This also comes under the heading, “what am I thinking?”  Actually, my brain and heart are filled with gratitude–gratitude to you for your loving care of me, not just during my illness but during the entire 13 years I have been here.  And, gratitude to God for leading me to such a rich and fulfilling vocation.  And, gratitude to my family for supporting me, putting up with me and loving me too.  As Arlo Guthrie would say, “some trip!’

Yesterday I was driving south on I-5 toward the center of the city and was reminded of feelings that I had 13 years ago.  I began my work here on March 1, 1995, so the season helps to recall those days and I can’t honestly say where the time has gone.  I know that is a cliche but I feel it today at a very deep level.  Perhaps the feeling is deep because I am otherwise unsteady. I’m not sure what to expect but have some ideas about that and I know it will be a mixture of joy and sadness.  I find myself needing to connect to thoughts and feelings from other parts of my life–connect to find more stability.  This morning as I was driving to church I heard the theme song from “A Man and a Woman.”  The film was released in 1966 and Judy and I saw it in Beirut.  Suddenly I was driving (n my mind) down the main street of Sidon, Lebanon where we lived and it was amazing to feel myself reaching back to a time even before I went to seminary.  That’s how it is today.

Many have asked about my health.  It is actually quite good. I needed that surgery and feel much better today than I have for some time.  Again, I have been blessed.

Forty years ago—my mind keeps shifting back to try to capture what life was like then.  And, once again, I am deeply impressed by memories of blessings during those forty years and the contrast between the magnitude of uncertainty about vocation then and the blessing that ministry has become to me—thanks in large part to the people I am with today – Perk, Judy, you all!

5:30 am – coffee and get ready for Sunday worship

8:00 am  arrive at church and meet with Peter to go over the worship bulletin one more time.

9:00 am rehearse with the child who will be reading our call to worship.

9:30 am rehearse with the Getting Serious Band and the choir for this morning’s anthem

10:00 am – worship.  I am preaching

11:00 am greet people following worship then go to the forum about our vision and staffing plans for our future.

12:45 – we take Perk out to lunch.

The ride to Wenatchee is shared with Peter Ilgenfritz and Dave Shull and two members of the congregation where Dave is preaching currently in Sammamish. I don’t say much because my thoughts are scattered. This meeting we are going to is so important: greeting the candidate for conference minister and voting on his candidacy as well as the opportunity to greet member of other congregations in the conference. The week has been so dense that I fear I won’t be as sociable as I would like to be. And that was the way it was. I was eager to get back home because Don Purkey (Perk) would be there for dinner and I wanted to be really present for our evening together with Judy and Mary.

Today I will drive to Wenatchee for a special meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ to elect a new conference minister.  I plan to leave home by 10 and get back around 5:30.

(Friday is my day off)

5:30 – Up for coffee before I go to the gym

9:00 – 11:’’ meeting with Rabbi Ted Falcon and Jamal Rahman at Ted’s office in Lake City about the November programs of Interfaith Talk Radio.  Also to hear about the project I described in my Thursday log.

When this is over I take the rest of the day off.

What was I thinking? I have truly enjoyed my meeting with Earl’s colleague Rick at North Seattle Community College. We are thinking of the question “What does it mean to be a man in the wake of the changes that have been experienced by women since 1964 when Betty Friedan changed the world with her book, “The Feminine Mystique.”  Since my career (and I’m thinking of the past forty years since my first sermon in Franklin Lakes) has been framed in part by uncertainty about what it means to be a man. Much of the uncertainty has been a source of vitality for me and has certainly influenced my ministry, especially with men.  How do men understand Psalm One for example?  How do men understand I Corinthians 13?

5:30 a.m.  Today my meditation time is spent thinking about the readings from Psalm One and from I Corinthians 13 that will be read this Sunday in worship as the basis for my sermon.  I am aware that I have a narrow window today to rewrite the sermon and get it ready for Sunday so I arrive at the church by 8:15

8:15 Today I want to check my email and voicemails first because I’m uncertain about when I might be able to do that later.

9:00 I reread my sermon manuscript and go over it with a red pencil making edits and a few shifts in paragraphs. By 10, I feel it is ready for Sunday.

10:00 I receive a phone call (previously arranged) from a man who is working on a project to make the essentials of Judaism, Christianity and Islam accessible to all the people in the Middle East. This project has exciting possibilities and Ted and Jamal and I will be meeting briefly with him tomorrow morning.

11:00 – This is my weekly meeting with David Anderson where we work through any problems and opportunities related to his work and to mine.

12:00 The worship planning group is meeting today to think in broad terms about worship after Christmas and I am going for a few minutes so I can have enough information to be thinking and contribute.

1:00 I am going to meet with Earl Hamilton and a faculty colleague at North Seattle Community College about the substance of the Men’s Retreat (coming up on October 26, 27, and 28). The theme is “Who are we as men in the wake of the women’s movement that started with the publication of “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan in 1964. 

2:00 I need to check in with Peter on some issues following last Monday evening’s church council meeting.

2:30 I have a meeting at University Lutheran to hear about a project that will be led by Pastor Ron Moe-Lobeda

4:00 – I have a pastoral appointment in my office.

5:00 the Getting Serious Band is rehearsing in preparation for our first performance in worship this Sunday.

7:00 – Home by 7:45

What was I thinking? At Horizon House I am on familiar ground since I lived there the first four months I was in Seattle from March through June of 1995 before my family moved here in July.  But today, my view of this place has changed and am impressed and inspired by the desire of people there to hear more about what Ted and Jamal and I are doing.  Horizon House and places like it are great sources of vitality, full of interesting people.  This is a day when I am feeling the blessing of the continuity binding me between March of 1995 and today.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

5:30 a.m. coffee and spiritual practices. 

8:30 a.m. I have a breakfast meeting with a member of the congregation who has been ill.

10:30 I arrive at church for our Wednesday staff meeting where we work on next steps for engaging the conversation with the congregation on talking about our vision and staffing plans for the year ahead.

12:00 leave for lunch with a group of members at one of our retirement homes and then a couple of individual meetings.

3:30 return to the church building to catch up again on messages, regular mail (most of my paper mail is junk mail) and get ready for a presentation that Rabbi Ted Falcon, Brother Jamal Rahman and I are doing at Horizon House tonight. 

5:15 Ted and Jamal pick me up at 5:15 and we have dinner at Horizon House with the members of the Ethnic Awareness Committee, the group sponsoring our presentation.  After dinner in the private dining room there we move to the performance hall and Ted and Jamal and I each say a few words about who we are, about our congregations and about our interfaith work.  Once again, we realize we have too much to say and the 15 minutes at the end for questions does not seem like enough.  We stay afterward to answer further questions.  Home by 10.