Settling Back Down to Earth

Well, I'm settling back down to earth after Monday's little incident, in which I arrived home from a road trip and was surprised to discover that in my absence my home had been converted, without my knowledge, into a day-long "work zone."

I have yet to get to the bottom of it, but it seems to me that either (1) the work crew (who, I repeat, are not parishioners themselves) decided on the basis of their own self-generated schedule to show up spontaneously on Monday and, finding nobody home, they let themselves in and went to work (there is a key to the parsonage, if you know where to look). Or else (2) somebody from the congregation contacted the work crew, "Hey, the pastor's going to be gone Monday, so that would be a good day to come and work in the parsonage."

Of course in either case what happened was unacceptable: my beef with it is that nobody saw fit to inform me in advance. It's an elementary matter of respecting personal boundaries; plus, like most of us, there are items I'd like to take care of before I let anyone into my house. I mean, like tax returns lying right out in the open on a table, fer cryin' out loud?!!!

To say nothing of a toilet bowl which was threatening to develop into a complete independent ecosystem.

Oh well, I've got a busy day ahead of me today.

Update: A parishioner who had read my blog dropped by this morning to sympathize with me. Very much appreciated! :-)