that awkward moment...

....when they talk about you at Sunday mass....

umm yeah.
Allow me to explain.

As I mentioned on Friday, I am a brand new parishioner! I went in on Thursday of last week to officially register...after living in town for about 10 months, I finally buckled down and picked a parish. I don't know why I was so hesitant to become a parishioner, but I think it just felt like such a big commitment!

That sounds kind of ridiculous when I type it out loud.
But do you know what I mean?

For my whole life, I've either been a member of my home parish, or in attendance at a Newman Center. The concept of becoming a parishioner seemed like such a giant leap into adulthood! But it's funny how after all this time, and feeling restless and like I didn't really belong anywhere, once I realized that I wanted to register, I was overcome with a sense of peace.

home sweet home!

So what does this have to do with me being talked about during mass?

I think I've mentioned before that finding community in a brand new town has proved to be difficult, and after almost a year of desiring but not really doing anything proactive about seeking a community, I thought that while I was at the parish office, I might as well ask if they have a young adult group of sorts.

Turns out that they don't........and so I asked if I could start one.
Why not?
There's definitely a need for ministry to people in my stage of life: fresh out of college and in danger of falling away from the faith should our parishes neglect to help us stay connected.

Well, the people I talked to were all really great and excited about my desire and ambition to spearhead a new group like this, so I set up an appointment to talk to the Director of Religious Education and went on my merry way.

Fast forward to a couple days later during Sunday mass.
This weekend was the Annual Diocesan Appeal; they showed a video (I know SO MANY people in it!!!), and then someone got up to give a little schpeel.
Aaaaand the person speaking was one of the ladies I had spoken to a few days prior!

She begins to talk about how we all need to be giving our time, talent, and treasure, yadda yadda....then she starts giving examples of people giving of their time, and begins to rave about this young woman who just came into the office on Thursday asking if she could start up a young adult group because she sees a need for it in the parish, isn't that awesome that she would give of herself in that way?!

oh.
my.
gosh.

I won't lie, it was kind of cool.
And also really embarrassing.
But awesome.

I'm really excited to get started and begin to minister to other young people like myself and make some new friends! Being involved in church ministry is a void that I've been feeling lately and I'm really happy to have a way to give back to my new parish. And in a way, I think that little shout out in mass was the Lord confirming that I belong here, like a "welcome home" sign.

And dang, home feels good.

xo