Coronation, Church Conference, Consecration…and Career Fair?

Last time I met you here, it was “Almost Easter.” Now, grass is growing in uneven clumps on the still-soggy ground, buds are opening, birds are busy twittering and scratching around in the piles of old leaves and sticks which we’ve made, black flies and ticks are out, lacrosse balls and baseballs are flying, and what was early Spring has become mid-Spring. Soon enough…well, you know.

I launched this blog, many moons ago, with a theme of “this right next to that” – two adjoining but distinct entities, side by side, knowing friction but also complementing and even enhancing one another.

Sometimes, though, we need to expand the number two just a little…to arrive at three. Due to a certain convergence of things, and reminders of other things, in my life, this week I’m interested in how frequently whatever we refer to as an “event” can be seen in three basic phases 1) the preparation 2) the event itself and 3) either the new era or just the follow-up that helps the event stay alive in some way.

Wanting to be a bit obstreperous, I identified four of these triads that were particularly handy to me.

Glancing at my title, you’ll see that three of the four are in the general realm of religion (since the crowning of His Royal Highness came with a suggestion that he is a kind of link to God). That last one is fighting above its weight, though. A puny event in a high school gym — really?

Chaahles

For the new monarch, the long wait (an understatement if there ever was one) is finally over.

How much he was actually looking forward to putting on that crown, “worn” so capably by his mother for so long, we can’t be sure. For a conscientious chap like him, it would have been hard to relax into a role which was never all that specified. You’ve got to give him credit, though, for articulating his views on a whole lot of pressing issues.

He looked tired on the telly broadcast, didn’t he? Fun was not exactly what he was having. Maybe when he’s actually in the full bloom of his reign (we’ll call that the Fulfillment Phase, but it’s bound to be shorter than the Preparation Phase), he’ll find more satisfaction.

Needing to get outside for spring clean-up work, I turned on the proceedings for just a few minutes; but, BINGO, right at the climax. When my husband walked through the room and glanced at the screen at about the moment when I took this picture, he pointed to the person on the right and said, “Hey, there’s the Bishop of Bath and Wells!” He paused just long enough to see another familiar figure, Archbishop Justin Welby (I think he’s the one with his back turned), who was at this point definitely the guy in charge.

All of this was taking place at Westminster Cathedral, where we’d joined hordes of other tourists last August. The reason those bishops looked familiar, though, was because they’d all been together at a different event, one that’s actually gotten stretched over many months.

Pace Yourselves Through Lambeth, Dears

It already happened, thanks to thousands of hours of preparation, but it’s also still going on.

Last summer, Anglican bishops and many of their spouses gathered for a whopping two weeks at the University of Kent.

Were there ever meetings! And services! And talks galore. I arrived for the last few days, feeling a bit like a discourteous guest and another bit like a practical-minded woman who sensed how much would be enough. I also paid due respect, in my mind anyway, to whoever had been on the planning committee, no doubt starting at least a year in advance. So many “programmes” as well as tents to have put in place, not to mention sound systems. In addition to learning much about where the Church finds itself now, I also learned just how large an area a British university can occupy.

After a certain quiet time in the months when we returned, I’ve noticed that the post-Lambeth emails have picked up quite a bit recently. Amidst the hurly-burly of our workaday lives, our dog walks and friend meet-ups and joys as well as losses, the Conference people (whoever they are) want us to keep paying attention, to continue striving towards all the goals that were identified back in the summer.

This, I don’t mind telling you, is a tall order.

You thought those two weeks were it? Think again! The beat goes on. In a burst of nostalgia, and maybe a smidgen of something like guilt, I just ordered up the printed version of the newest digital brochure we were sent — announcing Phase Three — and I plan to keep it out on a living room table, in a prominent place, looking through it when I am so moved.

A Consecration is Not the Same As a Coronation

Spending those five minutes on Saturday morning in front of the telly (a more amiable word than TV), I re-visited the baking sun and parched fields of England last August. I was also transported almost 11 years back to the day when Rob became a bishop in the first place.

In the weeks leading up to this event in August of 2012, a few friends, even Episcopalians, got a little jumbled with their terminology and said they were looking forward to Rob’s “coronation, or whatever it’s called?” In fairness, almost no one whom I really knew well had ever attended one of these before. And there were certain similarities, too: especially that Phase Two mostly served as a scripted ceremony to usher in the era of Phase Three.

I have a vague memory of Phase One of this process; there was definitely a committee for that. My attention was focused on trying to get a grip on all the family changes in store for us. But I have a vivid memory of the consecration afternoon itself (and the thick humidity during the after-party). Phase Three is still very much underway, and I wisely refrain from going into detail. But it’s already clear that the era of being bishop can’t really be understood as “follow-up” in the way that the Lambeth Phase Three might be described, with a backward glance to whatever was set forth in Phase Two. I guess we really need an additional Phase Four to denote the retirement years, still ahead.

Everybody Gets Set Up In the Gym: Poof! They’re Gone

So now we’ve arrived at the event that sticks out, seems not to belong. But it’s also the very one that got me thinking about all of this to begin with. Planning and pulling off the Belmont High School Spring Career Fair on April 19th, featuring 50 visiting employers, fell squarely on my part-time shoulders. I had last year’s experience to guide me, and a small group of students who helped out in the planning process, but for the most part I had to see the whole thing through.

Phase One was primarily about outreach and anticipating logistics; Phase Two consisted of a couple of hours of mingling between adults and students; Phase Three is about gathering feedback and keeping the momentum going by continuing to build relationships, building a support network for our school community.

It’s true, I’m hard-pressed to find any resemblance between this process and either the coronation or the consecration, except for the distinct segments of each, but you’ve got to admit that the Lambeth Conference (must keep the caps there) and the career fair have quite a lot in common — allowing for a few vast differences, too. In fact, as I continue to focus on Phase Three of “my” event, I think I’ll draw inspiration from that colorful brochure on the living room table. Yes, it doesn’t have to be completely over when all the tables are put away, or when everyone has flown back home. Keep holding that torch!

Such, anyway, is how my various roles tend to blend together in my mind.

Tomorrow, we’ll watch our daughter, thanks to a livestream, earn her MSW degree. I’ll be thinking about the “before, during, and after” of that, too, with a whole lot of pride.

What events are you focused on this spring? Do you see them in three parts or maybe in some different way? Do you have a favorite phase? I’d love to hear from you about this.