I drove to Dallas this week to make a video with my brother. I had done this a year ago when I was in the process for bishop of Connecticut, and it wasn’t any easier the second time, but it was affirming to see how much I had grown and changed in a year’s time. I was answering questions about my call to ministry, and I am much clearer and more centered about who I am called to be–with the best two words to describe it as missionary and deacon.

My brother makes films for a living, but he’s been making videos of my family for about 40 years. He’s an Episcopalian, too, and so we had some very good conversation about the questions and answers.

The bonus was driving another hour or so north to spend a few days at my mother’s on her farm in Chambersville–land that has been in the family for over 150 years (a long time by Texas standards). She’s so far out of town that she only has dial up internet, so we had to drive into town to Starbuck’s to find a place for me to send some emails. This was a new adventure for her.

Then we had a very good time together. We gardened and cooked and laughed. She worked on the quilt she’s making for her great-grandson, Austin Jack, due in July, while I knitted away on my grandson, Austin Jack’s, baby blanket. Firsts (great grand and grand) for each of us! I’ll be going to Portland in June for his baby shower.

We were also basking in the news that my daughter has a very good book deal for a cookbook based on her blog–it will contain her fabulous photography, her delicious recipes, and great stories. It’s a very fine moment in a mom’s life when both children are doing very well.

To top everything off–the peonies were blooming at my mother’s. I drove back to Houston with my car full of their fabulous smell.

This is my tenth visit to Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove Indiana. I came eight times as a Woman Touched by Grace, part of a Lilly Foundation Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grant which funded twice a year ten day visits to the monastery for a group of thirty women pastors. Each time we sang the Office with the sisters of Our Lady of Grace, had a different speaker which presented tools and tips for being healthy clergy (the Lilly Grants for SPE were given with the premise that healthy pastors make healthy congregations) and had time for massages, walks, field trips, play, and Covenant Groups.

My ninth visit was last fall. I came six days for the first session of three year preparation to become an Oblate of Our Lady of Grace Monastery.

This time I came to be one of the “speakers” for the second Women Touched by Grace group. This group of twenty women have gathered five times at the monastery. This is their last session under the Lilly grant.

This second Women Touched by Grace pastors have nicknamed themselves Women Touched by Grace Extraordinaire. It was better than being called WTBG Second Class.

However, after praying and playing and pondering and painting and being with these women, I’m not sure that second class is not a very good thing. After all, in the world of movies, the sequel is at times better than the original, or as good in its own way.

A few years ago, because of connections with a friend, I got to fly first class several times. I also used miles to upgrade on a couple of long trips (it’s the only way to fly to Turkey!). I always say that no one appreciates first class more than I do. However, on a recent flight, a very unusual thing happened. There were many open seats–but all of them in coach. As I walked through the packed first class cabin, every seat was taken, but those of us in coach (ie second class) could each have our own row, and even empty seats behind us so that we could recline our seats without acting as if we were the center of the world. We had two flight attendants serving us (as opposed to the one in the packed first class). That day, no one appreciated it more than I did to be in the comfort of second class.

So to those twenty women pastors of Women Touched by Grace, the Sequel, Second Class, Extraordinaire: Susan, Patti, Janell, Karen, Kim, Miriam, Yolande, Janet, Mary, Haeran, Susan, Jane, Michelle, Deana, Nancy, Karen, Margaret, Susan, Laurie, Nancy, and Sister Mary Luke and Sister Betty, you are each gifted in extraordinary ways (and I speak from experience). More importantly, you are abundantly touched by God’s grace. What could be any better than that?

Touched by Grace, you are women touched by Grace,

From the hand of God, from the heart of God,

Who sends you forth, who sends you forth to serve.

During my Lenten journey I discovered a podcast and read a book that were Lenten treasures. They are too good not to share.

For the past several years, I’ve gone to Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana on retreats. My next trip will be Easter Tuesday. One of my favorite moments after arriving is the first time I walk into the chapel for the daily office. When I join the voices of the dear sisters singing the invitatory and the psalms, my spirit melts.

I discovered a podcast of another Benedictine Monastery that posts the offices of Lauds (early morning) and Vespers (evening) daily. Though they pray a little faster and have less silence than the sisters of OLOG during worship, the sound of these sisters singing takes me back home to the monastery. It’s been a great Lenten companion.

I love finding books and music that have a spiritual twist, especially when they are firmly rooted in the non-religious market. My favorite non-traditional Lenten book is Lambs of God by Marele Day. It’s a book about knitters in a monastery. The knitting sisters are a closed order on an isolated island that are unexpectedly visited by a priest who wants to close the monastery and make the island into a getaway for the rich. What I love most, besides those knitting sisters and their sheep, is the way that these women keep the liturgy of the hours and the holy seasons without watches or clocks but simply by following the growing and waning light. The story is neatly tied together with a few twists and a satisfying ending.

A few years ago I went to Nova Scotia with my best friend. While poking around a knitting shop in Baddeck, she spotted some yarn that she thought would make a cute hat. Though I’d only knit one other hat (for a baby and with my knitting friend Kathryn’s help), of course I was delighted to be able to do something nice for this dear friend. How hard could knitting a hat be? I tend to overbuy yarn, but the knitting store helper in Baddeck assured me that the skein of yarn was what it had taken for the “model” hat.