I'm typing this blog post from the relative comfort of my new office. I say "relative" because there's very little in my office at this point. I have a nice chair. I have a desk. There's a phone and a copier. The walls are painted and I have ann empty bookshelf. I did move a couple extra chairs in…just in case I have to have a meeting anytime soon. It's mostly "relative" comfort because there's no heat and, with these overcast, rainy days we've had it's pretty cool in here. The hot coffee I have is nice, but I could really use a portable heater about now. (The picture with this post was taken as started to hold onto the coffee cup for warmth.)
Something momentous happened as I sat here late this afternoon, besides getting work done on our worship service for this week. I had my first interruption. It was so awesome. I was just in my office getting ready to sit down and feel like I could accomplish something and a person pulled up. He was here to pick up something from the old church and he saw me through the window. Yes, saw me through the window actually working in my office. There were some waves and I made my way out onto the front walk of the church to chat…you know…just for a while.
This was "just" a conversation. It was mostly small talk about construction and our church and some of the hurdles we've had to jump through over the last six years. He had seen our new doors and wanted to comment on them. We sat and talked. And, at a couple of points during the conversation, my mind wandered to the little bit of work I was hoping to accomplish sitting in my cold office this afternoon. But instead I had been INTERRUPTED. (Don't get me wrong. I was enjoying the conversation I was having. I truly was. But the drive to get something "more important" accomplished was bugging me…"at a couple of points during the conversation.")
This reminded me of a sermon I heard about 11 years ago down in Kenai when, over Christmas break, we had one of the college students preach. This was a smart girl who took college life quite seriously and her main illustration was how, living in a dorm, there are always so many interruptions. There's always someone coming by who wants a piece of your time, to ask a question, to play a game, to go on a road trip, to study together, to go to dinner, to take a break from studying, to chat, to bear their soul, to complain, or just to check in. Our college preacher that day said that she tried to view these interruptions as "holy" times…"holy interruptions."
After all, look how Jesus dealt with the interruptions that came his way. Notably, see how he treated the woman who touched the hem of his garment on the road. He stopped everything and addressed her and made it a holy interruption of his journey. Perhaps that's how we should view those interruptions that come our way.
Well, that got me thinking as I sat back down and finished some of the things I was hoping to get done in the "relative comfort" of my office. Today I can thank God for my first (of many) holy interruptions I'll have in ministry in this space.
May there be many more.
And may be they be holy.
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