Today...

Today was a gift:  it was a hassle and a blessing, a time of encouragement as well as confusion, a series of pastoral encounters that are pregnant with great potential as well as a number of all too ordinary moments that seem disconnected and random - in a word, it was a day of slipping in and out of sacred consciousness. Literally, there was both rain and sunshine in the Berkshires today - sometimes at the same time - and that gets at the truth, yes? It was neither frustration nor exuberance; it was, rather, both/and - and sometimes at the same time, too.

+ The day began with quiet reflection and prayer only to discover that more time had evaporated than I thought. So, rushing out the basement door to the car I found myself unexpectedly covered in a spider's web. Ugh!  So on the drive to church I was certain I was being bitten repeatedly (I wasn't) as I tried to pull the stands off my face, eye glasses and hair.

+ I interviewed a person for our Christian Education position who holds great potential and then randomly visited with 3 different folk from the congregation all of whom just happened to stop by for some unplanned and unexpected pastoral conversations. All these conversations - planned and serendipitous - were times of connecting with love and respect. 

+ As I was getting ready to leave for a lunch meeting, my wife reminded me she needed a ride (our second car needs repair) so... I rushed to get her sine lunch and off to work with my lunch appointment tenderly riding in the back seat of the Subaru. THEN, after the rushing, we had a great visit and did some planning for a new intergenerational worship time on each 5th Sunday of the month.  As the father of two small boys - two of my favorite children in the world - this, too was a rich time.

+ But then there were stewardship details to work on, bulletins to review, liturgies to write, phone calls to return, emails to read and newsletters to construct: the work of administration drives some pastors nuts, but I have come to see it as times to listen and visit with folks from my church.  In fact, often the "work" is just a way to spend time listening - and that happened in spades today as I heard about children and worries, economic uncertainty and taking care of aging parents and a whole lot more.  Small wonder that by late afternoon I found myself falling asleep only to be awakened 20 minutes later by the phone with an unknown name on the caller ID. But it turned out to be my buddy, Andy, asking if I wanted to join he and his spouse for Indian food - yet another unexpected blessing.

+ Finally it was off to choir practice - our new Music Director started today and I want to support him and sing in the new choir - so it was back into the fold when I really wanted to retreat. One of the things I have come to love about choir practice is just hanging with the folks - making jokes in the men section, encouraging and listening to the sopranos and altos, being a part of the whole - and tonight was 2 hours of great practice and serious music making.  It did my soul good to share in all of this and we even practiced the up-coming Sunday hymns in parts!

I am careful these days not to get too busy - trapped in the trappings as my old mentor, Ray Swartzback, used to say - because ministry for me at this stage in life is about relationships: my connection with the congregation, my connection with God and the places where they overlap.  As I began noting, often this intersection is paradoxical:  unplanned encounters, mundane tasks to keep the community going, times of quiet reflection or shared suppers and choir practice.

The poet, Mary Oliver, often captures this truth with beauty and grace. In the poem, "The Uses of Sorrow," she writes:

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)Someone I loved once gave me
A box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
That this, too, was a gift.

Tomorrow the kids from Brooklyn come for a visit - and daughter number two from just over the mountain will visit, too.  It makes my heart sing to just hand with them all and I look forward to this soul food, too.  And then worship on Sunday...

All of this makes sense to me as today comes to a close...