Well, gosh, don't I feel all wet Almost literally. The weather forecast said that there would be scattered thunderstorms yesterday afternoon, and scattered thunderstorms today as well. So I decided that we'd go ahead and do the ritual yesterday as scheduled, and take our chances. Well, yesterday during the rite, a downpour began during the praise offerings, and it kept sprinkling for the rest of the afternoon.  And today, no rain at all.  Feh.  Not that I couldn't handle a rite in the rain, mind you – and I'm glad that so many people did stay even after the water came – but obviously I'm disappointed that there were a lot of people who might have come to the rite if the forecast had been better.  But then if I'd postponed the ritual to Sunday, our attendance would have plummeted anyway.  Until we get a ritual site that can handle both indoor and outdoor rites for us, there's not much we can do anyway, and I really should stop second-guessing myself.

The sad part is that other than the rain, the ritual itself went just fine.  The offerings were accepted (even though the rain was so loud during the individual praise section that I couldn't hear some folks – maybe we need some lessons on voice projection), the omen was good (Berkana Tir Gebo, which Rod took to mean a gift from both Danu and Bel), and other than dampness and a much cooler air temperature than we're used to for a June rite, everything felt good.  Maybe we should consider the water a gift from Danu, and take it in the spirit in which it was given.

The one real question I have left to ponder is whether or not our drenched ritual is going to affect how the reporters at the ritual write about us.  Yep, we got more reporters, this time from the Ann Arbor Observer.  Their annual City Guide does articles on various groups around town, and this time they're thinking of including us as one of the featured churches.  I assured them that it doesn't always rain on our rituals, and I think they believed me.  >8)  I'll let everyone here know if/when the article is published.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some dropcloths to air out.

Rev. Rob Henderson
Senior Druid, Shining Lakes Grove, ADF

PS – If this week's entry is just too short for you and you crave more SLG reading material, the new issue of Shining Lakes News is online at http://shininglakes.bravehost.com/slnpdf/SLN-summer08.pdf

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