Summer Goals

Well, it's June. June in Illinois is a lot different from June in New Jersey. In Illinois, school is out. Kids are looking forward to May because graduation is in May. The school work ends in May. June is all summer. In New Jersey, graduations are in June. Finals are in June. School ends in June. The last week of June is summer is the first full month of summer is actually July. Of course school has ended for me in May since starting college, but I still have that mentality that summer doesn't really start until the public schools let out in June.

I don't actually like summer. I know, weird, right? I appreciated time off from school, but I'm not a fan of heat. I am a fan of swimming and I plan on doing a lot of swimming this summer.

And applying lots of sun screen. Lots and lots and lots of sunscreen.

But I have other goals this summer. I'm about a week away from my ten-month anniversary of being in this church and as I start looking two months ahead to my yearly review, I'm setting some summer goals to get me there.

1) Read more. I didn't do a whole lot of reading this past year even though I bought a ton of books. I think part of it had to do with the culture shock of not having to read. In seminary, you're given a reading list that increases the amount of paper you own exponentially. And I can't remember any week of seminary where I got every single word read that I was supposed to read. So getting out of seminary it was like, "Wait...I don't have to have anything read by this weekend!" Over the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to read more. I even bought a kindle this past week. The kindle serves two purposes: first, I can upload sermons and worship plans to it so I'm hoping to save the church a lot of paper. Second, I can put multiple books on one source and not bring a library home with me when I go on vacation. And oh won't it be awesome on the plane!
But I do want to read more. And I want to read things about topics I don't usually read about. Currently I'm working through two books. I'm reading "They Like Jesus But Not the Church" by Dan Kimball, which is a look at why emerging generations (twenty-somethings) love Jesus but cringe when you ask them what they think about the church. As a pastor who falls into that age group, it's an interesting read. The other book I'm reading is very much outside of what I consider my "reading culture norm." It's called "Acts of Faith: The story of an American Muslim, the struggle for the soul of a generation" by Eboo Patel and it's about his work striving for a culture that embraces interfaith relations. I don't have a whole lot of interaction with people outside the Christian faith. I'm in what Dan Kimball calls in his book the "Christian bubble." Which leads me to my second goal.

2) To make more friends outside of the church. It took me 10 months, but I'm starting to get to the point where I'm hungry for something outside of my apartment and outside of my church. I'm not even necessarily looking for Christian friends or "churchy" friends. I want to go to concerts and hang out with people who aren't going to ask me about things coming up at the church. I have a couple of friends from the church who treat me more like a friend and less like a pastor and I love that, but I'm hungry for more community within the community, or even in the city across the river.

3) Use my gym membership. The thing about a year-long contract at a gym is that you're stuck paying for it whether you utlitize it or not. As gas tips over the $4 range (again! ugh.) it seems like it makes sense to use what I pay for. And since the temperatures outside are not going to be very forgiving this year -- though I will be in the pool a lot! -- I plan on going to the gym a couple times a week to make up for it. Besides: I can make friends at the gym who aren't connected to my church.

4) Pray more. I've been doing a little soul searching and the fact of the matter is, I don't have much of a prayer life. I admit that freely to you as a pastor. I pray in church when we pray corporately and occassionally I'll mention a few things to God in passing, but I don't really have a disciplined spiritual life. So this summer I'm going to spend a lot of time working on my own spiritual health so I'm better equipped to guide the spiritual health of my church. It was nice to be at the retreat center and do the labyrinth, but what does spiritual health for me look like now that I'm back in my routine (albeit a summer routine)? That's the kind of self-exploration I'm doing this summer.

In January, I told you my New Year's Resolution was to live more simply. I think I've been doing that in some ways. No, I'm not taking shorter showers, but I'm being a lot more cautious about spending. I'm shopping less. I'm simplifying my schedule and taking more time out for myself. But I haven't, by any means, broken any glass ceilings. There's always room for more simplification (is that even a word?). Hopefully by working towards my four summer goals, the result is that I put more effort into working towards my ultimate New Year's goal.

What are you hoping for this summer? Do you have a reading list or a vacation list? Does it feel like you're already tired of summer because you know all you'll be doing is running around from one activity to another? Do you need to do a "faith check in" to see how, six months into the year, you're faring in your relationship with God this year?

I wish you all the best and most of all, I wish you peace.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki