It's Holy Week at Saint Paul's. I made myself useful this morning helping to make copies of the Passion reading and cutting up some fabric so the little kids could have "cloaks" for the processional, which makes me feel I'm contributing in a small way to what's going on during these busy services. It also helps me to connect to this parish and become a member of the community.
Interning is a lot different than walking into a church as a visitor who is seeking a church home. The expectation is all wrong, or maybe all right... I don’t know which. There’s a different sense of welcome maybe? I like it. I feel that my welcome at Saint Paul’s has been pretty seamless. I think this speaks volumes about the character of this community. In a sense I wasn’t a complete stranger to Saint Paul’s. The Rector and the Deacon where asked to host and they in turn brought this request to the Vestry, then the community was informed that I’d be with them for up to a year. They were prepared.
We are not so prepared when a visitor steps through our doors; even a visitor who is really out to find a church home. Of course we don’t know they’re coming. We haven’t been given a brief spiritual biography to read over. We aren’t given credentials from the Episcopal Church in Minnesota assuring us that the visitor really is on the level and that we should welcome them as a member of the parish. Yes it’s different. And to be fair there’s probably as much hesitation on the part of the “visitor”. How can we make visitors feel welcome without making it awkward in any way? Maybe it’s impossible? Maybe we ought not worry about it and just “keep it real”.
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