not exactly a quiet week...

In deference to one of my spiritual heroes, Garrison Keillor, it has not exactly been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, or, as we call it, Charlotte. There is an emerging consensus among clergy friends and leaders in the church that almost everything that does happen takes place in about an eight week span of time; for example,

• the fall stewardship campaign
• World Communion Sunday
• The CROP Walk
• Nominations
• Assimilation of information about every conceivable denominational initiative for the appropriate denominational oversight group
• Staff evaluations
• Charge Conference preparation
• All Saints
• Planning for Advent

I am not complaining, merely observing that these all occur, at least in our little patch of garden, simultaneously. My salvation, I must confess, has been the presence of Jeremiah in the recent lectionary readings: God's knowledge of us prior to birth (1), the balm in Gilead (8), the potter and the clay (18), and upcoming reflections on the command to seek the shalom of the city (29) and the promise of a new covenant relationship (31).

In a season such as this the Bible really is of immense help, and I find that life in general is much better when I open it and listen to what it is saying to me...