I'll go ahead and assume you were already busy enough before church 'got in the way.' :-)

Our lifestyles often lead us headlong into busy weeks with only one or two nights at home with loved ones and friends. Balancing a desire to connect with those in spiritual community with you, earning money in a job, getting rest, staying healthy, getting some peace and quiet, help hungry folks get a meal, and even simply being a good spouse/son/daughter/neighbor can easily feel like a daunting task. 

Facing these choices we often respond in one of a few different ways, we dive in and get it all done or we lean out and let it all pass while grabbing bits and pieces when we can.

There's usually (actually always) at least a third option that involves a little more intentionality and a lot more fulfillment. The calendar at evergreen is often ripe with various sorts of gatherings for a number of different purposes. Most of the stuff going on is one of three things. Its either social in nature (horsebrass, women and wine, community dinners), times of teaching one another and interacting with texts/questions/etc (theology pub, book group, bible study etc.), and/or in relating to the poor and needy in Portland. All of these are deeply spiritual activities that are really important to sustain a growing, outward facing community. Equally important is the recognition that we can do some of it all the time of it, but we shouldn't have to do all of it very much of the time.

Perhaps we could keep a running tab of 2 of those three 'groups' going. After a few months, try something new while taking time off of something you've been involved in for a while. So what this means is that it may be good to consider taking time off from a homegroup to enter into dialogue at a theology pub, or maybe take a few months off from book group and take that time to get to know our friends without homes, or if needed, take time off from the streets to spend some time getting re-energized by warming a bar stool with some other folks. All that to say, more involvement isn't always better involvement. Better involvement can mean that we're giving to one another well, receiving from one another well, and most importantly, that we're scattering into the needs of our city and our world in a meaningful way. -chris