Old Friends

This weekend, one of my friends that I haven't seen for a while was in town to do a workshop. Chester and I go back a few years - about 10 or so. We've kept in touch all that time, as he moved around the country (he's a minister, and spent most of that time as an interim minister), and for a short time, while he lived only a few miles away from me. During that time when we were in the same time zone, we spent a lot of time on the phone discussing church politics and personalities, and had a few great meals together as we plotted the next anti-racism workshop we would offer.

Chester is a fabulous preacher, and has great things to say from the pulpit. He was in our pulpit yesterday, and proved once again that our current minister lacks any kind of preaching skill. We went to lunch with him and a group of folks from the church, and I vented with a couple of the other members as to why I so rarely attend the church anymore (more on that in another post). Then we met up with him again for dinner and some less diplomatic conversation. I wish he didn't live across the country, but the church he is currently serving is a great place for him. It was great to see him and catch up on life.