This is not an ordinary post on the Work Day in A Hard Time list. \u00a0It’s a note that one year ago today appear the first post on the list. \u00a0Since that day 534 emails have come from list-members commenting on one post or another. \u00a0For me as I write the posts, this feels like a conversation, not a sermon (good as a good sermon can be). Your emails help me imagine all 1609 of you and imagine the humanity we all share.<\/p>\n
Regular post tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Have a good day,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
john sj<\/p>\n
2013, September 25 first post<\/strong><\/p>\n a work day in a hard time — from john st sj<\/strong><\/p>\n Wednesday September 25, 2013<\/p>\n Hard times — a Congress locked in venom and contempt for those with whom one must negotiate, “partisan” is a common adjective for elected officials at the national level; Detroit city caught in uncertainties about bankruptcy that stir mistrust and fear for the future; UDM negotiating a McNichols faculty contract turned acrimonious and hurtful.<\/p>\n In easy times you don’t have to be so careful about your language, you will spontaneously find playful words, wise with kindness. In hard time it helps to pay attention to word choices. I decided to choose one prayer or poem each work day for a while. Unless I screw up that plan and forget one day or another.<\/p>\n Here is today’s word, sent with much respect and affection.<\/p>\n john st sj<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. No statement says all that could be said. Ken Untener, Bishop of Saginaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is not an ordinary post on the Work Day in A Hard Time list. \u00a0It’s a note that one year ago today appear the first post on the list. \u00a0Since that day 534 emails have come from list-members commenting … Continue reading
\nThe kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
\nIt is even beyond our vision.
\nWe accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
\nOf the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
\nNothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
\nThat the kingdom lies beyond us.<\/p>\n
\nNo prayer fully expresses our faith.
\nNo confession brings perfection.
\nNo pastoral visit brings wholeness.
\nNo program accomplishes the church’s mission.
\nNo set of goals and objectives includes everything.
\nThis is what we are about:
\nWe plant seeds that one day will grow.
\nWe water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
\nWe lay foundations that will need further development.
\nWe provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capacities.
\nWe cannot do everything,
\nAnd there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
\nThis enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
\nIt may be incomplete
\nBut it is a beginning, a step along the way,
\nAn opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
\nWe may never see the end results,
\nBut that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
\nWe are the workers, not the master builder,
\nMinisters, not messiahs.
\nWe are prophets of a future not our own.
\nAmen<\/p>\n