My head is too busy. Way too much stuff going on.
I've used the word minimalist to describe our life here on Baker Rd., and indeed our approach to things for the last decade or so. When we left Michigan and that great big wonderful old home on Perry St. we decided to downsize. Not just our living space and possessions but our activities, too. We did all of that again when we retired to Baker Rd.
The word retired in the previous sentence is only partly about employment. I also use it in the sense of withdrawing to something, as in "He retired to the den to enjoy a cigar and his evening paper." We moved to the relative seclusion of Baker Rd., MoHo, and a few animals to enjoy each other's company and the simple things of life, to withdraw from the hustle and business that has become life in western culture and its preoccupation with accumulation, progress, events, and achievement.
Our life became pastoral (as in pasture not pastor). Slower, tied to the land, and unencumbered by comparison. I have plenty of tasks to do on any given day but there's a difference between mucking out a barn while goats try to jump into the wheelbarrow and filling out spreadsheets with data on things that are important because they appear on a spreadsheet. Stacking wood in the woodshed means a warm house in the winter. Administrative meetings delineate committee responsibilities.
I am NOT saying that a complex life is bad in any moral sense, just that I've discovered over the last three years how ill-suited I am for it. I like being busy but I dislike complexity. In the morning I choose between four pairs of footwear - dress shoes (very rarely worn), running shoes, work boots and rain boots. I decide if it's a day for nice blue jeans or faded and stained work jeans (good for days when there are barns to clean, compost piles to turn, or painting to be done).
I'm thinking about all of this at 3 a.m. on a Thursday morning because I'm nearing the end of my first month working at UFC. On a normal Sunday about 800 people attend the worship service, making it about six times bigger than the average of the churches I pastored. There are dozens of ministries, and I'm not just talking youth groups and women's Bible studies. The Hosea Project, LFF, Fight Club, GEMs, Camp Agape, Parks and Rec,..... These are administered by staff and a group of interns (I'm unclear how many but it's a bunch) who keep track of things on Smartsheets, have KAA's, are organized into HUBs, and attend Core and/or Trust meetings - plus do coffee in smaller groups.
UFC gets an incredible amount of ministry done and from what I've seen so far it's all good stuff. They're making a difference in the lives of the people of UFC, the Eugene area, the inmates at OSP and their families, and on and on and on.
I'm legitimately impressed. UFC is not a Bible club and it's not a social service organization. It's a church that is rooted in Scripture and living it out on the streets.
And it's complex.
Today I'll meet at 7 a.m. with Travis and then go to the church offices where I'll continue work on organizing the 30 or so small groups that meet throughout the week, finish making the slides for my class Sunday morning, and read in one of the three or four books that will help me organize and structure the ministries in my purview. But when I come home I'll build a fire, take Buddy for a walk, make sure the goats and chickens have food in their respective feeders, maybe clean out the muddy goat barn, and maybe bake some cardamon toast.
"Green acres is the place for me, farm living is the life for me...."
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