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Accepting the role of a priest is acknowledging that our primary hours of work are when other people are at leisure. If we are going to connect with the younger working families, evenings are a must. Here are some suggestions:
1. Set aside 3 or 4 evenings for the family and 3 or 4 evenings for work.
2. Accept that the priesthood is not "banker's hours" and share the burden of off hour availability along with police officers, nurses, crisis counselors, and many other professions.
3. Evening work will likely fall into three categories, visiting, meetings, and interviews.
4. Protect your visiting time so that it doesn't get crowded out of the calendar.
5. Maximize your evening time by dropping in for critical parts of meetings rather than sitting through entire meetings.
6. Line up your visits by advance phone call so you don't waste time driving to see people when it is not convenient for them.
7. Cluster your visits and meetings geographically so that you can perhaps handle three items in an evening - a visit at 6:45, a drop in at the altar guild at 8:00, and a second visit at 8:30.
8. Advise people when you arrive for a visit that you won't be staying long. This relieves them of the fear of trying to make conversation with you for an entire evening on the one hand, and helps them to surface matters of importance that they want to talk to you about more quickly.
9. Make daytime visits with retirees, shift workers, and others available during the day. This saves the limited evening hours for those who aren't available during the day.
10. As you are out and about in the evening take time to drop in on the Cub group, the Choir practice, and the coffee following the bible study.
11. Reward yourself for working the evening shift by looking forward to some treat, maybe a late night snack with your spouse, or a favourite T.V. program. Take time for rest, exercise, and refreshment in less hectic portions of the day.
Item XII
©1999 Ronald C. Ferris
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