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MADRE HOLLY - LOVES TO TELL THE STORY

The part of my story I would like to share is a piece of advice I received from my mentor, The Rev. HCB Platt. He once said to me, "Whatever you do, do NOT take a job. Pray for a call to vocation from the Holy Spirit." That has made all the difference in the world. In the spring of my senior year in seminary (junior, middler, and senior) I began traveling and interviewing for calls to ministry in God's church. I would be lying if I didn't tell you there were many moments in that process where I started job hunting-- in a panic that I would not hear a call. I remember distinctly the first time I met Bishop Sean (well, the first time I met him formally, anyway). As I recall, I had made some sort of comment, the previous day at lunch, about the "baby bishops," only to find that he was across the table from me. But from the time we began talking about how we defined mission and Kingdom and ministry, I knew God was calling me to the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. I didn't tell the Bishop that very day. I didn't want to seem like a creepster, or too desperate for a 'job.' (I was playing it cool!) But I had such a sense of being where I was to be-- it nearly overwhelmed me. I remember the air being thick again... thick like the moment I felt called to the priesthood. I left that room with an intensified longing to be free of the seminary and out serving God in the Kingdom. When I came to St. John's to interview I remember taking a break halfway through the process and asking if I could see the church. I had not been in before. And, to the surprise of the search committee, I had not 'seen the windows' on the website either. While I find the church breathtaking, it wasn't Louis C. Tiffany's call from the dead that drew me to Franklin. I walked in the door from the parish hall to the church, rounded the corner by the lectern and put my hand on the right side handrail. I knew I was home. I knew I was to be her priest. I held in my hand the rail that had been grasped by generations who had brought their greatest hopes and dreams and most grievous despair to the altar of God. I felt the nave breathe like a living being... embracing me...welcoming me to become who God created me to be. When we ended our break and we returned to the parish hall the atmosphere changed for me. I no longer felt like I was in an interview, but rather, leading a

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vestry meeting. I no longer felt like I was speed dating, but that the feeling of love at first sight that I experienced as I drove into Franklin was true and right and good. I felt embraced by God's people who would form, inform and reform me into a priest of the Church. "Whatever you do, do NOT take a job. Pray for a call to vocation from the Holy Spirit." At St. John's we work with intention, to commit to the imperative, that a Christian community must be a place where we are fulfilled spiritually, intellectually and bodily in Christian community. We demonstrate right hospitality and a deep conviction to preach the Gospel of Jesus the Christ to all people. Through word and action, we have furthered our identity as disciples and found that it is our privilege to follow the example of Christ. We bring equality and wholeness to all of God's people not as an act of social justice, but in order that we provide a foretaste of that which all will experience in the heavenly kingdom. And I am truly blessed to be a part of walking this pathway with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. The greatest memory I have of my ordination to the priesthood was after I had been surrounded by my closest colleagues, and after my Bishop had anointed my hands, and after God's people had called for the Holy Spirit to come. I was blessed to be invited to walk toward the great rose window and kneel down before the Bishop, the altar of God, my colleagues, and God's people whom I would serve. I was given the gift of vowing this: "O Lord my God, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; yet you have called your servant to stand in your house, and to serve at your altar. To you and to your service I devote myself, body, soul, and spirit. Fill my memory with the record of your mighty works; enlighten my understanding with the light of your Holy Spirit; and may all the desires of my heart and will center in what you would have me do. Make me an instrument of your salvation for the people entrusted to my care, and grant that I may faithfully administer your holy Sacraments, and by my life and teaching set forth your true and living Word. Be always with me in carrying out the duties of my ministry. In prayer, quicken my devotion; in praises, heighten my love and gratitude; in preaching, give me readiness of thought and expression;and grant that, by the clearness and brightness of your holy Word, all the world may be drawn into your blessed kingdom. All this I ask for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. ' Ken Hanson told me that he watched light through the St. Agnes window shine down upon me. God bless you Ken, and God bless you Fr. Chris. May yours souls and the souls of all faithful departed rest in peace and rise in glory. Let light perpetual shine upon you. "Whatever you do, do NOT take a job. Pray for a call to vocation from the Holy Spirit." That has made all the difference in the world.