What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.”
– Annie Dillard
- Dozens of states have tried to end qualified immunity. Police officers and unions helped beat nearly every bill
- New airline opens skies between Fort Collins and Southern California
- Amendment 78 addresses state spending, 98% of Kaiser employees in Colorado are vaccinated, Broncos’ Teddy Bridgewater makes steps to return
- Senate Nears Agreement to Stave Off Debt Crisis Until December
If I clicked on each of these emails, there would’ve been a dozen or so more headlines also looking for another click. If I followed them all the way through, a half-day would easily have gone by, and by then, I’d probably have noon updates from each of them.
Instead of clicking, though, I hit delete. For all of them.
Even though there was some really important and good information I’d be missing.
Even though I might be able to use some of that information for this or another Sunday’s sermon.
Even though I am interested in flying direct to Southern California!
Even though someone might ask me about one of those headlines, and now I’ll have to confess I don’t know anything (or try to act like I do).
I hit delete because I knew if I didn’t, they’d either sit in my inbox (and the back-of-my-mind) and keep me from finding the messages that really do need my attention or I’d open them and slowly forget what else I meant to do or where else I needed to give my time and attention.
Adding more information won’t strengthen relationships or sustain me through struggle. Adding more information won’t help me gain wisdom or mend what has been broken in our world.
Adding more wouldn’t actually help me get at the essence of what I want my life to be or how I am called to serve.
Life today feels like this decision-making process over and over and over. Receiving information or opportunities that are all in and of themselves good. And then trying to decide if we should “click” or “delete.” Even the deciding itself becomes a distraction and a weight – look at all those amazing headlines still trying so hard to grab us. In a time where there is so much to constantly decide, the trying-to-decide can be so exhausting.
It becomes hard to remember the essential parts of life and how to keep hold of what matters in the face of so many distractions.
This is our invitation and our shared practice for the coming weeks in our new series, Essential.
Together, we will focus on what really matters and distill our lives for meaning. We will practice hitting not just delete, but unsubscribe – without guilt or regret – on all those things that keep us from the “essential facts of life” – the essence of our own lives and of life itself.
Join us this Sunday at 8:30 am for our traditional service, 10 am for our intergenerational outdoor service, or 9 am for our Zoom service. Learn more at foothillsuu.org/sunday.
In partnership and with love,
Rev. Gretchen