It’s September 7th and I have no excuse. I’m finally returning to the blogosphere, but this time, I’m not using my own infrastructure. That’s right: the website I designed for myself two and a half years ago (and have subsequently redesigned every nine months) finally met its demise. No activity brought more comfort than disowning my “programmer’s identity.”
My FTE summer provided some difficult realizations about vocation, but that’s how I intended it. I realized:
- Off-camera flash batteries are the best metaphor for the way I do summer and the way I live life in general. (1)
- My computer programming world view harms my ministerial identity.Off-camera flash batteries are the best metaphor for the way I do summer and the way I live life in general. (1)
- I recognized the harm through the little things, such as using the verb “is” over and over and over in my prose. The reasoning made sense once I realized that ‘identity’ statements in programming (ones using the = sign), i.e.
string message = "Hello World!";
make up most of my syntax.
- I recognized the harm through the big things, such as the insane amount of hours I waste programming alone, which goes against an essential aspect of ministry: connecting people. I can connect more people through other efforts in technology and (GASP!!!) even personal interactions than I can with my amateur(2) programming projects.
- I recognized the harm through the little things, such as using the verb “is” over and over and over in my prose. The reasoning made sense once I realized that ‘identity’ statements in programming (ones using the = sign), i.e.
- I am called to congregational ministry as a pastor and not as an Associate of Technology and Communication Ministries. Full stop. Thank goodness Mickey Anders demonstrated this through his subtle selection of “tech” projects during my time with South Elkhorn Christian Church.
- The tension of taking too many pictures in a summer (currently at 9098) and still wishing you had good versions of certain memories is
asininefully understandable. - I have too much curiosity and I pack WAY too many suitcases to do tech. support for conferences as a full-time ministry. God has molded the perfect ministry to fit Don Wood’s vocation. Unfortunately it’s a vocation I share, but in a collection of settings I cannot share. That nuance will take months of occasional self-examination to discover the underlying reasons.
My plan for the rest of today and next week: I am compiling a couple of podcast videos that share Don’s and Mickey’s wisdom on their ministries.
Tonight I think a broke a rule; but I’m not worried since it is meant for self-protection. I went to a church meeting! Technically I’m not to begin working at my field education church until the school year starts. But we’re doing our stewardship drive for my first three Sundays … so Aimée wisely wanted me to see the entire process. Our first meeting tonight was SO productive; we were good stewards of the time — have no fears. The other five (Jim Massie, Val Birch, Mark Gault, Joanie Ward, and Aimée) are great brainstormers and even better pragmatists. The lessons from Holy Nativity are getting ready to blossom.
OH! And how could I forget? Google finally put a Search box inside of Google Reader. What took them so long? 😉
(1) More on this in a future post.
(2) This is the pejorative usage … my least favorite!
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