September Slow Down

 

Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness. Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing. Walter Brueggemann 

 

A divided self is a state most of us know well and live in every day.  We let our attention roam from our phone to the television to the book we have open in our lap to the person who just entered the room.  Somewhere, we decided that we could manage all this.  Multitasking was promoted as a good thing.  Until we all started texting and driving.  Until we found ourselves answering an email in a meeting and realized we had missed half the conversation.  Unfortunately, video conferencing can lead us to think we can surf the web while listening and be present to both.  Brueggemann believes that this gives us a sense of control, or maybe makes us feel like a superhero leaping over piles of emails while catching up on the news and voting on the church’s budget.  And at the end of the day, what has stuck and stayed with you?  Maybe your tone in the email was too sarcastic, and that may not come off as well as you thought?  Maybe you can’t even remember who was at the meeting or what was said.  Maybe you are so exhausted that you don’t have energy to even pet the dog. 

 

To slow down is an act of resistance to the violence we do to ourselves and a theological posture that the person in front of us matters.  Today, be aware when you are trying to do more than one thing at a time and ask yourself, “Why”?  Why am I reading with the television on?  Why am I doing a crossword while talking on the phone?  Why am I listening to a podcast while I drive?  Consider ways that you can be present fully in the moment at least once today with a group of fellow featherless bipeds.  May I do the same.  Amen.