Rogue Reverend

Writing, Blogging, Preaching, and Being Busy

I miss writing. Well, more specifically, I miss blogging.

I’m still writing sermons, although they feel more raw, more private, and even more confidential than before. So I’m not posting them anymore.

But I haven’t written here since I really got going on my new job. Maybe it’s because I’m learning so much new stuff. Maybe it’s because I’m spending 15-18 hours a week on the road. Maybe it’s because I thought my head would implode with all this new information.

Whatever it is, I’d like it to stop. I want to write.

I want to write about the interesting (read that batty) person who told me last week that the meaning of life is TIME.

I want to write about seeing the elderly woman who had been arrested for solicitation face 90 days in jail for a $10 sex act.

I want to write about the amazement of learning that you are HIV+ when you see that information as an empowering choice to get care.

But for now, I’m just going to say, “Hi.” I’ve missed you.

Happy New Job

It’s been a while since I wrote on my blog, but tons of stuff has happened.

I interviewed with HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive) in Washington, D.C. back in October for a position that wasn’t right for me. In late November, they asked me to interview for a different position. This one fit. And stuck.

January 4 was my first day as the Client Advocacy Program Manager at HIPS. HIPS’ mission is to assist female, male, and transgender individuals engaging in sex work in Washington, DC in leading healthy lives. Utilizing a harm reduction model, HIPS’ programs strive to address the impact that HIV/AIDS, STIs, discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of individuals engaging in sex work.

I’m so excited about the job. The people I’ve met have been warm and welcoming. I feel so grateful, first just to have a job, but especially to have a job I care about. Happy New Year!

Hooty-Hoo!

A dear friend of mine tells me all the time that I have a youthfulness about me. Of course, I always think, “Oh, great! He thinks I’m childish!” He says that I’m youthful because I really like to do some things he thinks are goofy. I sew. I make collages (he says, “coll-awww-geeees”). I drive to the store for only a magazine. I like to cook.

His point is that I do creative things, things he wouldn’t be able to do because of all of his grown-up responsibilities. He has a “real” job. He has familial obligations. He just doesn’t have time to do creative stuff. But even when I’m busy, I try to make time for creative activities.

I made this owl for the brand-new-baby, Lucy, the first child of my friend Caroline. It’s a goofy owl, but I do like it and had a great time doing it. A little shout out to my friend Jenny who helped!

The Art of Preaching

Preaching is hard.

Yeah, yeah, I hear all you non-preachers out there playing your little “world smallest violins.” But it really is hard. The reasons are numerous, but maybe I should enumerate them:

You can’t please all the people all the time.
Sometimes the things you have to say are hard for people to hear.
Sometimes you get to Sunday morning, and there’s no inspiration.
Coming up with something fresh, over and over, is difficult.
Sometimes life gets in the way of spending time on your sermon.

And while it’s good to go hear other preachers for inspiration, it’s really difficult to get better at preaching. It’s an art. Education helps. But what we really need is a preaching coach.

One of the biggest questions I ask preachers is, “How do you tell if you’ve given a good sermon?” Some will talk about the response after the sermon, at the door, as people are filing past the preacher. However, I find this time to be awkward. People don’t know what to say to the preacher as they’re passing her. The only way that I really count the, “Good sermon, preacher” as people walk through the receiving line, is if they say, “I loved it when you said, ‘XYZ.’ That got me where I needed it.”

Others will talk about just feeling a response. When you use humor and emotional stories, sometimes you can tell that folks are connecting with your sermon. Sometimes you see tears. Sometimes, people fall asleep. Sometimes in the same sermon.

The most lasting way I judge sermons is this:

If someone contacts me about the sermon later in the week, or someone references it the next week or so. When the words really hit home, people remember them.

Leaving Sex Work

Yeah, I know, I didn’t really LEAVE sex work, since I wasn’t exactly in sex work. But in some ways, I was…

I announced that I was leaving Star Light in the end of December, although I actually resigned from my position in late October. So now I’m technically 6 months out of it. I wish that leaving sex work was linear and that I could name for you all the process that you go through, but it’s just not that easy.

But there are a few things that I’ve gone through that seem to be similar to leaving sex work. These are the things that I have gone through:

Attention from men seems annoying, at best.
Tolerance for said attention is nearly gone.
I have a lot of fear about going “legitimate.” Will anyone want to hire me?
Finding fulfillment in my work is difficult. I miss sex work!
It’s easy to get drawn back in. (I’m still doing stuff!)
I miss the community.

What’s your experience?