Being a Virginian never mattered to me as much as it did when I moved to Kentucky. As of the day of this writing, I have lived in Lexington, Kentucky, home to the church I serve and now home to me, for 118 days. Prior to that, I’d lived in Virginia for 26 years (minus the four I spent in North Carolina for college). It really hadn’t occurred to me until I was seeking my first call just how formative this living in one state was. I was adaptable, I thought. I could move anywhere, thanks in part to growing up amidst the diversity of people, ethnicities, cultures and lifestyles found in Northern Virginia. Oh, how wrong I was. Lots of things about moving for a first call had never occurred to me before I was in the process of said move. Sure, I had been advised by professors in seminary and mentors in ministry on how to relocate for a new call, but I suppose I didn’t really understand their need to dispense such advice until I moved. Most of all, I had no idea how hard it would be … [Read more...]

The first time I wore my clerical collar, I felt squeezed. I was just a month into my ordination as Minister of Word and Sacrament. I hadn’t even been installed to my call at the church I serve. I had purchased a collar several weeks prior sort of by accident. While unpacking boxes – many of which had been stored for a few months while I lived in limbo between seminary and my first call – I had come across an old Cokesbury gift card. (I have no idea how my seminary self allowed that to sit unused!) So instead of simply ordering a book from my wish list, I found myself ordering a collar. Up until this point, that collar hung in my closet, looking like a piece of clothing I had perhaps borrowed from someone else. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I purchased it or when I would wear it. I figured I might put it on for hospital visits, but given that we Presbyterians don’t tend to have a well-developed sense of clerical garb beyond Sunday morning, I hadn’t thought much beyond … [Read more...]

Start date: August 26, 2019 Location: Lexington, Kentucky Observations: The past three weeks (only three?) have been a whirlwind. On a Friday in late August, with my industrious and reassuring mother in tow, I drove from Northern Virginia down to Richmond, former home to me and then-home to most of my belongings. The next day, those belongings were loaded onto a moving truck, and then Mom and I got on I-64 and drove. And drove. For hours. Through beautiful mountains and West Virginia and into Kentucky. My new home. One is greeted on I-64 in Kentucky by a humongous oil refinery. It is the very first thing you see. How will I later interpret this odd detail as the start of a new home and new call? I realize a parent really is never done being a parent as my mom labors for 14-hour days with me unpacking said items (yes, they arrived the next day!), cleaning, hanging things on the wall and generally getting me settled in. God bless parents (and specifically my mom). On my … [Read more...]