Ministry happens...but it is messy work.
Lately I have been really busy. I had 3 funerals within a week and then the next week was Easter. Needless to say, I was kind of exhausted after all of that. Thankfully, I was able to get caught up with most things however, I still working on something within a to do list that just keeps going. I am utterly amazed at all the times that I do not expect to actually start talking to someone about ministry or something that is church related. I am often stopped when walking, going to a game or even when the phone rings. When becoming a pastor, I knew that ministry was something that happened 24/7 but I am also just aware of all the terrible theology that has taken root. It is like bad weeds that have come into the garden and are growing right next to the Gospel that was planted by God. While I do not feel that I have all the answers and nor do I stand on the corner in the small town and show people how they are wrong. I am saddened to hear and see people living out of a faith that is either stagnate or one that only seeks for themselves though they think that they are working because it is what God wants them to do.
I have a knowledge and way of listening to people but I feel that I do not always have a way to truly help someone in understanding their own faults or the way in which they have built up their own god. I am beginning to understand why the Roman Catholic church was built in a hierarchy structure but then human sin, that weed that is always with us, grew in and choked it. However, even with the arrival of Luther, the weed of sin was not destroyed or removed from the ground but another plant was also introduced within the garden. It seems more and more that there are simply more plants being added to the garden. I simply hope and pray that God will remove the weeds and the plants that choking out the root and the vine that God has planted. I fully realize that this will happen on that day but at the moment I feel like all I have the power to do is to clip one leaf at a time. One leaf that slow the plant but the plant still grows and still thrives. It is very discouraging work.
There are some days that I feel like I am really making an impact. That I have shoveled some fresh dirt and things are watered and wait for them to grow. However, all too soon, I hear that the weeds are taking back over and the work was causing them to grow but also the weeds are also growing. Paul was right, when he said that he planted the seed, Apollos watered but God is the one who grows the plants. Although my human nature wants more, more control and more say in the lives of the ones who I am entrusted to care for. However, I can only do so much. I can not open their eyes, their ears, or their hearts. So I pray and hope that God will use me to do his work within the world.
I have a knowledge and way of listening to people but I feel that I do not always have a way to truly help someone in understanding their own faults or the way in which they have built up their own god. I am beginning to understand why the Roman Catholic church was built in a hierarchy structure but then human sin, that weed that is always with us, grew in and choked it. However, even with the arrival of Luther, the weed of sin was not destroyed or removed from the ground but another plant was also introduced within the garden. It seems more and more that there are simply more plants being added to the garden. I simply hope and pray that God will remove the weeds and the plants that choking out the root and the vine that God has planted. I fully realize that this will happen on that day but at the moment I feel like all I have the power to do is to clip one leaf at a time. One leaf that slow the plant but the plant still grows and still thrives. It is very discouraging work.
There are some days that I feel like I am really making an impact. That I have shoveled some fresh dirt and things are watered and wait for them to grow. However, all too soon, I hear that the weeds are taking back over and the work was causing them to grow but also the weeds are also growing. Paul was right, when he said that he planted the seed, Apollos watered but God is the one who grows the plants. Although my human nature wants more, more control and more say in the lives of the ones who I am entrusted to care for. However, I can only do so much. I can not open their eyes, their ears, or their hearts. So I pray and hope that God will use me to do his work within the world.
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