Starts & Stops
As I write to you we are wrapping up our Clergy Gathering in Michigan. This is the first time we’ve held a gathering here and we’ve had lovely seasonal weather, new connections and friendships, peer learning and more.
One of our traditional ways to end a gathering is to host a conversation called Starts & Stops. We ask, in light of the last few days, what do you need to stop doing? And, what do you need to start doing? This is always a fruitful time of discussion, vulnerability, and sometimes tears, as participants share with one another.
I wonder, as we approach the end of another summer and the calendar moves inexorably toward fall, what do you need to stop? Is it over scheduling yourself? Is it holding yourself to an impossible standard? Maybe it’s a habit you’ve carried for way too long. Only you know what you need to lay down to be a little more renewed, a little more reconciled to your own individual call to serve the risen Christ.
I also wonder what you need to start? Saying yes to your kids, or spending time with folks you love? Committing to yourself and holding boundaries? Perhaps a new spiritual discipline like praying the office or the rosary, or even seeing a therapist or a spiritual director?
I invite you to ponder this and then to share with a trusted friend or advisor so they can check in with you and see if you’ve really stopped or started. We are better together, and we belong to each other. May your starts and stops bear fruit in your life and ministry in days to come.
