Father Watson Lamb – Mississippian takes on a new role at a downtown church

It was work. I spent my first two years in ministry, serving two small parishes—St. Francis in Philadelphia, Miss., and St. Matthew’s in Forest, Miss. I knew that my time was coming to an end there. I started a search process and got to know Father Bryan Owen, the rector here, and he was actually from Mississippi. He came in January of this year. We got into a conversation, and it seemed to be a good fit.

This is a new role for me, especially within the day school. I’m actually getting to teach some classes in the advisory program—Old Testament to sixth graders, New Testament to the seventh graders and world religions to the eighth graders. I’m enjoying hearing the kids’ thoughts about how they interact with scripture. It’s been fascinating.

I’ve only taught one class with them, but I expect that the answer will be yes. It’s fascinating some of the things that they don’t know that they’re picking up on—things like what is monotheism. That was something I didn’t plan on delving into, but they were interested in hearing more about that. Seeing the directions their minds go is fascinating. I look forward to much more of that.

We’ll have some who are too cool for school. My expectation is that if they’re like that in my class, chances are they’re like that in all of their classes. It’s middle school. It’s one of those strange times in your life. I can think of at least one boy who’s too cool for school. He sits back in the corner with his arms crossed. The reality is even if he’s like that, he’s still listening and hearing the conversation that his peers are having. He’ll take some of that in. That’s my hope.

Spend time with my family. Down here, where the grass grows more than you want it to, I spend a lot of my off time working in the yard. If I can go to the park with my kids, that’s fantastic. I’ll spend some time with my wife and go on a date.

It’s hard not to take your work with you when you’re a priest and on call 24/7. I’m always thinking about the scriptural text and where the spirit is leading conversations. That’s going on in the background all the time. You can’t ever leave that.

We love Baton Rouge. This is the largest city I’ve ever lived in. My wife is from Birmingham, but I’m a country boy coming to the big city. It’s been an adjustment getting used to traffic. But it’s nice, and the people have been wonderful.

The climbing wall [at BREC’s Perkins Road Park]. I’m an analytical person. I think a lot about everything. I like the entire process of learning, as well as helping others in that process. That side of me is fed by rock climbing, because when you’re trying to get to the top of a rock face, you have a problem before you—a puzzle. You have to think through how to move from one place to the next. It feeds me physically and mentally.

Jasmine’s on the Bayou is fantastic. I like the folks there, and the food is great. There are so many restaurants, though. We haven’t really eaten at the same place twice.

The thing we had to go by was New Orleans. There was some sort of mystery to Louisiana. That bayou mystery. It was almost majestic in our imaginations. The culture here is different from other places, specifically the Catholicity of the culture. People call me Father here. In Mississippi, they called me by my first name or didn’t know what to call me. It’s a Protestant culture in Mississippi.

You can get a discount on beignets if you’re a priest. [Laughs] There’s a profound respect for the church, not just Catholic or Anglican traditions, but every tradition. You don’t see that in other parts of the world. That, to me, is a wonderful thing that I’ve experienced since being here.

Having to mow my grass all the time. I still have those teenage feelings of, “Do I really have to do this again?” I’m sitting there at 6:30 a.m., wanting to get out and mow the yard, but I don’t want my neighbors to get mad at me for that.