Patricia Henking

I am but a little priest, doing my best with man and beast.

I was born as a very old child and have been out-growing it ever since! By this I mean my mom used to say I was mature when I was born, and now pretty much everyone says I am still a child at heart. Somewhere along the line I discovered that: being as very serious and responsible as I was when I was 4 is utterly exhausting at 54 ... that years and years of studying theology (The General Theological Seminary and Boston University School of Theology) have confirmed that "Star Wars" and "Mr. God, This Is Anna" rival Barth and Tillich ... that since the Church is not the same thing as God, it makes me much happier to visit the state prison or help ship goods to Native American reservations than to serve on boards of trustees or examining chaplains or commissions on ministry or standing committees ... that a little pick-up truck is at least as important for ministry as a Bible commentary ... that shoveling horse manure is a great antidote to ministry burn-out ... that a decent teacher can teach anything (except logic) with some prep time (I have gotten to teach Philosophy and Theology at Notre Dame College until it closed and Organizational Behavior as well as Leadership at Daniel Webster College) ... that if you name your first dog ET, your second Luke Skywalker and your third Indiana Jones, everyone expects the puppy to be called Hermione -- only her name is Zoey (the cat is called Milano after the cookies) ... that death is not the end, gray hair is a new beginning, and aging means not knowing about the Potter Puppet Pals until the Confirmation Class shows me ... that everything is eternal, but my absolutely brilliant Blog post can disappear like a Buddhist sand painting -- before it is published -- never to be seen again ...