I have not been sleeping well this week. Stayed up very late for no good reason a couple of nights and I'm feeling it, but keep plugging along.
Dr H
Get to talk to Dr. H today. I know it will not magically make everything different or better, but I feel good about taking the step toward self-care. I shared with my friend who's regular appt with their therapist inspired me that it had done that and I have this appointment. Friend was happy and encouraging and also said that they would recommend their person if at any point I wanted to look into someone who's local. She said the person she sees is worth the 50 minute one-way drive. Kind of like my continuing to drive 90 minutes to see Dr. H. after I had moved to my previous location.
My week...
Feel like I didn't get much accomplished yesterday even though I was there from 10 until 8:30. Spent a good amount of time on a document for a committee I'm on, so that's pretty much done and ready to be emailed (had secretary type a preliminary page from my written notes... one word... spellcheck). Also spent a good amount of time finding info and creating a handout as additional info for our adult study in case people wanted it... but only a couple people took it. So, felt a bit like wasted time - was trying to be "prepared" and give people resources, but maybe I should have spent that time on proofing bulletins, the newsletter or even... *gasp* my sermon? But once again we did have good soup, good fellowship, and learned stuff about another faith tradition. So the evening was time well spent and served its purpose. It's how I spent the afternoon that could have been different.
Colleagues & Conversation - Solving the Problems of the Church :)
After the 2nd meeting on Tuesday I had a great conversation with 2 colleagues. We all really seemed to enjoy it and need that connection, that space to relate to others and have others to bounce ideas and thoughts off of. One even mentioned that after being able to talk with another person and myself at the Ordination on Saturday and our time on Tuesday they've realizing that's something they probably need to be more intentional about doing, they miss having that group of peers around to do this with like we had in seminary. I agree, I've really benefitted from these discussions too. So there we are, standing in a hallway, trying to solve the problems of the world. :)
Okay, maybe not that grand a scope, but we did talk about things related to the future of the church, the future of our ministries, post-moderism, emergent church, and how to reach out to the unchurched. It was noted that there *should* be people out there to reach, without sheep stealing, if the polls are right and only about 20% or less of people are in church on Sunday. So if you want to adjust that for error and to include other faith traditions, you still have to think that it's likely 60% of the people around us have no spiritual home, so how to we talk to them, reach out to them, etc. We talked about how while we and other colleagues or educated laity may be able to see some holes in popular books like "The Shack", we have to realize that that may be a good starting point with these folks. And then I remembered and shared how for me the entry point book was Neal Donald Walsh's "Conversations with God," because it got me thinking about God and thinking about a God that I could actually have a conversation with. I might be talking about some of this in my sermon on Sunday, if I do, it will be in the context of the Greeks who "want to see Jesus." How do we help people to see Jesus? And they may not even be able to name it, it may look more like, "sir... we wish to see, ummmm.... something" and we have to be able to recognize that that "something" is a spiritual longing, that perhaps they've sensed that "god sized hole" and they're trying to figure out how to fill it. Anyway... I really enjoyed that conversation the 3 of us had and what it got me thinking about.
Books! My solution to everything :)
After the conversation with colleagues I made it to the bookstore to pick up the copy of "The Great Emergence" by Phyllis Tickle that I had put on hold by phone on Sunday. On the one hand maybe I should have known better than to stray into the inner sanctum of the bookstore...*laugh*, just stayed at the counter, paid for my book, and left. That way I would not have spent about $100. On the other hand I did find some good things in my wandering. And I do give myself credit... while I let myself spend a long time looking at website-creation books. I ended up *not* buying one. I did so for a couple reasons. First, I couldn't decide which would be the best/easiest to get. But also I realized that if I had the book I might be tempted to read it and go there... and I know there are more important things I need to do with my time this week. So... no books for me on websites, (x)html, or CSS.
Another small victory... While looking at books on getting rid of clutter and organizing - I tried to be wise about what I chose and what really is going to fit my current purpose, and reign in that need to learn everything about it before I do it monster. So while there were one or more books that were more complete, more detailed and I kind of liked a questionnaire, or some worksheets in 1 or 2 of those. For the moment I need to just get a start. So I got two short books that are easy to read and don't have so much information that they are overwhelming.
So, here are the books that I left the store with (and I maybe should mention that I have a couple sitting in my Amazon shopping cart that I'm thinking about ordering in the near future). Okay, the books:
The one-minute organizer, plain & simple by Smallin
10-minute clutter control room by room by Alexander
The Last Lecture by Pausch
Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson (of Who Moved My Cheese)
The Present by Spencer Johnson
Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing & Why by Tickle... and
An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor (her follow-up to Leaving Church)
Okay... I have to run so I can actually get bulletin proofed and a couple other things before my clergy group meets.
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