pOST sCRIPTS from ps

Even with the expression, “It’s a small world.”  Even though I’ve read Six Degrees, The Science of a Connected Age, by Dr. Duncan J. Watts.  The “small world phenomenon” still amazes me.  I’m sure I will meet someone connected to someone or someplace I’ve lived while I’m in New Mexico next week.  If I meet them at the Pecos Benedictine Community I may not get to visit with them since my sabbatical journey will begin with a week of silence.  But I am confident that I will encounter both a connection with some random person, and a reconnection with my creator (my true quest.)

At the Shepherd’s Inn Retreat Center in Eureka Springs, Arkansas I’ve already encountered a number of connections.  Shepherd’s Inn is owned by Victor and Liliana Michel, who consulted with us on the steering committee during the formation of Iglesia Cristiana El Shaddai here in Enid.  But, this is just the beginning of the connections.  I was baptized at the age of eight at Capitol Christian Church on South Walker behind the tennis courts and campus of Capitol Hill High School and my class of 1972.  With the leadership of Lura Cayton and Victor and Liliana Michel that church was transitioned into the first Hispanic ministry in Oklahoma. 

My first call to youth ministry came from Memorial Christian Church on North Meridian in Oklahoma City.  Linda, having been raised in the Baptist tradition first took communion with me on a Maundy Thursday at Memorial Christian Church.  Since it was before I started there, the fact that the youth were in charge of that communion service, and that it contained real wine (yes fully fermented instead of fresh wine – simple grape juice), thus becoming the first time in fact that Linda had tasted an adult beverage:  None of which reflected on me, should her mother have detected it upon arrival home that night.  Sorry, I’ve sidetracked a little.  The true connection is that while he is working hard to complete his seminary education at Phillips Theological Seminary, Victor is also providing leadership to the Hispanic ministry currently at Memorial Christian Church.

And now on the eve of my first sabbatical leave from ministry, I will spend the majority of my time at Shepherd’s Inn Retreat Center.  I would prefer to say the connections come, not because of a small world, but because of a great God!

I give thanks each day that I am privileged to share in ministry in this most caring congregation.  Thank you for granting me my first Sabbatical in 28 years of ministry.  I will miss you in September and October and I will keep you in my prayers.  Just as I know many of you are praying for me.  I make no promises as to what kind of music with which I will return, but I do know that you are giving me the chance of a lifetime of ministry to explore what makes my heart sing.  Thank you!

Grace, Hope, and Peace,
Pat