Jury Duty Completed
Well, it was close! I literally came within one word of serving on a jury. I found the whole process interesting, especially realizing that all 100+ that were on the Jury Panel were there for a single jury selection.
For much of the time it was a great deal of waiting. So I occupied myself with reading, doing Sudoku puzzles, people watching... anything to help the time pass by. On Tuesday, when I first went in, by noon, the case we had been set up for had been settled, so there was no longer a need for us, but we did have to return on Thursday... and that's where things began to move.
After waiting for almost two hours, we were shuffled into the courtroom to listen to the defendant's plea. Well... it's a criminal trial, so they'll need twelve jurors. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the two offenses, so it moved into jury selection.
The choices are completely random, my name was in a large lottery drum along with everyone else's. If my name was drawn, I would come up to the front of the court, where I could either present reasons why I could not serve, or I could step forward and look at the defendant. The Crown Attorney and the Counsel for the Defense could then either say they were "content" with me, or "challenge" me as a juror.
As the process went on, it looked as if I would not be selected at all. Twenty people had their names drawn, and they came forward to begin the process. Yet a number provided a number of reasons why they could not serve, and it seemed that the defense, more so than the Crown were throwing out challenges rather liberally. After several draws, my name did get picked, and it looked as if I would be the occupant of the twelfth juror seat. Yet while the Crown was content with me, I was very quickly challenged by the defense... perhaps because they got a look at what I did for a living.
In all, it only took up two days of my time. It was an interesting process, and there is still part of me that would have found the experience of serving on a jury an enlightening one. However, my obligation is fulfilled, and I don't have to worry about this happening for another 3 years.
I am still curious about using the metaphor of a "summons" to describe God's call to us. It was interesting that each person who provided a reason/excuse as to why they could not serve were excused from this jury, but would not have the 3 year exemption period that I now have. The idea being that whatever excuses we may provide, eventually we will have to serve.
The lectionary Bible readings from this coming Sunday include Isaiah 6:1-8, which is Isaiah's call to the prophetic life. Last Sunday, while I preached on 1 Corinthians 13, I still included the reading from Jeremiah's call. Methinks I am going to be using this experience in my sermon preparation for this week!
For much of the time it was a great deal of waiting. So I occupied myself with reading, doing Sudoku puzzles, people watching... anything to help the time pass by. On Tuesday, when I first went in, by noon, the case we had been set up for had been settled, so there was no longer a need for us, but we did have to return on Thursday... and that's where things began to move.
After waiting for almost two hours, we were shuffled into the courtroom to listen to the defendant's plea. Well... it's a criminal trial, so they'll need twelve jurors. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the two offenses, so it moved into jury selection.
The choices are completely random, my name was in a large lottery drum along with everyone else's. If my name was drawn, I would come up to the front of the court, where I could either present reasons why I could not serve, or I could step forward and look at the defendant. The Crown Attorney and the Counsel for the Defense could then either say they were "content" with me, or "challenge" me as a juror.
As the process went on, it looked as if I would not be selected at all. Twenty people had their names drawn, and they came forward to begin the process. Yet a number provided a number of reasons why they could not serve, and it seemed that the defense, more so than the Crown were throwing out challenges rather liberally. After several draws, my name did get picked, and it looked as if I would be the occupant of the twelfth juror seat. Yet while the Crown was content with me, I was very quickly challenged by the defense... perhaps because they got a look at what I did for a living.
In all, it only took up two days of my time. It was an interesting process, and there is still part of me that would have found the experience of serving on a jury an enlightening one. However, my obligation is fulfilled, and I don't have to worry about this happening for another 3 years.
I am still curious about using the metaphor of a "summons" to describe God's call to us. It was interesting that each person who provided a reason/excuse as to why they could not serve were excused from this jury, but would not have the 3 year exemption period that I now have. The idea being that whatever excuses we may provide, eventually we will have to serve.
The lectionary Bible readings from this coming Sunday include Isaiah 6:1-8, which is Isaiah's call to the prophetic life. Last Sunday, while I preached on 1 Corinthians 13, I still included the reading from Jeremiah's call. Methinks I am going to be using this experience in my sermon preparation for this week!
posted by John Crowdis at 12:07 p.m.
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