Ordination - 5/20

Around 4:00PM Lauren and I made our way to her home parish St. Matthew's in Chandler.  Her ordination was at 5:00PM and we needed to get there with enough time to get ready and of course calm her down.  Any ordination is not only a joyous occasion but also produces a lot of anxiety, especially since there is a point in the service when the bishop asks if anyone knows why this person should not be ordained.  Almost all the time there is silence, but after three years of seminary and several years prior to that in discernment, this is the last hurdle before what she had been working towards for a long time finally became a reality.

She had the benefit of planning her own service, in terms of music, readers and preacher.  Since I will more than likely be ordained with several others and at the cathedral in Boston we do not have the same latitude for decisions.  I believe we do get to choose the music but it has to be agreed upon by everyone.  Anyways, Lauren asked me to be one of her presenters and I of course agreed.  So it was cool to be a part of the service in a way that I had not been before.  I vaguely remember serving as the crucifer for my current rector and friend's ordination though I don't remember if it was to the deaconate or the priesthood...I digress.

It was an amazing service and it was an honor to be a part of it, especially in the capacity of sponsor.  It was hopefully a preview of my own ordination, of course the good Lord willing and the people consenting.  Below you will find pictures of the service so I will not narrate the whole thing but I think you will get a feel for just how powerful this is and how important it is for someone who feels and follows that call to ordained ministry.

The courtyard at St. Matthew's with the entrance to the church just beyond the fountain

Some of the vested clergy that participated in the procession in a side room waiting for the cue to start, all of the people in the room had an impact on Lauren in one way or another

Another picture from the "dressing room" with Bishop Smith of the Diocese of Arizona to the far right

Another picture of us waiting for the service to begin, to the right of Lauren is Phil who is the rector of All Soul's Berkeley, Lauren asked him to be the preacher because of the close ties they developed while she served as deacon at All Souls, I may do my second year of Field Ed at All Souls because he is such an amazing person...yes I am wearing a bow-tie and I tied it myself, I am somewhat of a professional now

All of us gathered in the nave waiting for the music to begin

Members of St. Matthew's participated in the liturgy and the choir sung as well

Another look at the procession

The opening hymn was St. Patrick's Breastplate which was sung at my father's funeral because it was his favorite hymn and ever since then I would lose my voice.  No matter how hard I tried to sing nothing came out, but on that day I sang, I know it is a common hymn sung at ordinations so we will see if I can sing it again, but on that day I sang

Yours truly looking spiffy

The Archdeacon for the Diocese of Arizona leading the bishop to the altar

Now that everyone was in their place we finished the hymn

In the first row were members of the congregation involved in the liturgy and then the two rows behind them were Lauren's family, her parents were on the end and the rest were family mostly from Arizona, her sister and nieces from the Bay Area couldn't make it which kind of sucked but it was still cool to see so many family members there to support her, especially since almost all of them are Catholic

The bishop begins the liturgy

The examination

The examination again, from another view

Lauren signing the Oath of Conformity

The bishop and Lauren kneeling in prayer during the Litany that was sung by two members of the choir

Phil delivering the sermon...the service was on a Sunday evening that morning he and another priest Don Brown (Lauren's mentor during her last year of seminary) left the Sunday service at All Souls in Berkeley at the Peace, drove down to Oakland and hopped a plane to Phoenix, Lauren and I picked them up at 3:00PM and then were off to the church at 4:00PM, needless to say it was amazing that both Phil and Don were willing to go through all of that to be there for her, that is how much she meant to both of them

Lauren getting ready for the laying on of hands

Again a few more questions for Lauren before the laying on of hands

Some final prayers

More prayers

At this point all ordained priests present come forth as the bishop prepares to lay his hand upon her head to confer the Holy Spirit

All of the priests and bishop laying their hands upon her head...in that group was Phil and Don as well as the two priests she will be working with at her new parish in Phoenix, Paulson and Licia

Another picture of the laying on of hands

Lauren was then vested with the symbols of her order, a stoll and a chasuble...both of which were made by a friend and then added to by another of her mentors who could not make the trip

The priest vesting her was her home parish priest with whom she is very close to as well as his family

A congratulatory hug from her home parish priest

The bishop introducing the newest priest in the Episcopal Church, and one of the youngest, in fact I think she is as young as one can be for ordination to the priesthood

Lauren with her mother and father, who were both beaming with pride

Lauren and the bishop getting ready for her to do her first act as a priest, offer the Peace

Lauren and the Archdeacon concelebrating the Eucharist with the bishop

Lauren doing her second act as a newly ordained priest, offering the final blessing

The procession getting ready to leave during the final hymn

It is tradition that the new priest offers a blessing upon the bishop and then everyone else that desires one

People receiving a blessing from Lauren

More blessings

And more blessings

I decided to forgo the blessing mainly because I had no idea that was the tradition, so instead I offered her a kiss

Gathering outside after the service for a reception, of course since it was late May in Phoenix it was really really really hot out

People gathered in fellowship, to the left of me was Phil and just to my right was Lauren's mother

Lauren cutting the cake

The bishop talking with people

Just after the service the solar eclipse began and a member of the congregation had a welding mask so that we could view the eclipse without damaging our eyes

An odd collection of Lauren's family including her maternal grandfather on the far right who lovingly refers to me as "jolly", Phil and myself in this picture, though I am partial blocked by Lauren

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

Inside the church

The organ and choir at the rear of the church

The magnetic name tags for the members of the parish

 The front entrance of the church

 Another picture of the day school

 Of course we went to Waffle House after church

Graduation - 5/18

On Friday May 18th CDSP held its 118th Commencement and Lauren was among the thirteen or so people to receive a degree on a beautiful sunny day.  The event was held at 10:30 in the morning and included a Eucharist as part of the program.  The Commencement is part two of a two day event.  The night before was Baccalaureate which was held in the chapel and was basically the last church service for the graduates.  The service is planned by the graduates and I had the privilege to be the the lector for the Old Testament lesson.  It was a normal service that followed the traditional order of service with an additional blessing over the graduates as the only addition.  The service was then followed by a catered dinner with an awards presentation and a slide show featuring pictures and selected quotations from the graduates.  It was a great evening and pretty good food.  While Baccalaureate is a fun time it is graduation that is the occasion that everyone looks forward to.

Lauren had to be at the steps of the chapel at 8:00AM for the traditional class picture and then I met up with her shortly after.  We proceeded to wait around St. Margret's courtyard of Parsons Hall (the dorm for CDSP) for the next hour and a half.  Anticipation and anxiety slowly built up as we patiently waited for the service to begin.  Shortly after 9:00AM the rehearsal began and we had the Archbishop of Hong Kong as the presider of the service and the Bishop of Ohio as the preacher, all decked out in their robes and carrying the symbols of their offices.  Then promptly at 10:30AM the program began and it was pretty cool.  As you will see from the setup from the pictures below that there is a stage with the altar at one end of the courtyard with the graduates sitting on one side of the stage and the faculty and board of trustees on the opposite side and finally the rest of the people (friends and family members) in front of the stage.  In all I would say there was about three to four hundred people all in this courtyard.  One cool feature of this setup is that a canopy was erected to cover the whole courtyard to shade everyone from the sun.  The service took about two and half hours of which the Bishop of Ohio easily preached thirty minutes of that time.  When it was all said in done every graduate was hooded, handed their diploma, and ready to take on the next adventure in their lives.  We retreated to Denniston Hall (CDSP's refectory that is no longer in use, but serves as a place for gatherings and studying) for a small reception.  It was cool to be a part of the events of those two days as it was a preview of what will be my experience in two short years.  I was imagining myself with the graduates and my family members in the crowd.  To be honest it was pretty cool to daydream for a bit, but I still have two more years of hard work ahead of me.

Lauren and I hung out with her family at the reception but by 1:00PM I had begun to pack the rental car that we had rented for the road trip to Phoenix for her ordination.  Graduation was Friday morning and Lauren had to be at her home parish in Chandler by 5:00PM on Saturday for the ordination rehearsal.  That meant we had a little over 24 hours to drive roughly 11-12 hours from Berkeley to Phoenix.  Our plan was to leave Berkeley by 3:00PM and drive as far as we could, stop for the night and continue the next morning to arrive in Phoenix before noon.  I was also motivated to get to Chandler before noon because my favorite soccer team, FC Bayern Munich, was playing the Champions League Final, which is the biggest game in soccer.  Some people even think it is bigger then the World Cup Final.

After the reception we packed up the car and went up the hill to Nichols Apartments (more CDSP student housing) because there is a party each year after the graduation service for the graduates.  By the time Lauren and I arrived there were easily thirty people there.  We hung out there for about an hour and as 3:00PM arrived I began to say my goodbyes, some to people who I would see in the fall and others who I may not see again.  For Lauren it was pretty rough as she had to say her goodbyes to her good friends, some of whom she has known for the three years she was at CDSP.  As we pulled away a chapter in her life had come to a close and there were tears shed for that loss, but a new one had just begun with new hopes and new dreams for a future yet to come.

We hit the road and drove south on the I5 through the central valley, filled with mile after mile of orchards and cattle farms, and made our way around LA.  It was about 10:30 and we were just west of LA when we decided that we should stop in Palm Springs.  We pulled up to the Motel 6 in Palm Springs and we crashed for the night.  We both knew that we had to wake up early if we wanted to make it to Phoenix in time for the kickoff of the soccer game at noon, so we went to bed excited for the events of the next two days.

 

The stage in Saint Margret's courtyard, with the red Celtic cross (one of the symbols of CDSP) and my dorm room four floors directly up

The Bishop of Ohio preaching during the service

 

A picture of the graduates with Lauren tucked away in the crowd

The graduates standing getting ready to proceed to the stage to receive their hood

The President and Dean of CDSP on stage with the Chair of the Board of Trustees as they prepare to confer degrees and hoods

My friend and classmate Jay was the head usher and is in the suit with the red sash, Lauren is the third person to his left

Lauren next in line, I wonder just how nervous she was, don't trip...

Lauren receiving her hood and diploma

Lauren acknowledging her classmates after gracefully stepping down from the stage without tripping...hope I don't trip when its my turn