So I'm just going to say it, as crazy or not as it may sound - I am being visited by those I met in my past. Yes I'm getting ready to go back to Kentucky for a short weekend trip and have been talking to people I haven't seen in a year, but that's not what I'm talking about. Let me give some background: I believe that each person has a spark/spirit/essence/brahma within them that comes from the Divine. It was created long before a physical shell is made and it goes back to the Divine when the shell has finished it's time in this place. This spark is free to move and act. As I attempted to meditate and get centered last night, I found that people, whom I meet while a chaplain at a hospital in Kentucky were there with me. Not to hurt me but to stand with me. Some smiling but others sitting there looking, watching me. The gaze in their eyes that seem to go straight to my core - they have something to do with me, maybe unfinished business. Maybe I'm their unfinished business. I don't know yet but I can say it's weird to be in their presence.
As a minister I have the honor of performing rites and ceremonies for people at a variety of stages of life: baptisms, blessings, marriages, funerals, etc. I usually enjoy planning and leading these events. But lately I've had a rash of folks shocked that as a minister, I would have a fee to do some of these services. So lets talk about why I have fees. To start with, if you are a member of my congregation you do get my services as a part of my contract with the congregation as long as they are spelled out in the contract. Generally if you're a member of the congregation I serve, it is expected that I will preform baptisms, blessings, funerals, weddings, etc for you because I want to remind you of God's continuous blessing in your life and especially at important moments in your life. However some folks are shocked that there would be an honorarium suggested for the minister. The reality is that these blessings, weddings, funerals, etc. are extra work in our wee...
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