Beyond the horizon

With the semester about halfway through, the workload is getting a bit dicey. Even if I religiously try to keep up with my weekly assignments, what is to be done is building up undone. With due dates on these extra projects being the final class before winter break, the pressure is not really on, yet. But there is a looming end, just as I am seemingly settling in.

“There’s no time to process the things that are being thrown at us,” one student remarked this evening. A dozen or so Starr King students and spouses had gathered in the third floor kitchen and common space in my dorm to celebrate September and October birthdays. We shared pizza from Zachary’s, a Berkeley icon, green salad and birthday cake.

I was pleased that I, the one member of the class who lives in a single dorm room, could provide the room to gather. Such is the benefit of living in community. What any of us could not provide individually, the collective could provide for all.

In our threshold class today, we learned about the role of minister as pastor and were encouraged to develop an unwavering relationship with spiritual practice. The visiting professor told us of a minister who maintains a practice of memorizing and actively engaging in dialog with poetry for one hour a day.

“What do you do when you know that your day is going to be overwhelmingly busy?” one of his parishioners asked.

“Ah,” he said, “On those days, I spend two hours.”

Stephen’s email today closed with the Zen saying: “There is no cold spot in a boiling cauldron,” which is, of course, true.

The adventure continues. Be well.