I was at the ELCA Metro DC synod assembly meeting this weekend, and it was a blast! The meeting itself wasn’t all that interesting, but the weekend was wonderful. The meeting was at Roanoke College. It was awesome to see the school again, and I got the chance to see and catch up with people from RC who I haven’t seen in years.
The Holy Cross group (Pastor Jones, Pastor Johnson, Sylvia, Jen, and I) carpooled—God bless Syl for driving! We left the Church around 10 on Thursday and arrived at RC mid-afternoon. After checking in, we went straight to the first plenary session. We had missed the “opening ceremonies”, but none of us cared (and it turns out, what we missed wasn’t worth being there for! Besides, to get there for the opening sessions, we would have had to leave Church before the a.m. rush hour. It would have been brutal). It was a long afternoon, with not much interesting from the meeting itself. Lots of legalese and submitting resolutions to do things like “send our concern…” or “offer gratitude…” In other words, not actually doing anything, but saying a whole lot! It was eye-opening, if boring. (And I really don’t understand why we need to vote to send our concern or condolences or whatever—I mean, really, is anyone going to complain if the synod tells the people in Illinois who are recovering from devastating floods that we feel for them without getting a vote on it? Seriously.)
The best part of the weekend—okay, there were a few best parts—was spending time with the HCLC folks. We had so much fun (and learned things about each other that we probably wish we didn’t know!) together laughing, talking, joking…It was some really great fellowship. Added to that, I got to spend an hour chatting with Dr. Ogier at Mill Mountain. It was fantastic to catch up with him. We talked about languages, travel, school…it was awesome. We hadn’t seen each other since I graduated six years ago, so it was long overdue! I also got to see & talk with Mark & Terri in Info Services—it was great to catch up with them, too. They’re going to work on setting up an RC IT Alum reunion. I hope it works out, because I’d love to get together with all the IT folks again. I also got to chat with Iris, the Language Lab Goddess, and Becky, who used to work in the Chaplain’s office but now works in the President’s office. The one person I didn’t get to see who I really wish I had is Rev. Henrickson, the school Chaplain. I opted to take an afternoon nap instead of visiting more people—an equally valid decision! Next time I make it down to RC, though, I’m definitely going to swing by & see him. It was wonderful to see all the people I worked with and studied with, as well as getting to know the Holy Cross delegation better, so I’m definitely glad I went.
To top off the weekend, when I got home, I got to go to the 'rents house & pet sit for them. Am I lucky or what?
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