I’ve started a new call! I’m now the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Lexington, SC. It’s been a good and peaceful transition for me.

The daily routine of a parish pastor is different from that of an Assistant to the Bishop, as you might guess. I’ve been settling back into that groove quite happily. Most people don’t have any idea what pastors do during the day, so I’ll try to give you a glimpse of what I get up to all week.

For starters, I tend to think in terms of weeks rather than days. My days float around, but the rhythm of the week anchors me in what needs to get done next. Knowing my evening and morning commitments also helps me block my work time and my personal time.

Each week has staff meeting, Wednesday Night Live, and Sunday morning worship at a bare minimum. In between those, you might find me at other activities. Sometimes, I’ll get up for Bible study on Thursday or Friday, or make it to the Prayer Chicks on Monday mornings.

The next big rocks that fill in my schedule, calendar-wise are meetings. It might be lunch with a colleague, a ministry team meeting, or a council meeting. It might be a discussion with a few people around a particular topic. Those go next in the weekly agenda.

If there’s someone in the hospital or having a crisis, I’ll spend time with them or be in touch with them most days.

In the in-between slots, I block out time for visiting our homebound members, checking emails, and doing the office work that keeps things moving forward. I’ve learned that preparing for Bible studies, book studies, and sermons needs to be done in larger blocks of time. Sermon preparation also has to start early in the week so that it has time to marinate in my head. That pondering might happen while I’m walking or running errands, or it might happen while I’m reading commentaries and taking notes at my desk, but it has to happen.

Prayer and Bible reading are a part of the rhythm. Sometimes they’re very regular and intentional. Often, prayer happens in the car in between things. Sometimes, my car time is spent listening to podcasts or books to prepare for things, too.

I also block out time every few weeks for big picture planning, continuing education, and other stuff that needs sporadic time like that.

Some days things go entirely off the rails. Maybe one of my kids is sick. Maybe someone stops by Zion needing help. It happens.

Some days everything goes according to schedule. That happens, too.

I intentionally keep my schedule light on meetings, being flexible at least part of every day, so that I’m able to respond to what God calls me to do on that day.

What are the building blocks of your schedule? How do they help you get the big stuff done?