In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a friend of mine posted a link to a blog entry titled Being Poor by Science Fiction author John Scaliz. I found the entry captured something important in the midst of that horrible coverage of the people suffering at the Superdome. As a result I started reading Scalzi’s Whatever blog on a regular basis. In the 8 years since I have been known to quote entries at parties and to refer to the blog in sermons. I even won a copy of Scalzi’s new book by commenting on an entry with a random number.
The other day I realized that I had not checked Whatever in quite some time. I went back to the last entry I had read and found that it had been weeks since I had been on the site. That prior visit was a long one, reading many back entries. I remembered that reading Whatever and a couple of other blogs were part of what I did when I was in my office. In between writing sermons and updating the church website I’d take a few minutes and cruise the web. It’s the fine art of procrastinating at work. And I don’t do it anymore. It’s not that the content of the blog has changed, but the content of my life has. I’m no longer sitting in my office in an empty church working away at the computer for long stretches of time. I’m usually only on the computer for specific tasks or to play Candy Crush while we watch tv.
Scalzi’s blog is a good thing. It’s something I enjoyed and that I used in positive ways in both my work and in my life. I haven’t let go of it because it’s no longer a good thing, it just doesn’t fit the current rhythm of my days. This made me think, of course, about our new start. The church traditions and forms we aren’t using are not bad or unhelpful. They just don’t fit the rhythms of the population we’re in ministry with. Sometimes it can feel like the cessation of a tradition is an impeachment of that tradition. In reality we follow a creative, transforming God that calls us to new rhythms and expressions of life.
I’m sure that I’ll keep reading Whatever on occasion. And I’m sure that a year from now I’ll be engaged with things I haven’t even heard about yet. Thank God for the variety of life and for our ability as people to allow some things to fade away while others become more focused.
-E
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| My old workstation |
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