This is a typical week in the life of a pastor. I had a fairly large funeral yesterday which meant that I needed to work most of the day. The constant process of developing financial priorities for our congregation means that our office isn’t staffed on Mondays, which wasn’t a problem, but also meant that I had to be responsible for answering the phone, and taking care of some administrative details that otherwise would have been handled by others. Monday is my usual day off, but pastors need to be flexible, and there is nothing unusual about needing to work on my day off - that is part of the business of serving people. Grief doesn’t follow my schedule. Needs aren’t always doled out in regular doses.

This week is also newsletter week and our goal is to have the print copy of our newsletter running by this evening so it can be mailed tomorrow. The electronic version should be distributed before I go to bed today.

Wednesday is our first major planning meeting with our new choir director. Our full staff will be looking at the texts and music plans for the fall season. Along the way we need to establish worship and working styles that incorporate a new staff member. Wednesday is also the monthly meeting of the Department of Stewardship and Budget. Our budget has been performing well this year and I don’t anticipate any crises, but the finances of a congregation the size of ours our sufficiently complex that it is good to have a group of people looking at financial reports with an eye to possible problems. It takes energy for me to read the reports and be prepared for questions and concerns that might arise.

There is another important meeting on Thursday and I have a wedding rehearsal on Friday and a wedding on Saturday and next week is Vacation Bible School with activities each day. You get the picture. Here it is summer - a time when I often anticipate a slowing of activities at the church - and I’m looking at June 22 - nearly two weeks away - as the first possible day for my next full day off. I’m not sure why I have such a problem being faithful to the commandment about considering the sabbath, but it does seem to be a challenge to me.

I think that we all have challenges with the management of time. It may be one of the burdens of this particular era that we have so many options of things to occupy our time that we find ourselves feeling pressure. Of course it could be argued that we have more time than previous generations. Our life expectancy is longer than was the case generations ago. I have already outlived my father - I have already received more time than he had. So there is really nothing to complain about - I’ve been given an ample amount of time. The problem isn’t “too little time.”

Still it seems to be a struggle for me and I observe that it is a struggle for many other people in the church.

What seems to be part of the issue is that there are a lot of undone things in my life at the moment. I have long said that part of the art of being pastor in a congregation the size of ours is learning to go home with your work undone. There are always more calls that should be made, more visits that could be made, more administrative tasks that need to be done. Each day is a matter of developing priorities and deciding what is most important. Some chores fall “between the cracks” and never are accomplished.

Sometimes my failure to do certain tasks is very good for the congregation. Sometimes my involvement in all of the church’s activities is perceived as micromanagement. Volunteers sometimes like to be given more freedom and responsibility in their activities. Sometimes allowing others to do work and learning to delegate certain responsibilities allows their ministries to grow and expand. I’m hoping that is the case with the current capital funds drive, which seems to be going in fits and starts. Much is accomplished some weeks. Then it seems to simmer with no visible action other weeks. I keep thinking that it is my job to keep the spark going and to keep people on task, but perhaps it is one of those church projects that needs to move at its own pace. I had envisioned that our roof would be under construction by now, but that prediction appears to be about 90 days off. I am trying not to worry about cash flow as there is a real difference between pledges and cash in hand, but sometimes when it appears that no one else is worrying, I feel a need to get concerned. On the other hand this may well be a situation where allowing the congregation to move at its own pace is better than pushing too hard.

I need to keep reminding myself that what we do best is mission and worship. Outreach and worship are the heartbeat of our congregation. Others may shine at planning and administration. There are congregations that are better at raising big dollars for buildings and grounds. That isn’t our role in our community and that isn’t the primary goal of our congregation. We are here to serve by providing meaningful funerals and weddings and regular worship services that are thoughtful and faithful and filled with music and opportunities for our people to participate. That is what we do well. We are here to serve others by supporting the feeding program in our Costa Rica sister church, providing firewood for our Woodchuck partners, making meals for the mission, sustaining our jail ministry, organizing for Love, Inc. That is what we do well. That is why we exist.

God will provide for the administration. God has blessed us with generous people who will keep the building painted and a roof over our head.

When it comes to time I need to remind myself that the Spirit is moving through the decisions I make. The constant prioritizing and making decisions about how to invest time is a part of God helping me to discover what is really most important.

Some lessons take a lifetime to learn.

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