WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE? PT. 1

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I started writing this post on Saturday morning before leadership training. I only had about 10 minutes which proved to be not enough time to get even the beginning of my thoughts down. I think this is going to require even more brain space than I have time to give it now, but I think I can at least start here and carry on later.

The daily writing prompt from WordPress this week is, WHAT WILL YOUR LIFE BE LIKE THREE YEARS FROM NOW?

So Thanksgiving 2026.

I will probably be eating turkey dinner which I might or might not cook myself. I certainly hope it is well brined. I do love a brined turkey! My turkey for 2023 is brining even now as I write.

I will have just celebrated my 59th birthday the day before. Usually birthdays around here are pretty low key and it will be one year before the big 6-0 so….I imagine I will probably have cake or pie or something with my kids

I THINK I WILL STILL BE IN MINISTRY AT CORNERSTONE CHURCH. At this point I have dedicated 27 years of my ministry life to the church. I cannot see it changing this far into the game. It is hard to think that the majority of my professional work as a pastor has been in this one church. All of my professional work as a minister has been in my hometown of Winchendon MA. It amazes me to think I have been working as a pastor for 32 years!

Within three years I hope to have lost the 80 pounds I am working on. If that is so then I will definitely celebrate with a piece of cake and a good Thanksgiving meal. Of course it will probably be done in a more healthy context than my current eating is done in.

At least I wish it so….

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR WISHES?

GETTING READY FOR THE WEEKEND

November 17, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Weekends are busy season for ministers. This weekend I have: a leadership training, an hour of cutting veggies for a Thanksgiving outreach to veterans, preaching on Sundays and a board meeting after Sunday service.

For myself, preparing for a weekend like this one starts on Thursday (which is the official beginning of my work week). It requires plenty of prayer, lots of review of material and a careful refusal to allow distractions that inevitable try to fill the empty cracks of time leading up to and between the events of the weekend.

I find if I let myself get dragged into things I shouldn’t be involved in on Thursdays and Fridays I can kiss my effectiveness on Saturdays and Sundays good bye. If I let myself get involved in distractions on busy weekends I find myself running on fumes by Monday and Tuesday.

How do you avoid distractions?

Winter Comes To the Vicarage

November 14, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Winter has arrived. We got a dusting of snow overnight.

It’s not enough to cause real problems. But we know it’s a sign of things to come.

The birds are happily chirping in the hedges, flying back-and-forth to the feeders, thankful for the food they’ve been ignoring during the harvest season.

I’m reminded as the cold seeps into my jacket that there is still winterizing to do on the house.

Every season brings its joy, beauty and hardship. It’s all adventure really. Where will this winter take us? I look forward to the journey.

IT MAKES ME SMILE

November 13, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

This post is written in response to Trent’s WEEKLY SMILE CHALLENGE.

What exactly is making me smile today at The Vicarage?

Breakfast with my Mom this morning made me smile. The conversation is repetitive and predictable. Today we talked about my Aunt Libby’s family as Mom tried hard to remember who each of her nieces and nephews were and what they are doing these days. But that we can still have conversation and that it makes sense makes me smile. Everyday I have with the lady who brought me up is a treasure.

Hearing the noise of the house waking up always makes me smile. Sevy is upstairs doing his morning “Chica Chica” (Korean for toothbrushing). My daughter-in-law is puttering around upstairs the sounds of breaking out clothing for the day and bed making is over my head. My daughter was up for her morning cup of coffee. It’s her day off and here at The Vicarage we take Sabbath rest very seriously because of how hard we work the rest of the week.

I love having a house full. Living with four generations here at The Vicarage is one of my greatest joys!

What is making you smile today?

THE SLOW RETURN OF THINGS I HAVE MISSED

November 12, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

When I became the lead pastor of Cornerstone Winchendon back in April of 2021 my life changed in many ways. The work became very different. The way I work became very different. The way I lived became different.

I said hello to a lot of things:

Being the church’s representative in community and larger church events, Top level leadership, the ability to have a leading say in the development of church philosophy and direction, preaching every week, an increase in my prayer life, a lot more reading, a solid sabbath

I also said goodbye to many things:

Singing daily, playing piano daily, writing daily, pleasure reading, movies, unplanned time

It was a bigger transition than I anticipated. It took more energy than I ever considered. Please don’t get me wrong, I love…love…love this life I have. It is God’s pathway for me and the greatest adventure I have ever known.

The adventure didn’t stop me from being a little sad at the loss of daily writing and the community it had generated. It didn’t stop me from grieving when I realized I had lost my accuracy and fluidity on the keys. And yes I was sad when I lost two notes off the top of my vocal range from not vocalizing daily.

But God has been faithful and as I have worked through this transition I have been able in small ways, slow ways to go back to some of those things that I gave up when I first became the lead pastor.

I have been able to go back to worship leading once a week with The Worship Room House of Prayer right here in town. I could barely move after the first week of leading, but now five weeks in I feel pretty good after just an hour or so of rest after leading. I still can’t sing above and E with any accuracy, but you never know, I might get my groove back someday.

The writing is even coming back bit by bit. I think I have missed that most of all. I have not been able to return to daily writing yet, but little by slow I am building back the community by writing and reading at least four times a week. That is an improvement indeed.

WRITING IS HARD

November 11, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

It’s 7:15 P.M. and I am just sitting down to write. Today was a day of working on all the projects. I finished emptying out my old room and moved the rest of what’s moving into my new room.

I figured it was a good time to go through all my clothes and reorganize my draws. It was a bigger job than I thought to would be, took me most of the afternoon, and I have more to do tomorrow.

Since we are down a Sunday morning worker, and since I have Carrie Hackett preaching this week, I am taking my turn to sit with Mom tomorrow morning. I will be watching the service from home with Mom, and of course folding clothes to go to the Salvation Army.

I am tired now. Mom is really anxious to have me sit and watch TV with her. My heart has been telling me I have to get back to writing, but it’s hard. I used to be so disciplined at posting everyday, at taking at least a few minutes to practice jotting down thoughts and spinning words. I used to be so diligent about reading and building community. But I have fallen away and coming back is not as easy as I hoped it would be.

Over the last several years I have tried several times to start back to daily writing. All my attempts have ended in failure. It’s time to try again. Maybe I will end in failure again. But I have to try. This meme popped out at me the other day.

It made me decide to try again. Writing is hard. Not writing is hard. I am choosing my hard.

Currently At the Vicarage

November 9, 2023November 9, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

We currently have a couple of big projects going on at The Vicarage. A few weeks ago Mom’s Home Health Worker for Sundays had to give her notice for health reasons. The kids and I have been covering Sunday mornings since. We are currently working through a provider to try and find another worker for Sundays. Big project number one!

The second big project is a little bigger as far as the requirement of sweat equity. Mom is entering a part of her dementia where too much noise makes her really anxious. So we need a place besides the front room right outside her room where Sevy and the girls can play without causing Mom too much anxiety. This is especially true now that the winter is setting in. I have made the decision that the dogs and I will move temporarily to the front office upstairs. My room will become Sevy’s playroom.

WHAT IS THE MOST BUSY?

November 6, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

My personal schedule shifted recently and I took on more meeting ministry opportunities. Up until last April,Tuesday through Friday was probably my most busy part of the week. I did a lot of personal meetings, a staff meeting and at least one prayer service on those days.

But in the Spring God changed things up. The church needed another set of hands in our boys Doing Life Together Group. Then in August it became apparent that I was going to be taking over a new adult Doing Life Together group along with a return to worship ministry.

Now Sunday to Tuesday is my gauntlet time. Sunday morning generally starts around 4:30 A.M. This week I did morning service and an afternoon funeral (last week it was an afternoon Chili cook off). Mondays are Bible study, devotional video and worship set. Tuesdays are devotional video, staff meeting and Boys Doing Life Together group. By Wednesday I am ready to drop.

I have made Wednesdays an actual Sabbath where I am being very strict about not leaving the house.

WHAT IS THE MOST BUSY PART OF YOUR WEEK?

Six Baptisms, Four Members and a Chili Cook Off

October 30, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Yesterday, was a huge day of celebration at Cornerstone Church Winchendon. WE baptized six new believers, welcomed four people into fellowship as members and we held a DLT chili cook off to help raise money towards our new parking lot. It was a great fellowship sponsored by one of our DLT groups, The Blessing Bunchg of Mixed Nuts. Here are some photos from the day.

The Book Club chili took third place, Andrew and Gabe.

The Steadfast Sons chili made by Mike Murphy.

Bag End Beam took first place for best decorated door. Melanie and Trinity in their Ho bit garb.

Corn bread was a big part of the day. Here are Crystal, Deb, and Sandy with their chilis

In the end the ladies group, Beter Together took home first prize.

TO WRITE AGAIN

October 12, 2023October 12, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

One of the things I regularly do is go through my life and evaluate how my life is going. Is it the life God desires for me? Is it the life I want to live? Am I living to my potential? What am I doing that I shouldn’t be doing? What am I not doing that I should be doing?

One of the things I discovered in my latest evaluation, is that I want to get back to writing again. And I want to get back to artistic expression.

We started Royal Rangers (our churches boy’s group) again last week. The first merit we are working on is the art merit. Maybe that is what is driving me back to the desire to create. I want to get back to story. I want to get back to drawing. I want to back to making something that draws on imagination.

Then again, maybe it is something in my current work of pastoring that is driving me to this. I was in a conversation last Friday with someone as I attended a local worship conference. As we spoke I realized just how complex the work of pastoring has been lately. I have many questions about what comes next in the work.

I spent the weekend in deep prayer. As I was praying in the midnight hour on Saturday evening some words and a picture came to mind.

I am not sure what these things mean exactly, but I know they are my brain trying to process some very intricate data. So maybe that is what is driving me back to writing again. I just know that whatever it is, my desire to write again is overwhelming. I need to do it.

What drives you to your writing or your art?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

MINISTRY