Of Penguins and Kairos

The building in which I have worked for the last 30 years is at the start of a much needed renovation.  Parts of the building are more than a century old, it's been added onto over the years until a map of its hallways resembles an octopus, and I sometimes worry that the student who hasn't been in class all week is not napping in one of the hammocks under the cherry trees on the green, but lost in the depths of the building.

Sometime in the next five years, my beloved office, set on one truncated arm overlooking a courtyard alive with groundhogs, birds and the occasional hawk looking for a warm spot out of the wind, convenient to the photocopier and the kitchen, where I can open my windows and hear the bell pealing as seniors finish their exams, will be subsumed into a new public space.  And I'll be...where?  I have no idea.

Moving is hard, particularly when you can't envision the new space.  Will my table fit?  Will I be banished to a space far from where students wander?  Will I have sunlight on a winter afternoon?

Enter Robin's wise, warm and witty sermon about gifts and change, about what ignites us and why, about time. Read on to find out "What do penguins have to do with it?"  Thanks for preaching beyond the walls of your church, Robin!