I am training to run a 5K.  It is hard work for me!  I wish I could tell you that I use my running time to be inspired, to meditate or to work things out.  The reality is that I use each breath to figure out how to make the next step and breathe the next breath.  In this running that I am doing, I cannot dwell on what I did yesterday or what I want to do next week, I can only focus on the breath and step of the moment.  Sometimes, I can look ahead and say, “I am going to run as fast as I can to the next street.”  But that short-term distance is as far ahead as I can go.  We are in a time of great change in the church.  I hear so many people say, “our sanctuary used to be full every Sunday, and now we don’t fill up half of it.”  Maybe congregations need to do some 5K training—focus on each step and each breath in the moment and look ahead to the next street.  We can’t go back to how it used to be and we can only see as far as is realistic.  Sometimes we need to enjoy the breath and the step that we make that will take us to the next street. 

Beth Kennett November 2010