and rainbows and falling in love. It feels like a couple of older and wiser folks understanding the things people need to get along for the duration. I have learned that flowers and rainbows and love are not the feelings I feel when a pastoral call is in the offing... just hasn't happened that way for me.

So here I am, all grown up and gettin' my own church. ("My baby's all grown up and savin' China!") So. Yay. YAY! I'm jumping for joy.

Photo courtesy of Flickr and biglake brian.