more on WEAVE...

...this time from a personal perspective rather than just the program/ministry/institution perspective.

I don't have volunteers to work on this yet. We need a team or committee who organizes things like catering, set up and clean up, hosting, etc. But those people are hard to recruit during summer months, so we went ahead without it. We won't last long without it, though. Yesterday I did all the set-up of tables and chairs, and all the tear down of the same, myself. I (and the church secretary) organized the catering, and she went to pick it up. Eventually this will get even more stressful, I think, as the need for a variety of foods increases (ie we can't have the same thing every week, though it would be easier!). And the time involved in setting up/tearing down tables and chairs for 60-100 people every week is significant.

But at the same time, there is something immensely satisfying about moving tables and putting chairs back on the rack. I came from a big church with "housemen" (they were all men then) who did all of that. I never moved a single chair or table in my four years of every-sunday (and often every-day) time there. In the small church where I interned and worked, I moved some tables and chairs but not many--it's one of the few things I could get volunteers for (perhaps cuz it was in the South and I'm a girl...). And while I'm not one of those who thought, "once I'm an ordained pastor I'll never have to move another chair," I also never thought, "moving chairs and tables is a really satisfying work." But you know what? When you talk, write, read, and follow up with youth on facebook all day, when you listen, have small groups where people share their journeys, lead Bible studies, and do all of those "pastor things" that you almost never see the fruit of, ALL DAY, there is something really fabulous about moving a bunch of chairs and tables. I can look around the fellowship hall and think "I did something and it had tangible results." And while moving them, I had all kinds of time to think about how the first night of WEAVE had gone and what could be improved (specify that we don't want spicy spaghetti, issue personal invitations to youth for the Bible Study, tablecloths vs. placemats, etc) and how exciting it all is and who I was surprised to see and who I was glad to see back after a long summer away, etc. Plus I got kind of a workout.

Having said all of that, I still really need some volunteers who want to make WEAVE a part of their ministry here at RCLPC. Maybe people who find moving chairs and tables a really satisfying mindless activity. People who enjoy washing dishes (thanks Sally for stepping up last night!). People who have their fingers on the pulse of restaurants and catering options in the area. You know...people.

In the meantime, yay! I'm really excited about WEAVE.