As my life has gotten busier, I’ve tried to set apart Saturdays as a day of rest. Sure, I would do a little cleaning around the house in the morning and get a dump run in. Then, I might play a little Ingress, an augmented reality version of capture the flag I play on my cellphone, take a nap, or read a little.

Yet every other Saturday, there is a poetry group I go to. This makes it more important to get to the dump and then relax on non-poetry group Saturdays.

Yet it seems like there are often other things that come up on the weekend, and this weekend was no different. The Episcopal Church in Connecticut held a Discernment Day. This was a chance for people seeking a better understanding of what God is calling them to, to gather and reflect.

I’m part of an Episcopalians on Facebook group. We are called to pray without ceasing, so I’ve been getting bolder about asking for prayers, even for smaller stuff. People in this group often share prayer requests, so I mentioned the event there, asking people pray for the day.

One person responded,

This sounds like a wonderful idea. Are there dioceses that do anything like this? It sounds supportive and would help answer questions up front.

It was a great day, and I’m writing this post, partly to fill the people in the Facebook group in about the day, partly as part of my Lenten journaling, and partly as I write about my journey.

My regular readers by now are probably well aware of my spiritual journey, and my seeking discernment about what God wants me to do with my life, perhaps including ordination as a priest.

I sometimes worry about so many of my posts being about my journey. This blog has been around for twelve years. I’ve written a lot about politics, technology, education, poetry, and anything else that catches my fancy. I worry that some of my regular readers may be wearying of my religious posts.

It is true that I have only a small fraction of the readers I used to have in my blogging heyday, but this is something that has happened over the past five or six years, as I’ve had less time to focus on my blog. Yet I gained a new perspective today as I realized that I still have more readers every day than some churches have on a typical Sunday.

I’m also finding that some of my old citizen journalist ways are trying to shape the way I write about today, so there will be a little aspect of that in this blog post.

Discernment Day took place at The Commons, a community space that the Diocese has in an old factory turned into office space in Meriden. The Commons has a wonderful ‘co-working’ feel to it. Lots of open space.

There were probably around forty people there. A diverse group in terms of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and probably several other constructs we use to separate ourselves from others.

The day started with Morning Prayer, and then Bishop Laura led session on Apostleship and Discipleship. She asked us to reflect on Biblical passages which begin to capture the essence of why we follow Jesus.

I reflected on John 4, where Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus coming to the outcasts, to people whose lives are messed up, which, when you get right down to it, is all of us.

When we talked about Apostleship, Bishop Laura spoke about the gift of tongues that was given to the Apostles and spoke about the tongues we need today, in terms of the language of our time. She wasn’t talking just about spoken languages. She talked about the language of food and gardening, the language of cultural competency.

She asked what languages we all have to share, and I spoke about the language of social media. This led to talking about the language of millennials.

In a session with members of the Commission on Ministry, we talked about the different types of ministry, lay ministry, the deaconate, ordained priesthood, and bishops. For lay ministry, it was pointed out that this includes much more than just acolytes, altar guild, choir, and serving on various committees and the vestry. It includes the ministries to the community, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and much more. For the ordained priesthood, there was a discussion about the difference between Rectors (with tenure), Priest in Charge (without tenure), Chaplains, and Missional Priest (priests working part time, and often supporting themselves in other vocations).

I’m trying to figure out what God is calling me to, but my feeling right now is that it is something missional or some sort of chaplaincy. Assuming that my path continues the way it seems like it is, I look forward to doing various chaplaincy related internships at a hospital or perhaps a jail or school. I look forward to time as a Deacon. I look forward to all of this helping me gain clarity in where God is calling me.

The day ended with Holy Eucharist. As part of the service we read our Baptismal vows. It has been quite a week for Eucharists and Baptismal vows. Besides church on Sunday, which had a Baptism, Eucharist on Ash Wednesday, the Thursday noonday service, and the service Saturday afternoon, Thursday evening at Discernment Committee, there was we read the Baptismal vows as part of discernment.