Road Trip with God: On the road again...

And we are off on yet another road trip...

Destination: Phoenix

Mission: Lauren's Ordination...the good Lord willing and the people consenting

Do you choose to accept Y/N: Yes, of course I accept

We woke up before 7:00AM and hit the road in attempt to make it to Phoenix by noon. We were about five hours away from Phoenix so we knew it was going to be close. We grabbed coffee and a breakfast sandwich and we were good to roll. The ride through the desert towards Phoenix was relatively uneventful. The sun was shining, as is usual, and it was warming up quickly. We rolled into Phoenix with five minutes to spare as we walked into Lauren's best friend's house, where we were staying for the weekend, and I immediately turned on the TV. I quickly unpacked the car and donned my jersey and scarf and I was ready for the big game. Lauren and I watched the game and unfortunately my team lost in penalty kicks...sad time. In the end it was still worth the hustle and waking up early to make it in time. After the game I took a nap and then we were off to St. Mathew's for the ordination rehearsal. The rehearsal was quick and no nonsense and I think we were all ready and excited for the ordination the next day.

The next morning, Sunday, Lauren and I went to her new church not only so that she could meet everyone, but also to see the church for the first time. What was interesting about her hiring process was that all of the interviews were done over the phone and she never visited the church. Now for most jobs this would probably be a bad thing to do, but when it comes to ordained ministry its not the physical building that matters, or appearances of the people, but the character of the clergy and the congregation that matters. We knew that based on the job description that this would be perfect for her because of its focus on family and children's ministry and from her interactions with the other clergy she felt really comfortable with them. We arrived at the church about a half an hour early and the place was huge. The church was huge. The day school as huge. The parking lot was huge. While the Diocese of Arizona may not be the largest diocese in the country but they do have some large churches. Lauren went off to meet the person she was replacing and I wandered around for a little bit, mostly inside because it was so hot out. I took a seat inside the church and just tried to take things in. The church was mostly full for its second of three services, with the second service being the spoken family service and the last service being the more traditional service that I have become accustomed to since moving to California. Based on my experience I would say that the parish is middle of the road liturgically while more conservative in other respects which is in line with the overall feel of the Diocese of Arizona. This is based on the fact that this parish and all others in the diocese are not open table, meaning that only the baptized can receive communion. This is not the case in both the Diocese of California and Massachusetts. After the service I had the pleasure of meeting everyone, including the clergy, and we took off for breakfast/lunch at the only place that would suffice for such an occasion...Waffle House. Yes I may be obsessed but once you try their cheese eggs you will never want any other. We made our way back to Lauren's friends condo and began to get ready for the ordination at 5:00PM and we had a busy afternoon ahead of us.

The hills that surround the Palm Springs valley

Better watch where you step...who would have thought that desert was so dangerous

Lauren and I in our FC Bayern gear to support my team, even though they lost it was still a good game

One of the two courtyards of All Saints Phoenix, Lauren's new job

The gigantic parking lot of All Saints with there day school at the far end...I guess the old adage that a church can only grow as large as its parking lot is true in this case as the congregation is huge