I'm here

I'm still here.  I've been here and there and yonder, including Maui and Memphis.  At the end of the week I go to Austin, for a day, and then I'll be back.

Work is very busy -- many projects in May to complete.

I'll try to do better with blogging (which means I need to do better with devotionals, but if I have learned one thing, its that they go hand in hand).

I have many images to share -- good ones -- so I'll try to get that done, too.

Have you ever noticed, that when you have large projects to complete, that the small ones tend to weigh on you?  And that the interruptions take priority over the big Must be Done projects?  However, I believe in a Ministry of Interruptions, and one of my interruptions today was to send a check to someone who really needed it -- a grant from a Trust.  Those kind of interruptions are golden.  And what I'm called to do.

I'll get the Big Project done.  Tomorrow.  And the next day.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying having both my boys home.  Mother's Day was great.  Son the Younger preached.  You can listen to it here.

Interruptions

In the devotional I read this morning, Adam Hamilton points to Simon of Cyrene as an example of a person whose life was forever changed by an interruption.  He was an unconnected bystander, watching a criminal walking to his execution when a Roman soldier grabbed him by chance, and forced him to carry the crossbeam of Christ's cross.  He became a follower of Christ, well known enough by the church in Rome to be recognized in Mark's gospel by name.

I'm grateful there are people who make time in their lives for interruptions.  I am very often an interrupter.  I often walk up to the people in our office and start asking them a question or sharing information that I have.  I'm grateful they listen, and I hope I am open to them doing the same.  I think it changes us from people working together into a team.

Being open to interruptions is harder to do than being the interrupter.  I especially notice this when I am very busy.  I'm serving as the media/tech person on an upcoming Walk to Emmaus.  As I'm rushing around during a team meeting, trying to make sure everything I need to get done gets done, I am often interrupted.  Other team members need to ask me a question or give me a file.  I want to say, "Wait a while; I need to get this done," but I don't.  I intentionally try to say to myself, "Listen.  Focus.  This is the ministry you are doing."  I find doing this puts the task I was trying to get done into the background and calms me enough from my frantic pace to listen.  I look at the person, listen to their words, and make them the important item for the moment.  I think that's one of the hardest parts of doing the tech job on the walk - shoving aside the technology to focus on the person.  I don't know i what I am doing is transformational to anyone else, but it is to me and the job I am doing.

Interruptions.  It's ministry.  Do you find it so, too?

(By the way, I'm hotel internet for a couple of days.  I'm not sure if I can upload images with any speed or not)

Interruptions

At the Grove seeding event, I bought Celia Whitler's book, "On the Way to Somewhere." It's a series of short chapters, each followed by discussion questions. I was stopped by the first set of questions -- part of the "Sacred Interruptions" chapter.

I've written about interruptions before (here) and have had discussions with JtM about ministry of interruptions. Maybe that's why these questions caught my attention, but I thought they might make a good blog post.

1. When is the last time you gave serious attention to an interruption? What does it mean that I can't think of an example? I hope that I am able to do this...I have a feeling that it is an important skill in my new job.
2. Do you take time to hear others' stories? Probably not as much as I should. I get impatient at times or distracted by my own thoughts and lose focus. I do think it's important, and I try to make an effort, but it doesn't always work. There are also certain habits that I find distracting. I'm not very patient when the speaker is trying to speak with me and do something else.
3. When was the last time you focused on hearing someone else tell his or her story? This morning, but I don't think I'll go into details here.
4. What one thing could you do to help yourself listen more closely? I have found that eye contact helps me to continue listening when my mind would like to wander. I also, since my Emmaus walk, have found that when I discover that I am not listening, if I say "focus" to myself, I pull my attention back to the person in front of me. FOCUS.
5. How do you tell your story? Do you journal, write songs. blog, teach, draw, paint, write, sculpt, act, sing? I used to journal. When I started blogging, I stopped journalling-- too hard to do both. I do find find that I self-edit somewhat on the blog, because it is public, while I didn't when I journalled. I have also found that I am able to maintain the discipline of writing more with the blog than I was with the journal. I teach, but I'm not sure that I do that to tell my own story. I'm pretty sure that's NOT why I do it. I work with my hands as an outlet to creativity -- crafts.

Interruptions

I taught Sunday school today and encountered a difficult problem.

Our class is very discussion oriented, and as I teach a lesson, I am always encouraged when our class talks. If the members has things to say, then is reassures me that they are engaged with the lesson. Discussion is also an incubator for learning; there is synergy in the effort.

So, understand when I say that a member of our class today, who attends off and on, monopolized the conversation, that I am not against conversation. I strive, when I plan a lesson, to work in questions and comments designed to help the class members to discuss the issues brought forth in the lesson. It's a good thing!

However, this particular gentleman was relentless. I couldn't string two thoughts together without getting interrupted. When another class member would speak , he would do the same to him or her.

How does a teacher handle a problem such as this? What should I have done?

I suppose at the very least this can serve as a reminder to me that I am not always in control and that sometimes, it's important to listen to the interruptions, too.

Truly, though, I just wanted to ask him to be quiet.

Turning Aside

This weekend, Steve and I went to Pennsylvania. We began our day on Saturday with a stop at Fallingwater, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. On the way, we came down a hillside and were surprised to find a beautiful set of waterfalls in a river running along the side of the road. We had to pull over and take pictures. It was beautiful to look at and gorgeous to listen to.

And it was completely unexpected.

We had planned the weekend, but we couldn't have planned this. It reminds me that we need to be open to the unexpected -- the interruptions -- the grace of the moment. It was a spectacular treat for a 10 minute stop on the way to our destination, and if we hadn't stopped, we would have missed it.

Take the time to stop.

We went to a Thanksgiving service this evening. It was a community service held at our church. The rabbi from the nearby synagogue preached the sermon. He told about an interpretation of the story of the burning bush. He said that perhaps other people walked by the bush as it burned, ignoring it, not taking the time to stop and explore this magnificent wonder. Moses stopped. Moses paused and turned to see what was going on, and God said, "You're the one I have been waiting for."

Turn aside, and notice the work of God.

Prayer Vigil

Our church hosts a prayer vigil each Lenten season - usually beginning on Holy Saturday, and continuing until Easter morning.  Each slot is an hour long.

I participated several years, but I don't think I've done it lately. This year I claimed the Sunday morning 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. hour to pray.  It seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't seem like a good idea this morning.  I realized it meant getting up an hour early and getting ready by 8:00 a.m.  We leave the house at 9I:00 a.m., so I would need to finish the prayer time and then walk about the door.  No lazy Easter morning for me.

I even considered skipping it.  Shortening it.  Doing it at a different time.  Something to change what I had agreed to do.  But Steve had the hour before me, and he got up early, and he went downstairs to spend the hour in prayer.  Sigh.  I guess I would do it, too.

I had forgotten.  It had been so long since I spent an hour in prayer, all at one time, dedicated with no interruptions, that I had forgotten what a joy it is.  

I need to be more intentional about this.  I need to be more disciplined about this.  I just need to do it.

Wandering Wise Men

In our office are three wise men who wander the hallway from the time we start Christmas decorations until Epiphany.  I've posted about them before. They were a gift from Rev. Monty Brown when he retired from active service as a minister.  When he had them, they wandered the hallway at St. Marks until Epiphany, when they gathered around the Christmas tree outside his office. 

Their path through our hallway is sometimes arduous.  Sometimes they go off the path and get lost in someone's office for the day.  The day before we left for the Christmas holiday, they ended up on a conference room table (gathered there to prevent the cleaning staff from bumping them with a vacuum cleaner).

I like the wise men.  They teach me something every year.

1. Discipleship requires patience.  They don't end up at the tree right away.  It takes weeks for their travel. And it's not very far.
2. Discipleship doesn't always follow a straight path.  Sometimes there are interruptions or mistakes, but we keep moving anyway.
3. Discipleship isn't without danger.  One of the wise men looses his head (literally) every time he moves.  Poor thing. 
4. Discipleship can begin as a gift from someone else.  Who can you help on the way today with your gift of love and grace?

When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  Matthew 2:9-10