Not getting overcommitted

Since I did the one-day sesshin a couple of weeks ago at the Hartford St. Zen Center, they have been paying me more attention. I got invited to their monthly board meeting just to find out more about the orgagnization. Also, John, the temporary practice leader, urged me to come down to Tassajara for several months -- very flattering, actually, since I'm under the impression that you have to be taken seriously to be invited there. I've been sitting at Hartford Street every morning since February, except for when I went out of town, but I guess it took that second one-day sit to make them think I'm serious.

I understand why they're being so encouraging. In the months since I've been sitting there, I'm the only new person who has come along and kept at it, except for this one new guy who started coming about a month ago and comes about three times a week. It's a small place and I'm like the only new recruit. I have to be careful not to get too involved, though. Not because I don't like the place and the people, but because I continue to be very involved at St. Francis. I can't afford the time to get heavily involved in two spiritual centers. HSZC works so far because it's in the early morning, when nothing else is going to demand my time.

I do have to be careful to get more sleep, though. (I say that and it's almost 10:00 pm which is time for me to go to bed. Here I sit at the computer.)

Talking to John during a break at the sesshin, I found out something amusing, which is that he was raised in the same conservative branch of Lutheranism that I was, the "Missouri Synod." (I think the fact that we both ended up on Hartford St. says something about the Missouri Synod -- which is to Lutherans as the Southern Baptists are to the Baptists. They're so conservative that they are disciplining one of their regional presidents (equivalent to a bishop) for participating in the post-Sept. 11 interfaith service at Yankee Stadium!)