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A Week as a Minister by: Emily Gordon
Ever wonder …
“What does Emily do in between Sundays?” Well here you go in her words what last week looked like at Leaside United:
In ministry, there is rarely a “typical” week, but I thought I might occasionally share a particular week, as a glimpse into the activities that I and others in our church take part in outside of Sunday morning worship. I hope you find it interesting. (Oh, and every day there are lots of emails too…)
Monday:
- Usually my day off, this week I made an exception to perform a wedding.
Tuesday:
- Three meetings, two related to Missional Development prioritizing (now all six teams have met with Warren McDougall), and a final one with the architects. Also, an informal meeting with our Council Chair, Tom Carter. They were all productive conversations, but a long day.
- Over lunch I watched trailers for Black Panther, to choose what we’ll see Sunday.
Wednesday:
- Emailing our pulpit supply while on vacation, and sending out information about popcorn makers and technical setup to those helping out.
- Pastoral care phone calls.
- Over lunch, met the new minister at Manor Road, Rev. Roberta Howey and discussed possibly including their congregation in our fall book group on Lillian Daniel’s Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don’t Belong To.
- Editing a fall guide to “Worship and Nurturing Spirituality” groups and opportunities.
- Preparation for the council meeting, particularly my reflections on General Council 43, and attending the Council meeting in the evening.
- Beginning a Weekday Wonderings post on Ready Player One.
Thursday:
- Writing and (since Alison is on vacation) sending out the weekly email.
- Preparing and leading a worship service at The Millwood Retirement Residence at 921 Millwood Rd. (different churches in the area take turns leading this monthly service for residents).
- Buying a cable to connect the computer and projector.
- Meeting with someone who came to our church for compassionate assistance.
- Meeting James Lepard, our new VAM (Voluntary Associate Minister), about worship leadership over the next two weeks while I am away.
- Finishing the Weekday Wonderings post on Ready Player One.
Friday:
- Watching Black Panther and preparing discussion questions for Saturday.
- Preparing reflection for Sunday worship.
- Preparing a fall worship plan for meeting with Emily Pollock (Youth and Children’s Program Assistant) Sunday, coordinating worship with the children’s program.
Saturday:
- Setting up and leading our movie and discussion afternoon on Black Panther.
Emily’s Weekday Wonderings – Ready Player One
On Sunday we had our first discussion of the Reel Life 2018 casual worship series. We started with Ready Player One , currently the sixth highest grossing film worldwide this year. We ate popcorn, watched a trailer and a short clip from the film, sang hymns, lit candles, and had time to think together about some of the themes.
Ready Player One has received a lot of attention for its nostalgia and celebration of pop culture – many of the references are to the ’80s but earlier and later decades are also referenced in many ways. The film itself is set in 2045 in a future where the world is generally not appealing. There is poverty, economic inequality, and the increasing control of large corporations, but in many ways the world does not look all that different than our own – a matter of degree more than a significant upheaval. In this dystopic future, the general approach for the people is one of escapism. They escape to “The Oasis”, a virtual reality universe, where everyone spends their time. As the main character Wade Watts says “People escape to the Oasis because of all the things they can do, but they stay because of all the things they can be.” These themes of virtual reality and online identity are ones that arise for us in our society today.
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