Ordination Weekend

It’s been a whirlwind around here for the last few days. Sarah, Adam, Caleb, and Sadie (their dog) arrived on Thursday as did Adam’s parents from Chehalis, Washington. We all gathered for Sarah’s ordination service yesterday at Third Presbyterian.

The weather could not have been much worse. We’re well over 3 feet of snow, and there were five fresh inches in the morning. Worse yet, it was 1°, with a wind chill substantially below that. Nonetheless a lovely group gathered during the 10:45 service for her ordination. It was truly a beautiful and moving service. I, of course, am very biased, but many members of the congregation said the same. We have a large and wonderful choir who sang during the service, and both Tracy and I were members of her Ordination Commission and participated in the service. 

Our pastor, however, engaged three photographers to take photos during the service. We will eventually get copies of all of them. For now, I have an iPhone photo taken by my friend, Jane, after the service, and three gorgeous black and white photos takes during the Constitutional Questions and the Laying on of Hands by one of the photographers, Jenn Poggi, a professor of photography at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The ordination service is a somewhat scripted event. Sarah wrote all of the liturgy except for the sermon. There is the Reaffirmation of Baptism, a set of Constitutional Questions, the Laying on of Hands (by all ordained elders of the church, past and present—over half the congregation in this case), and then the Charge to the Ordained and Presentation of Symbols of Ministry. 

Here is a photo of Sarah answering the Constitutional Questions.

And two of the Laying on of Hands:

Sarah is in the middle kneeling. It’s a pretty emotional event even when it’s not your daughter! 

It’s been a long road to ordination. Sarah completed a Masters of Divinity at Columbia Seminary seven years ago, completed a Masters of Theology degree at Princeton Seminary, and then began work on a Ph.D. in Spiritual Theology at GTU in Berkeley.  In April of last year, she decided to let the dissertation go, and left as an ABD (All But the Dissertation). It was a wonderful decision in many respects. And now she has received a call as Associate Pastor for the Winnetka Congregational Church. Yesterday, she officially became The Reverend Sarah Walker Cleaveland. We are so proud.

Adam and Sarah are now officially a clergy couple–both Associate Pastors at churches in the same community which is really amazing in itself.

After the ceremony there was a lovely reception at the church.

And this was the gorgeous, and delicious cake:

Afterward, we hosted a casual luncheon at home for about 30 of our friends and family. I was really worried about where everyone would park with the high snow drifts, but it all worked out fine. The only photos I took were of grandchildren after everyone else had left. 

Sarah, Adam, and Caleb headed back to Chicago this morning. Adam’s parents are still here for a couple more days. We saw “Still Alice” this afternoon, a heartbreaking story of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease, and then had a lovely dinner at TRATA. Tomorrow we’re headed for the George Eastman house. Hope your weekend was a good one!