Blog Redux

I've only been posting sermons on the blog recently, which might be incredibly boring for some of you who follow me. It has been a busy time.

I spent Thursday through Saturday of this week at out Diocesan Annual Council, a wonderful but somewhat overwhelming event, with everything from worship to gossip to merchants in  the outer courts of the temple to the business operations of one of the largest Episcopal dioceses in the country. I made the choice to stay with a friend (and her dear husband and her dear three rescue greyhounds) about a half-hour away, rather than remain in the overly energized setting of the conference hotel. It was wise, for this introvert, to be able to step away from it all. Still, it's Council: in addition to all the wonderful stuff going on there, I was appointed to head a diocesan committee, continue as dean of my region, and sit on another related committee. I'm glad to serve at the request of my bishop, whom I greatly admire and appreciate, but it's a lot. I will do my best, but it is still a lot. Sigh.

The second and third week of the month were spent at CTS, where I took a course entitled "The Pastoral Theology of Good and Evil" with the incomparable pastoral theologian Pamela Cooper-White. It was essentially a time in the hermit's cave, going to class with good classmates, eating a microwaved frozen meal in the student lounge, and reading. And reading. And reading. And writing. I'm in the midst of doing the final paper for the course (draft is up and posted) and am still chewing on much of what we discussed there.

When I went down to Georgia for the course, I was recovering from a nasty bout of the flu.Thanks to TamiFlu, Albuterol, Flonase and Advil, I am now mostly recovered, but still tire easily. I am praying this week is a relatively light one, so I can catch up on the things that I need to catch up on, like sleep.

That's the thing about this work - it's feast or famine in terms of workload, and for those of us who like a particular rhythm or pattern to our work, we are continually surprised and thrown a bit. I still work to find my own particular way of keeping my balance in the midst of the things that pop up.

Want some whine with that cheese, Mary? In the grand scheme of things, it is a small problem. But perhaps it is also an opportunity to listen for the voice of the Spirit in my discombobulation. When things are rolling along in their usual way, I am not attentive. So speak, Spirit. I'm suitably disoriented and ready for what you might surprise me with.