February 2022
When I began woodworking, one of the things that surprised me was exactly how much time you spend making and maintaining tools. If you are preparing to build, say, a kitchen table, you might spend the better part of an hour making a jig to help cut tapers into the legs. That's on top of switching blades in saws to make the desired cuts or sharpening and maintaining the array of hand tools you will need to complete the job. Jen and I are preparing to build a bookshelf, and so I've found much of my free time lately has been given over to sharpening, organizing, and preparing.
From the outside, this may seem like a waste of time. How long is too long, spent on preparation? How important is it to have sharp, clean, well-functioning tools? Come to think of it: why even bother building a bookcase in the first place? There is an Ikea not too far away. Wouldn't that be easiest?
The process of building by hand is not simply to achieve a goal. It is to understand, and find satisfaction, in each step along the way. It would be faster, and easier, to buy pre-made shelves. But the level of enjoyment I receive each time I enter the room they are in, each time I look for a particular book, and the overall feeling of contentment would be absent. All of the arduous, time-consuming steps contribute to those feelings, which cannot be achieved without them.
This month is a “tool preparation” time in the church. We will meet for our Annual Meeting on Sunday, February 13th, to discuss the business of the year to come. We will vote in a new slate of officers, who will guide our boards and committee in new ways. We will look at the challenges of the coming year and see how best we might meet them.
Similarly, our Bylaw Review Committee has been hard at work, examining the rules which govern our common life, and what impact they have on our structure and mission of a church. Like sharpening a chisel, it may seem like what we hold in our hands is “good enough:” that we needn't contribute to its upkeep and maintenance. But, like a freshly sharpened tool, accurate and adequate bylaws are preparation for the task as hand and will ease the effort of all our undertakings.
As we continue through the month of February, and all that it holds, we draw ever closer to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Those weeks leading up to Easter are a time when we take on the serious work of examining our hearts and souls. May this time of preparation -through worship, prayer, study, and song- make us all the more ready to face the journey ahead.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jon