A Month On...

As a pastor, I always felt it was an indictment when someone said, "Pastor, I know how busy you are..." It meant that I was projecting a harried, unavailable presence that I had vowed to avoid.

I have made a promise to myself never to say, "I am so busy in retirement, I don't know how I had time to work..."

And yet this first month has been full! I have had the freedom to:

• get to Presbytery for my official retirement recognition.
• attend my 50th college reunion (above).
• spend time with my brother and sister, their families, and Janice and our four children, and more, at the memorial weekend for my mother. (https://cindylohr.blogspot.com/)
• sit with Janice's father at his bedside in his final days and hours.
• go to Citi Field twice--for a Mets-Cardinals game with family on Father's Day, and for a "Dead & Co." concert.
• try out a couple of neighboring churches and go back to the Unitarian Fellowship of Ridgewood.
•  end the month with some placid days at our place on Cape Cod.

I miss the people of the church. I miss the creative expression of planning worship and preaching. I still have church-related dreams. But I don't regret the decision.

Maybe July will begin to feel more like the jubilation I imagined.

--Jubilating Jack