Finding Time

One of my colleagues from the East Coast asked me via Facebook, “How do you find time to blog.” Since this is only my second post, I guess I don’t know the answer to that question yet! But here is another reason why I want to blog and am hoping to turn it into a daily discipline: I miss preaching weekly.

When I left the local church to be the associate dean at Pacific School of Religion, the biggest grief I experienced (besides leaving a community I dearly loved) was preaching every week. Preaching offered me a lens through which to encounter the world. Throughout the week, I would grapple with the text, wrestling like Jacob with the angel, trying to find out where the word was taking shape and form as the Word in the world. Where was God at work, providing hope, grace, Good News? That’s what preachers get paid to do: to notice where God is at work in the world and to point it out to a group of people who gather each week, waiting and wanting to see and hear a little Good News.

Returning to the local church has meant I get to flex these spiritual muscles again. Our preaching rotation, however, means I only preach once every 3 weeks. That’s less than a weekend warrior workout! Whenever it is my turn to preach, I feel those flabby spiritual muscles groan. My vision feels cloudier than when I used to preach weekly. Where is God these days?

So my hope is that these regular posts will be a way for me to spiritually exercise. Being a Methodist, I hope to carve it into my day most methodically, like my daily gym workouts and prayer times. I figure if I can manage to box with my trainer regularly, I can box regularly with God as well.