We had the monthly Deanery meeting at COTM today. It was nice to show off the place a bit to my colleagues and talk about some of our plans and initiatives. Everybody needs approval! But that also meant that I was asked to say the grace over the meal.
Now, honestly, I think most priests like to avoid having to say grace at a table full of colleagues. I remember in seminary we had a rule that the last person to put their thumb on the table got the sacred duty. So when I was asked to say the grace I was also politely informed that I should make sure to cover certain pastoral needs of the group. I had to jot down some notes so that I could remember the three or four names.
So I'm trucking along in the usual fashion for extemporaneous prayers when I come to a person who recently injured his head. I said, "...please heal ___ who recently hurt his head..." Something about the way I said this just cracked up the whole table of priests. Maybe it was just a little two blunt for the Anglicans of Eglinton Deanery. It totally wrecked the moment and was somewhat embarrassing to be the rookie. As I waited for them to recover from laughing at me I said under my breath "bastards," which just made the two guys next to me laugh all the more. I guess some days you have it; some days you don't!
If you don't a sense of humor in this ministry you are totally screwed.
-t
2 comments:
"extemporaneous prayers"???
I always liked the custom (and I think my divinity student friends of 40 years ago were comfortable with it too)in Trinity College's Strachan Hall of the Latin grace bellowed out military style.
As I said, when I was asked to pray the expectation that I would hit certain themes and persons was made clear to me, so I think doing the Latin Prayer would have made me look even more like a doofus.
-t
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