“If we had but world enough and time” I have found myself quoting Andrew Marvell's poem quite frequently these days. If we didn’t have homework, jobs, e-mails, endless rounds of meetings, laundry, and sleep we could do all that we wanted to do. If we had but world enough and time, we would fix everything that needs fixing.
According to Bacher and Cooper-White
Human effectiveness happens within time. No one has ‘all the time in the world’ to act. A sense of mortality arrives in two ways: the awareness that I will die or that my organization will fade (“time runs out”) generates anxiety about finitude and limits. But time not only “runs out,” it also “flies by.” Thus a sense of timing is also important. Human effectiveness is carried out within the structure of temporality.[i]
This year I am beginning to realize that time is discursive. Perhaps it’s the protestant work ethic in me that makes me feel the urge to join, accomplish, STRIVE forward. Time is constant and no matter how much I try to stretch it to move forward, it will remain the same.
As someone seeking United Methodist ordination, I realize that my “life” in any one congregation will be short. The average length of appointment is 5 years. This idea of my mortality makes me very aware of how much time I have to teach, connect, pray, change, laugh, and dream with one congregation. Our relationship will not be a marriage, and coyness on my part
Ah well. If we had but world enough, and time.
[i] Robert N Bacher and Michael L Cooper-White, Church Administration, 65
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