The Path More Traveled

Robert Frost said something like this: Two paths diverged into the woods, and I took the one less traveled and it has made all the difference."  These words have inspired me and instructed me to do things like take a light plane ride to fly around the top of Denali, to ride my bicycle across the state of Iowa, and even to follow a call into ministry.  Many times I have taken a path less traveled and found something inspiration and renewal just around the bend or rise beyond my vision.

 

However, as of late I have been thinking about the fact that for all the hoopla about these private and personal paths, I always seem to find myself ending up in the midst of community.  It is like the path I think is less traveled is actually the path everyone else is on as well, it just seems less frequented somehow until the community is revealed.  Or perhaps all paths lead home or at least back to the main road and before I know it, I am in the midst of the well worn path again moving along with fellowship and new responsibilities. 

We Americans are a fragile bunch, we need to think we are rugged indivudulalist even when we are not.  I sold my Jeep when we moved to Des Moines.  I miss it.  Even more, I miss the idea I can just cut across any old beanfield if I really needed.  Don't think the Prius rental ..., well, never mind.  The point is that I very seldom ever used the very freedom I seemed to think I needed.  Every Jeep comercial I see reminds me, as I watch a 60K SUV bounce through rivers and across rocks as if.  It is just an illusion I tell you, this need for my personal independence.  I do not need the road less taken.  Never did.

Maybe I am just getting older and this is all a part of that maturing thing.  Or maybe I am on to something and we all need to get off our rocking horses and begin to walk with each other for a mile or two.  We really need to begin to rethink the power of the connection. Being alone is never a word of creation.  The relationship is transformative.

No, these days I am into taking the road more traveled.   In the midst of the well traveled road is where life happens.  This is not about comfort, or even ease of travel.  Rather this is about being with other people.  Hard as this is to consider, even harder to believe, I need other people.  As pretty as a mountian view may be, I must find ways to share it with fellow travelers; and that has made all the diference.

What Are You Waiting For?

Waiting for the President On the Steps of the White House

Advent begins and I wonder who cares.

The word advent does not mean to wait, rather it means the begining of something. However the tradition of the church offers as we begin a new year, the first proper thing to do, is to do nothing, but wait a while.

We are instructed to pause and ponder, to consider and let the magnitude of the thing which is about to take place find it's proper rank in our to do lists. Thus the question, "What are you waiting for."

If I have considered and discerned that for which I wait, for which I hope and yearn, then I will also likely know how to best respond and which paths to choose as the year moves forward. If however, I am consumed by the events without perpective, my life may be swallowed by impuse responses with little or no connecton to anything I truely value. If the couple in the garden would have paused to consider the question and the source of the questions, I doubt they would have been so easily beguiled. I find this still true for us today. For what are you waiting? I believe the answer is a key to your happiness and your relationship with the world around you.

Are you waiting for a savior? Are you waiting for a king? Or perhaps a new Queen or princess? Are you waiting to grow? Are you waiting to survive? Are you waiting to eat or get warm. Are you waiting for shelter, or for yor ship to come in? Are you waiting on someone else, something beyond your control? Are you waiting with others or by yourself? Are you waiting in pain, in boredom, or celebration? Are you waiting for something more, something less, or perhaps just something, anything; Beuhler... .

http://www.old-picture.com/defining-moments.htm

Waiting is work. Not doing can also be understood as doing something. Waiting is doing something, and for me personally is usually quite productive. Pausing to reflect as a new season begins is a mature response to the world. And hard as this may sound, to stay young forever is not our goal, rather it is to mature, and to do so gracefully.

So I ask you, for what are you waiting? The answer defines our days.

I am Wondering

Do you eat the ice cream stuck to the bottom of the lid of the carton?
I call it lid cream.
What is it: yes or no?

"I say no way.  There is something a little strange about the ice cream stuck to the lid.  I am not touching it."

A Strong Bond
Here is a picture of my clergy accountability group for the past few years before our move to Des Moines: Larry, Tom, Dave, Dean, and we were missing Mike in the Picture. Larry died in late summer and we all miss him quite a bit. Dean was right, we never were a lectionary group. Most of our time was laughing and being too loud (Tom) for the HyVee deli on Mondays at noon. Carry on brothers, Larry would have it no other way!

Everything Changes
The Bishop called, invited Cheryl and me to Dinner. Everything changes. "Would you accept a new appointment as a Conference Superintendent assigned to the Iowa Central District." After a sleepless night I said "yes." That was late in February 2010.

I have been off the blog since, not because I have not noticed anything new or have nothing to say, rather it has been a time of learning a new place and of being quiet if not careful.

In my first few months I have learned humility is still the best ministry path; I must not take myself too seriously. Even as others do.
Because when I visit a church or sit and chat with a pastor I do so as an extension of our Bishop. What you say to me you say to the Bishop, whatever you offer me in word or action you offer to the Bishop. Some understand this. Others seem to think I am a paper pusher, someone to be tolerated, and little more. Our Book of Discipline offers the description about the important role of the Superintendent; yes it is almost beyond words, both in purpose and detail.
To represent the Bishop and bring a holy greeting from our "encourager" is a vital task.
And yet humility is the key which still unlocks the door for ministry. It always has.
And so maybe that is one thing which does not change.
Like I always say, "Not everything changes."