Ministry Is Dangerous
Yeah, I've escaped most of the danger of ministry - but the guy who followed me at my last church has has guns pointed at him...
I remember hearing a pastor who was approaching retirement age speak with scorn about having to pick up trash off the restroom floor. It's not my job. We have a custodian to do that. The preaching the sermon, the singing the songs - I gotta tell you, that's not my ministry. That's what I do because God has given me some gifts and talents and opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. The ministry stuff is listening to the staff as they hurt through a family situation or illness. It's watching a couple of the youth in a play. It's meeting with a couple who are on the verge of divorce, and you know they're not going to make it, but you keep trying to help them. Ministry is standing on the roof of a three story house trying to patch a hole before the rain comes. Ministry is drawing a personal moral line in the sand and saying I will not cross it. Ministry is crying with and loving on those around you have crossed their lines. Ministry gets you close to people with AIDS, people with problems, people who smell, people who might break into your house, people who drink too much, talk too loud, hurt too much, hide too much, feel too little.
It's all dangerous. You can lose yourself in ministry. You can lose your family in ministry. You can lose your life in ministry - your sanity, your comfort, your health, your job. Truth is, you can probably lose your soul in ministry, too.
It's all dangerous - but it's all worth it. Ministry is when I'm closest to God. It's when Jesus is most real to me. The closer I am to the edge, the more aware of God I am.
It's time for me to move out of the center - out of the comfort of my office and my regular schedule and my oh-so-predictable life.
Erwin McManus writes:
You've heard it said that the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. I am sure this promise was well intended, but it is neither true nor innocuous. When we believe that God's purpose, intention, or promise is that we will be safe from harm, we are utterly disconnected from the movement and power of God...
The truth of the matter is that the center of God's will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world! God fears nothing and no one! God moves with intentionality and pwoer. To live outside God's will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.
My new prayer: Make me dangerous. Draw me into the center of your will and make me dangerous.
I remember hearing a pastor who was approaching retirement age speak with scorn about having to pick up trash off the restroom floor. It's not my job. We have a custodian to do that. The preaching the sermon, the singing the songs - I gotta tell you, that's not my ministry. That's what I do because God has given me some gifts and talents and opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. The ministry stuff is listening to the staff as they hurt through a family situation or illness. It's watching a couple of the youth in a play. It's meeting with a couple who are on the verge of divorce, and you know they're not going to make it, but you keep trying to help them. Ministry is standing on the roof of a three story house trying to patch a hole before the rain comes. Ministry is drawing a personal moral line in the sand and saying I will not cross it. Ministry is crying with and loving on those around you have crossed their lines. Ministry gets you close to people with AIDS, people with problems, people who smell, people who might break into your house, people who drink too much, talk too loud, hurt too much, hide too much, feel too little.
It's all dangerous. You can lose yourself in ministry. You can lose your family in ministry. You can lose your life in ministry - your sanity, your comfort, your health, your job. Truth is, you can probably lose your soul in ministry, too.
It's all dangerous - but it's all worth it. Ministry is when I'm closest to God. It's when Jesus is most real to me. The closer I am to the edge, the more aware of God I am.
It's time for me to move out of the center - out of the comfort of my office and my regular schedule and my oh-so-predictable life.
Erwin McManus writes:
You've heard it said that the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. I am sure this promise was well intended, but it is neither true nor innocuous. When we believe that God's purpose, intention, or promise is that we will be safe from harm, we are utterly disconnected from the movement and power of God...
The truth of the matter is that the center of God's will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world! God fears nothing and no one! God moves with intentionality and pwoer. To live outside God's will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.
My new prayer: Make me dangerous. Draw me into the center of your will and make me dangerous.
posted by Pastor Bill at 1:30 PM
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