This actually means, "it wasn't important enough." It wasn't a high priority, fun, distracting, profitable or urgent enough to make it to the top of the list.
Every few days, Twitter and Facebook soak up a billion hours of 'spare' time. Where did that time come from? What did we do before social media was here? Weren't we busy five years ago?
Running out of time is mostly a euphemism, and the smart analyst realizes that it's a message about something else. Time is finite, but, unlike money, time is also replenished every second.
The people you're trying to reach are always recalibrating which meetings they go to, which shows they watch, which books they don't read. The solution has nothing to do with giving people more time (you can't) and everything to do with creating more urgency, more of an itch, more desire.
We are working on our mini-mission...and trying to make church 'worth the time,' so I found this little blog post of Seth Goden's very interesting. Faith is a gift, so having lots of parishioners is not up to us. It is up to God. But we can make sure that people know where we are, when we celebrate, how and why we celebrate the way we do....the past two weekends have been very, very busy but also very positive....if I can get my garage.school room, family room under control, I'll write a real post about the hopeful things that are happening!
I prefer making time, to not having enough of it. I work in parish settings, for all of a Sunday, doing the things I do (waking up early, so I can get to the parish an hour and a half before the start of it all). It wouldn't be unusual for me to be in those settings, until I get home at about 8pm or even midnight, depending on what I decide to do, thereafter. Sundays are important to me; and I make sure my work knows it,especially.
ReplyDeleteI had time but I woke up feeling icky and tired with a scratchy throat. Unfortunately, fatigue =/= good worship with Daniel so I stayed home, did the readings, and Jon brought me Communion.
ReplyDeleteThere is a clause mentioned in Basil's anaphora: pray for those who miss for good reason :)
ReplyDeleteI always go :)
ReplyDeleteI did on occasion not go to church in the past .... but since I became a priest ...
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