Multitasking for Jesus

While the chapel at Christ Church was being deconstructed my office was out of commission as well. Dust and noise were the culprits that drove me out. For many days I spent my office time at the front desk. There are many more interruptions out there where the phones ring more often and people come and go all day long. When Kris Sexton worked at that desk, she used to say that it was her job to be interrupted. I now know exactly what she meant.

I also know that I’m not very good at multitasking. It all became clear one morning when I was in the office alone. I was on the church phone dealing with a pastoral issue when, simultaneously, my cellphone and the doorbell rang. A glance at the cellphone indicated that it was a caller I had been waiting to hear from for days. And I knew that the person at the door was someone with whom I had an appointment.

I made the decision to stay with the call I was on and to ignore the cell and the doorbell. By the time I got to the door, my visitor had left, and it took several more days to connect with the cellphone caller.

Although that incident wasn’t unique by any means, it serves for me as a metaphor for much of modern life. With calls, emails, texts, radio, television, family, friends, work, healthcare, home chores and so on we are constantly on call, interrupted, and distracted.

I find that among the best times of my week are times of corporate worship. The ringers get turned off, interruptions are few, and demands of the world and concerns of life are turned into prayers. Attention is focused. God is present in ways more discernable than in the chaos.

I may be called upon to multitask for Jesus, but I prefer the one-thing-at-a-time way of doing things.

–John Paddock