I'm running late today but I'll take time to jot down a few thoughts for the day. My reasoning for running late is that we had a funeral to attend this morning  and I was asked to do the eulogy for the deceased. She was a former parishioner of mine when I was pastor at St. Lucas and the current pastor has never met her. So, Her daughter asked if it would be possible for me to speak. So, Ms. Kate and I went to the funeral this morning. After the funeral, we went to our favorite restaurant for lunch. We could have stayed for lunch with the family and friends at the church but that would have been crossing some ethical lines. That might sound silly to say so let me explain.

The ethical rules of conduct of the denomination, (actually many denominations) are that when you leave a church as the pastor, you are not to return to that church or involve yourself in the affairs of that church or any of the members of the congregation generally for a period of two years. The stated purpose being that your presence might be considered interfereing with the ministry of the new pastor. I've even been told by the the local Association's Committee on Ministry that I should delete all of my former parishioners from my Facebook account so as to not have contact with any of them. The thought being that people might second guess the new pastor if the old pastor is still there to turn to. I've even heard of pastors that had been at a church for twenty and thirty years that were told not to return by the new minister. However, this usually isn't a problem because afterall, most pastors that leave a church are probably moving to a new assignment or a new church.

In my case, as a Licenced Minister of the UCC, the rules are that as opposed to an Ordained Minister, I no longer have any standing as a minister once I leave that church unless I do accept a call to another church and get re-licensed to that new church. So, as a result, Ms. Kate and I are church hopping every Sunday as part of our "stay-away" duty. We are "on the roles" of my home church but due to three decades of military service and another dozen years as a pastor ---- we no longer really consider it "home".

Thankfully, the new pastor of my former parish has confidence in his own ministry and an ability to see through the pettiness of the bureaucracy. He has allowed Ms. Kate and I to come to the cantata practices and we will sing in the Sunrise service cantata this year. And when this family today asked if I could speak at the funeral he was conducting, he readily agreed. But, Ms. Kate and I will continue to church hop until an appropriate time and then we plan to apply to transfer our membership back to St. Lucas.

So that is the saga of my day and why we went elsewhere for lunch. And it is more than you wanted to know. Have a most wonderful day.