Sneaking in a paddle
18/03/14 05:17
There is a lot going on in our community. The process of saying good bye to one member of our congregation involves a family prayer service last night, a committal this morning and and a funeral this afternoon. There is another funeral tomorrow morning. I take funerals very seriously. They are definitely once-in-a-lifetime moments for grieving families. I am careful to coordinate with musicians and other leaders so that nothing is left to question. I conduct funerals from manuscript to decrease the possibility of mis-speaking during the event. And funerals take a lot of energy. In a congregation the size of ours, I do not work alone. There are others who assume leadership roles and if something were to happen to me, others would step in and take over. Still each funeral seems to me to be a unique opportunity for ministry and I enjoy the challenge of working with diverse families and opening the doors of the church to people who don’t have much religious experience.
People who have almost nothing else to do with the church still turn to the church for funerals. There are a few who chose to do their own thing, but the vast majority of folks want the services of the church at the time of the death of a loved one. It is an opportunity for entrance to the church for some who have been on the outside and re-entry for some who have drifted away. Even if it had no impact on the on-going membership of the congregation, it would be worth our best efforts because we have a chance to serve people that we don’t often get to serve.
As such, funerals demand a lot of energy. When I officiate at a funeral, I am very tired by the end of the ceremony. I used to say that a funeral was all that I was able to do in any given day, but life isn’t paced around my convenience and there are often times when other duties such as meetings, cannot be scheduled and need to be undertaken even when i am tired. Then of course, there are other funerals. Each deserves equal attention, time and focus.
The key for me, however, is not just focus and hard work. It has taken me a long time to learn that there are times when just focusing on work and spending more and more time immersed in work make me less, not more, efficient. There are times when the way to get the most work done is to take some time away from work to allow my mind and body to recharge. It is one of the ten commandments: “Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.” The commandment goes on to say that taking a day for rest is built into the very nature of creation. God rested on the seventh day of creation. It is also a reminder, that we often become so puffed up with pride that we think that we can do more than God. We try to make ourselves more important that we really are. Not honoring the sabbath is, among other things, an act of idolatry.
But try finding a day off in the midst of the life of a busy congregation!
So I am learning to take part of a day when the whole day is not available. I took an hour on Sunday to take a walk. And yesterday I went paddling in the morning. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the snow falling outside this morning. There is a fresh, white blanket on everything and the snow is still coming down. The forecast says it might snow as much as 4 inches before the clouds blow off to the east and the day warms to about 50 degrees. We do live in South Dakota.
Since the reservoirs in the hills are sill filled with ice, I paddled on Canyon Lake, a small reservoir in town that is quite shallow and through which rapid creek is kept flowing at a pretty good pace. I don’t often paddle in that lake because it is very small. Even though I paddle small boats and like small lakes, there is only so many times you can paddle around the same lake without having a sense that you’ve done it before. A second reason I don’t paddle in that lake often is that it is surrounded by a busy park and so lacks some of the sense of getting out and away from others.
Still, there were interesting ice patterns along the shore and the geese and ducks were having quite a day on the lake. My paddle gave me an opportunity to watch the geese, who raised quite a ruckus at my presence, and complained very loudly as they paddled or flew away from me as I made my way around the lake.
There are a lot of geese at the lake. Not long ago, feeding the geese was encouraged and many people enjoyed tossing food to the geese. Feeding encouraged more geese to hang out at the lake and pretty soon there were so many geese that they created problems. They now discourage feeding the geese, but those who hang around the lake all winter long have a pretty easy life. There is plenty of nearby food and the lake keeps open water most of the winter. The cycles of the population of geese, like other birds, are dependent on factors over a wide area. The number of geese is affected by the amount of summer nesting habitat, places for feeding along the route of migration and populations of geese in other areas that spend part of the year in close proximity to the geese in our area. There have been many efforts to control the population of geese that have not had the desired results. I recently read that the geese population in South Dakota is about double the desired amount. Hunting does not seem to have had a significant impact on population.
I have no expertise on how many geese are too many. For yesterday, they were entertainment and a distraction from the busy days that lie ahead. It was good to paddle and to share the lake with the geese. Images of geese will give me a way to take a short break in the midst of the busyness as the week progresses.
People who have almost nothing else to do with the church still turn to the church for funerals. There are a few who chose to do their own thing, but the vast majority of folks want the services of the church at the time of the death of a loved one. It is an opportunity for entrance to the church for some who have been on the outside and re-entry for some who have drifted away. Even if it had no impact on the on-going membership of the congregation, it would be worth our best efforts because we have a chance to serve people that we don’t often get to serve.
As such, funerals demand a lot of energy. When I officiate at a funeral, I am very tired by the end of the ceremony. I used to say that a funeral was all that I was able to do in any given day, but life isn’t paced around my convenience and there are often times when other duties such as meetings, cannot be scheduled and need to be undertaken even when i am tired. Then of course, there are other funerals. Each deserves equal attention, time and focus.
The key for me, however, is not just focus and hard work. It has taken me a long time to learn that there are times when just focusing on work and spending more and more time immersed in work make me less, not more, efficient. There are times when the way to get the most work done is to take some time away from work to allow my mind and body to recharge. It is one of the ten commandments: “Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.” The commandment goes on to say that taking a day for rest is built into the very nature of creation. God rested on the seventh day of creation. It is also a reminder, that we often become so puffed up with pride that we think that we can do more than God. We try to make ourselves more important that we really are. Not honoring the sabbath is, among other things, an act of idolatry.
But try finding a day off in the midst of the life of a busy congregation!
Since the reservoirs in the hills are sill filled with ice, I paddled on Canyon Lake, a small reservoir in town that is quite shallow and through which rapid creek is kept flowing at a pretty good pace. I don’t often paddle in that lake because it is very small. Even though I paddle small boats and like small lakes, there is only so many times you can paddle around the same lake without having a sense that you’ve done it before. A second reason I don’t paddle in that lake often is that it is surrounded by a busy park and so lacks some of the sense of getting out and away from others.
Still, there were interesting ice patterns along the shore and the geese and ducks were having quite a day on the lake. My paddle gave me an opportunity to watch the geese, who raised quite a ruckus at my presence, and complained very loudly as they paddled or flew away from me as I made my way around the lake.
I have no expertise on how many geese are too many. For yesterday, they were entertainment and a distraction from the busy days that lie ahead. It was good to paddle and to share the lake with the geese. Images of geese will give me a way to take a short break in the midst of the busyness as the week progresses.