Nod and Smile

Today started out looking like the day from hell. The secretary was in the hospital and is now out for the rest of the week. We had to throw the bulletin together for Sunday and now we have to work on the Messenger (newsletter) so it doesn't go out too much later than anticipated. We had to go to a BAAM meeting (explained below) and we still had Lenten activities this evening along with the added bonus of a council meeting - Beware the Ides of March, indeed!

BAAM stands for Bristol Area Association of Ministers. We meet once a month at a church and have lunch provided by great church ladies usually including large cookies and lots of rippled potato chips. Usually there is the same group of people including the Catholic Priest and a nun (not from the same parish) and the Baptist, 2 Methodist, 2 Congregational, Lutheran (well one of the 4 churches) and Assembly of God pastors and all but 4 of us are male. I have learned most of their names and pride myself on knowing where each one comes from as far as the religious spectrum goes. One thing that I have noticed is that each time we need I end up having to re-introduce myself to most of the members. And if I was questioning their lack of interest in who I am before I only had to take a look at the bulletin for the Good Friday community service. Not only was my name left out (I am preaching) but there wasn't even a place that said that there was a message to begin with. They had to write my name into their margins and fix the bulletin before it could go to print. Then when they were filling it in the asked me what my name was AGAIN! I did end up making a snide comment halfway under my breath that I wondered how much more they would remember my name if I was a man - I am pretty sure no one heard me because they were still trying to process the fact that my name was one word, not two. I told my supervisor that I would be interested to know if her intern next year, who is a man, was more well received and recognized by this group - she said that she was as well but probably wouldn't tell me either way for my own good - gotta love her.

So the day did not end as badly as it had seemed which was nice. The weather is taking a turn to the windy with a spoonful of cold and snowy. I am SO ready for spring!