Those who are engaged in ministry, especially the introverts among us, have been confronted with the question: "So what is it that you do?" It may be voiced by our families or our congregants or total strangers. Often I have stammered for a succinct answer. I know well that air travel cartoon where a neighbor in the next seat asks the vocational question, and I am stuck for the next two hours in a theological conversation or a impromptu pastoral care session on the spot.
But, I think the deeper reality for me is to make peace with my ministry, or more precisely with God, who summoned (and still summons) me to this service. Ministry is complex. Every minster's job description falls short of a check list. "Do this, and you will be successful." "Do this, and you will have a meaningful life, a fruitful career." "Do this, and you will make a difference in the world." Faithfulness to our vocation is multifaceted, and it can be complicated. It is not really about the questioning of strangers on airplanes, but those wonderings that emerge when I am in the stillness of the night, as I survey the high moments of this calling along with the disappointments and the sorrows that I have experienced.
After nearly seven years as a Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ and a seemingly endless, anxious conversation about the future of the "institutional church," I want to say, "Enough already!" Yes, things are changing, as well they should. But I am not called to be a CEO of a business that measures its effectiveness by the profits on the balance sheet. This is not a call to be an executive that somehow sets me apart from others. It's in my title, Conference Minister. A Conference is a setting of the church; it is the church to which I am called for this time in the journey. Ministry is service offered in the Spirit of Christ, crucified and risen, my Judge and my Hope. It is listening attentively for the Shepherd's voice, and following--as best I am able--that call. It is leading with humility and hope, confidence and courage, into a future, where there is justice and peace, blessedness, glorious life.
There will likely be more airplane rides with inquisitive seatmates. There will surely be more anxious conversations about the place of the "middle judicatory" and whether it has any vitality and future. Today, I choose to be a servant of the Servant in the midst of many others who know their baptism to be a call to ministry. Today, I am grateful to God for this calling; and for the deep assurance that, whatever comes, all will be blessed and well in the presence of the Living God.
But, I think the deeper reality for me is to make peace with my ministry, or more precisely with God, who summoned (and still summons) me to this service. Ministry is complex. Every minster's job description falls short of a check list. "Do this, and you will be successful." "Do this, and you will have a meaningful life, a fruitful career." "Do this, and you will make a difference in the world." Faithfulness to our vocation is multifaceted, and it can be complicated. It is not really about the questioning of strangers on airplanes, but those wonderings that emerge when I am in the stillness of the night, as I survey the high moments of this calling along with the disappointments and the sorrows that I have experienced.
After nearly seven years as a Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ and a seemingly endless, anxious conversation about the future of the "institutional church," I want to say, "Enough already!" Yes, things are changing, as well they should. But I am not called to be a CEO of a business that measures its effectiveness by the profits on the balance sheet. This is not a call to be an executive that somehow sets me apart from others. It's in my title, Conference Minister. A Conference is a setting of the church; it is the church to which I am called for this time in the journey. Ministry is service offered in the Spirit of Christ, crucified and risen, my Judge and my Hope. It is listening attentively for the Shepherd's voice, and following--as best I am able--that call. It is leading with humility and hope, confidence and courage, into a future, where there is justice and peace, blessedness, glorious life.
There will likely be more airplane rides with inquisitive seatmates. There will surely be more anxious conversations about the place of the "middle judicatory" and whether it has any vitality and future. Today, I choose to be a servant of the Servant in the midst of many others who know their baptism to be a call to ministry. Today, I am grateful to God for this calling; and for the deep assurance that, whatever comes, all will be blessed and well in the presence of the Living God.
