Posted on: December 1st, 2022 Stable but not Bougie
About five months ago I decided to become the rector (i.e., senior pastor) of a funky, urban parish (i.e., church) in East Central Austin.
Today is my three month anniversary. It has been a wild twelve weeks.
As I was telling a friend last night, I’ve experienced many shifts in my being: shifts in marriage, shifts in ministry, shifts in routine, shifts in identity.
Shifts can be like waves when you are swimming in the ocean. They can be turbulent and volatile.
In the midst of the shifts and waves, however, we can strive for stability, or that virtue so prized by the Benedictine monastic tradition, stabilitas.
For me this means praying/meditating, being in authentic relationships, sleeping sufficiently, exerting myself physically, and being present in my work (relationships, tasks, leadership, etc.).
Finally, stability is not bourgeois. One can be stable and bohemian. In fact, that’s the best way to fly.
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