Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Rough... Thoughts... and a Poem
A short post to try and get back into the habit. Call it trivial chit-chat.
Rough...
Don't you just hate it when you're unwell enough to feel off (snotty nose, on-off cough, aching limb and a slow brain), but not really unwell enough to take time off? :(
Sums up today really, and the overcast skies don't help very much.
Thoughts...
Of course, having decided to share our intention of moving with the readers of this esteemed (or it is steaming?) blog, I now have to put the evolving disengagement strategy in action. To tell folks that it won't simply stop, just because I intend to no longer be here. It's actually quite possibly the best thing I could do for people, to put their service into their hands. After all, I feel quite strongly that much of our "work" should be done with an eye to making ourselves redundant.
Such a policy is not an easy one, of course, especially when we can invest so much of our self-identity and self-worth into what we do, rather then over who we can be. As much as I run shy of it, my primary priestly functions, after all, are the consecration of the Eucharist (and even then it's God who's working, not me) and the liminal "occasional offices." The joys of teaching, of leading study groups, of visiting, of being a listening ear, do not require the little piece of white plastic which slips so neatly into my shirt.
And no, I still haven't grappled with how that reduces me primarily to the role of 'management'. Perhaps part of that process of discernment is to find a way for me to be me, despite the ordination and the title of "priest?"
But since no-one else could, or should be, expected to write the report I need to do, I'd better return to it...
So lastly, a poem, in remembrance of George Herbert.
Rough...
Don't you just hate it when you're unwell enough to feel off (snotty nose, on-off cough, aching limb and a slow brain), but not really unwell enough to take time off? :(
Sums up today really, and the overcast skies don't help very much.
Thoughts...
Of course, having decided to share our intention of moving with the readers of this esteemed (or it is steaming?) blog, I now have to put the evolving disengagement strategy in action. To tell folks that it won't simply stop, just because I intend to no longer be here. It's actually quite possibly the best thing I could do for people, to put their service into their hands. After all, I feel quite strongly that much of our "work" should be done with an eye to making ourselves redundant.
Such a policy is not an easy one, of course, especially when we can invest so much of our self-identity and self-worth into what we do, rather then over who we can be. As much as I run shy of it, my primary priestly functions, after all, are the consecration of the Eucharist (and even then it's God who's working, not me) and the liminal "occasional offices." The joys of teaching, of leading study groups, of visiting, of being a listening ear, do not require the little piece of white plastic which slips so neatly into my shirt.
And no, I still haven't grappled with how that reduces me primarily to the role of 'management'. Perhaps part of that process of discernment is to find a way for me to be me, despite the ordination and the title of "priest?"
But since no-one else could, or should be, expected to write the report I need to do, I'd better return to it...
So lastly, a poem, in remembrance of George Herbert.
Anagram¶ 11:03 am
How well her name an 'Army' doth present,
In whom the 'Lord of Hosts' did pitch his tent!
