Reflections on a quiet anniversary


Thirteen years ago today I was ordained to the priesthood.

I generally like to celebrate the Eucharist on the Third Sunday of Advent. At my first parish I'd always joke about pulling out the pink vestments for the gay priest. (Yes, rose, I know.) At my current parish I'm not the gay priest, and we don't have rose vestments.

In any event, I observed the occasion yesterday by playing the piano for the Christmas pageant in the morning, posting new episodes of the Noonday Prayer Podcast all afternoon, and singing Compline in the evening. It was a very lovely day.

I have no profound reflections about priesthood to share today, just profound gratitude. Despite the fact that my full-time job is outside the Church, I've had wonderful opportunities to live into my vocation. (Digression: are Episcopalians the only people who say "live into"? I feel like we say it a lot, and no one else does.) The Church is truly a wonderful and sacred mystery.

Today's anniversary will pass quietly. Maybe I'll try to do something for my fifteenth. Two years is plenty of time to commission an anthem (though asking already-strained musicians to premiere an anthem in the middle of December is a bit much). I do have these wonderful new stoles from Davis d'Ambly, which I'm treating as an anniversary present to myself. I can't wait to wear them.

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