Pastoral Message + On the Ordering of Our Days Week of the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost November 16, 2022
Pastoral Message + On the Ordering of Our Days
Week of the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
November 16, 2022
Dear People of God at Faith-La Fe!
I’m only into the third month of my pastorate in our congregation, but I am delighted to share with you that I now have a daily routine that combines in salutary ways the pastoral, parental, and personal dimensions of my life. Thanks be to God. If you’re like me, you thrive on a sense of stability and good order in your days with routines that make for comparative balance among the dimensions of your life’s calling. One of the most stressful aspects of the move from Virginia to Arizona was the obviously necessary undoing of what had been my predictable routines. And it took some many weeks to rebuild such a routine here in Phoenix, especially since this involved locating, financing, closing on, and moving into a condo. But now things have fallen into place once again for a stable and predictable set of patterns in my life with its multiple dimensions. It’s all very satisfying.
For the sake of transparency, I want to share with you the basic parameters of my daily routines, because as members of the congregation, I believe that you have a right to know, broadly speaking, how I spend my time as a pastor called to lead and to serve at Faith-La Fe.
But before I share with you my current approach to time management, I want to engage, as is my custom, in a little teaching moment informed by monastic spirituality. All monastic communities live according to a rule. For most monasteries in the Western Church tradition, that source of discipline and accountability is the Rule of St. Benedict that dates from the sixth century. In this rule, a booklet of many short chapters, all aspects of monastic life are comprehensively outlined resulting in a way of ordering days that is very humane, very balanced – something very difficult to achieve these days in our normally busy, scattered, demanding, and complicated lives. But seeking balance makes for the good life in the Benedictine tradition.
Whether we are aware of it or not, each one of us lives according to some sort of rule, a set of habits and routines, some required by our circumstances, others chosen in our relative freedom. And I’ll bet that most of your days more or less follow similar patterns. An opportunity before us is to become more consciously aware of our routines and habits toward arranging those habits, the rule of our life, in ways that nurtures the greatest balance which in turn is the good soil for greater health and wholesomeness for us and for those in our care. Even altering our patterns just a little bit can restore a greater sense of balance that can contribute significantly to our quality of life.
In one of the courses I took as part of my doctoral program, we were given instructions to write our own rule of life, that is, to name the things we would pledge to do to deepen our spiritual journeys. But before we undertook that assignment, we were asked first to describe what already were our usual routines. What I discovered in my review of my habits is that most everything was already in place for a healthy life in the walk of faith. The problem was that certain features of my routines far outweighed, took more time and energy, than other aspects of my life, thus, throwing things out of balance and keeping me off kilter and thus more stressed out. So, my rule of life was really about recalibrating what I was already doing, giving more time and attention to certain routines and less of the same to other things I did on a daily basis.
I encourage you all to take stock of your habits for the sake of your health and well-being as you make your life’s journey in faith in God as you seek to follow Christ. Write down what you normally do on a daily basis, and then consider what you might add and subtract, or at least fine-tune in such a way that restores your equilibrium. We have more control over our days and schedules – at least in terms of a few minutes here and there – than we realize. Again, a little bit of alteration can go a long way toward your sense of holistic well-being.
So, with this teaching moment as a background and foundation, and with my encouragement to you to take stock of your daily habits, here is what my days look like as I seek to balance the claims of vocational responsibilities as a pastor, as a parent, and simply as a person apart from other claims and duties.
Early to Mid-Morning: this is personal time in my condo for morning prayer, a healthy breakfast, a bit of exercise – usually yoga stretches and now that it’s cooler, on my better days, a walk – while getting ready for the day, and attending to domestic needs as a new homeowner.
Mid-Morning to Mid-Afternoon: this part of my day is centered on my pastoral responsibilities, generally focusing on time in the church office Monday-Thursday. It’s during this time that I attend to administrative responsibilities as a pastor, to writing and preparations for bible studies and sermons. This time also includes pastoral engagements with you in person, on the phone, via email. Likewise, this time involves meetings with others in the congregation or wider church – in person, via Zoom, or off campus.
Mid-Afternoon to Early Evening: this is when I am focused as a father on my son, picking him up from school and then taking him to his primary residence at his mom’s place. During this time, Nathan is typically occupied with doing homework. When he’s engaged with schoolwork, I’ll generally do some more church work on my laptop. A lot of times, we’ll then have an evening meal together.
Evenings: this part of the day involves meetings at church and other occasions related to my churchly calling (normally two to three times a week); evenings can also include additional time spent with Nathan; or evenings can open up horizons for time at home with my cats….
Weekends: Fridays are my sabbath time when I generally don’t schedule church-related activities. Saturdays are a mix of pastoral, parental, or personal time depending on the circumstances. Sundays, obviously, are focused on my pastoral duties at church, but mid to late afternoons and evenings may also provide some sabbath and personal time as well.
These basic routines make for a compelling sense of balance in my life and they cultivate a good quality of life for me that gives adequate time and attention to the pastoral, parental and personal dimensions of my calling.
Again, that you may also pursue a balanced life, I encourage you to take a good, long look at your routines, particularly if you feel stressed out or overwhelmed or simply off balance. What in your days might be modified to make for your greater well-being in Christ?
Moreover, I offer myself to you as pastor and a spiritual guide should you wish to engage with me in conversation about your own life and habits and routines. Please seek me out for such conversation if you would find that helpful and meaningful. I’m happy to offer whatever wisdom I can muster concerning your own approaches to a balanced “rule of life.”
With prayerful best wishes for the good order of your days that you may in life-giving ways undertake the work that God has entrusted to you in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Pastor’s Office Phone Number: 602-265-5860
Email: pastor@faithalive.com
Announcements
Day for a Lutheran Refresher Course – for All of Us and Prospective New Members
Everyone – and especially those who wish to become members of Faith-La Fe – plan to join us on Saturday, December 10 beginning at 10:00 am for a day of getting reacquainted with the basics of the Lutheran tradition by worshipfully engaging themes of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (a devotional work that is decidedly NOT just for kids!). Our day will follow the patterns of Sunday worship, and we’ll do together the things that the Small Catechism teaches – remember our baptism, explore in conversation the Ten Commandments and the Creed, pray and deeply engage the Lord’s Prayer, share in Holy Communion, have lunch, blessed by one of Luther’s table prayers, and more. During lunch we’ll have occasion to get to know each other better and share why being a member at Faith-La Fe is so desirable. After lunch, we’ll talk about ministry and mission opportunities and activities on offer at Faith-La Fe. We’ll conclude our time by about 2:30. Again, this is a day for everyone, but also those who feel drawn to join our congregation. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend.
Volunteers Needed to Provide Food for Coming Social Occasions!
Thanks be to God, we have new and renewed opportunities to be together in Christian fellowship over food! Which also means that we need additional people to sign up to volunteer to provide such things as soup and bread for our Advent Wednesday Midweek Soup Suppers and goodies for C-Time between the Sunday morning worship services as well as food for Convivio after the 11:00 am service.
Signup sheets are available to you on the bulletin board in the breezeway outdoors near the entrance to the courtyard and nave.
Looking to Advent and Christmas
Mark your calendars now and await further descriptive word about the upcoming events for Advent and Christmas:
Wednesday evenings in Advent – Soup Dinner at 6:00 pm with Worship at 7:00
November 30 – St. Andrew, Apostle
December 7 – St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
December 14 – Advent Lessons and Carols presented by the Chancel Choir
December 21 – La Posadas, with dinner following worship
Saturday, December 10 beginning at 10:00 am – Lutheran Refresher Day for All and for Prospective New Members
Sunday, December 11 at 7:00 pm – Celebrating the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Saturday, December 24 at 7:30 pm (with special prelude music beginning at 7:00 pm) – Christmas Eve Worship in English
Sunday, December 25 at 9:00 am (in English) and 11:00 am (in Spanish) – Worship on Christmas Day
Wednesday, December 28 at 7:00 pm – Observance of “Blue Christmas” also commemorating The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Friday, January 6 at 7:00 pm – A Casual Social and Prayerful Gathering on the Feast of the Epiphany
Sunday, January 8 at 9:00 am (in English) and 11:00 am (in Spanish) – Baptism of Our Lord
An Additional Counter Team Desired
Many hands make lighter work. For that reason, and for the fact that best practices call for counting and depositing our offerings weekly, we are seeking additional volunteers to serve as a second team of those who count and then deposit our weekly offerings. Those interested will be given appropriate training. Please speak to Treasurer, Dave Hulin, if you feel drawn to this particular service, or otherwise might be talked into it!
Faith Community Garden – Gardeners Invited!
If any member wants to claim some garden space to grow your own fresh vegetables, please contact Gail Turner (gmturner0123@aol.com) or Jan Hulin (janhulin@cox.net) for details…the gardens are ready!”
Arizona Charitable Giving Tax Credit
A member of Faith/La Fe reminds us that the state of Arizona offers tax credits ($400 for single filers and $800 for joint filers) for charitable contributions to 501 (c)(3) organizations. Here’s a link for further information: lss-sw.org/donate