Thursday, December 21, 2006

That would be Fr. Ben to you!

(Heavy sigh of relief!)

Well, in a very brief ceremony in the conference room at Episcopal Central, I went from being, Pr. Benton, defrocked ELCA pastor to Fr. Benton, Episcopal Priest.

Due to changes in the canons of the ECUSA, the change-over had to happen quickly. So with two priest, the bishop, and me in the room, there was the laying on of hands, a few prayers, a poof of smoke (just joking!) and I was changed.

It kind of reminded me of a joke I heard:

Ole, a Norwegian Lutheran, moved into a neighborhood that was primarily Roman Catholic. It never ceased that on Fridays in Lent, Ole would be out back grilling venison. The odor of the meat would waft around the neighborhood and torment the good Catholics who were eating bland tuna casseroles. Finally, it was too much for the poor Catholics and they went to their priest and complained. The priest said, why don’t you invite Ole to church and we will convert him to Catholicism and then he will also have to eat fish on Friday and the problem will be gone. So the people began to invite Ole to church and Ole decided to join the Catholic Church. Eventually, it was Ole’s day to be baptized. Ole stood in front of the congregation, eager to start his new life as a Roman Catholic! The priest came up to Ole and said, “Ole, you were born a Lutheran,” sprinkled more, “and you were raised a Lutheran,” and a little more of a sprinkle, “but now you are a Catholic!” Everyone cheered and Ole grinned. The priest thought, “This should take care of that meat problem!” But again, Lent rolled around that the smell of venison was wafting over the neighborhood. The priest went to Ole’s house and found him with a big piece of venison on the grill. The priest was just about to say something when he saw Ole shaking salt on the meat saying, “You were born a deer, and you were raised a deer, but now you are a Walleye!”

7 comments:

Lemuel said...

Spoken [written] as a good [former] Lutheran! Ole jokes! I love 'em!

Congratulations, Father Ben! ...and may many blessing be yours!

HUGS! ... and the Kiss of Peace.

XAPIC UMIN KAI EIPNHN!

Scott E D said...

Congratulations.

Ur-spo said...

splendid news, father!

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Fr.

And Merry Christmas.

Vic Mansfield said...

Congratulations and blessings! And on the Feast of St. THomas? Very nice, indeed.

Truly, I wish you the very best. You'll love the Church Pension Fund, too.

Cheers, Joe.

Steve and Warren ~ said...

Merry Christmas

Steve and Warren

A Bear in the Woods said...

I think Ole had the "true" revelation.
Congratulations on making the transition.