Just back to the hotel for a breather and to rest my ankle, which has decided to compete with my back for making me feel my age. (The orthopedist suggested it’s likely a torn ligament, but won’t know for sure ’till I get the MRI, which won’t happen ’till I get back to Newton in a couple of weeks…)
Without a doubt in my mind the highlight of Minister’s Days at General Assembly are the sermonettes given by a representative of those ministers ordained twenty-five years ago and one from those ordained fifty years ago. It says something about my tenure, perhaps, that I actually know, if not as well as I might like, both speakers.
Barbara Pescan is senior minister of our congregation in Evanston, Illinois. I find her wickedly funny, with an eye that misses nothing. She’s also, in my opinion, wise. (Probably not insignifantly, she has a significant Buddhist wash to her thinking) All of which taken together, obviously, makes her dangerous. She gave the twenty-five year talk. And the fifty came from Carl Scovel, minister emeritus of King’s Chapel, our strange (and in UU circles that’s saying something) hybrid congregation on Beacon Hill in Boston that, as they say of themselves, is theologically Unitarian, organized Congregationally, and is liturgically Anglican. While I often disagree around the edges with Carl’s reflections, I always come away from hearing him thinking I’ve been in the presence of genuine sanctity. So, strangeness upon strangeness, I’ve just come away from a gathering of UU clergy feeling I just heard a saint speak.
That alone should make a person want to lay down for a minute. So, I’m going to rest the ankle a bit and then back into the fray…
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