Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 109; Isaiah 5:13-17, 24-25; John 3:22-36; Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 12
The church I serve had its annual congregational meeting yesterday. That meant that for the past several weeks, I had the opportunity to spend time thinking about our ministry together in very concrete, very specific ways. What I re-discovered during this time is that as faith communities look toward the future, there is certainly no shortage of materials that identify keys to success for one’s ministry. Unfortunately a large percentage of these materials approach the topic programmatically. If you add a (fill in the blank) ministry, you’ll attract more people from this (fill in the blank) demographic. While much of their words made sense in my head, most of them didn’t make sense in my heart and spirit. Luckily today’s Gospel reading from John provides an element that is missing from the programmatic approaches. It adds a spiritual dimension to the issue. And what’s so beautiful is that the approach it suggests works not just at the corporate level, but at the individual level as well. The key that I’m speaking about comes from the mouth of John the Baptist who, in speaking of Jesus’ burgeoning ministry in John 3:30, says: “He must become greater; I must become less” (NIV). In those eight simple words, John lays out a plan that can benefit us all. During the last two weeks of Advent, I invite you to spend time in prayer and meditation as you begin to live into John’s way of being. Til next time…
The church I serve had its annual congregational meeting yesterday. That meant that for the past several weeks, I had the opportunity to spend time thinking about our ministry together in very concrete, very specific ways. What I re-discovered during this time is that as faith communities look toward the future, there is certainly no shortage of materials that identify keys to success for one’s ministry. Unfortunately a large percentage of these materials approach the topic programmatically. If you add a (fill in the blank) ministry, you’ll attract more people from this (fill in the blank) demographic. While much of their words made sense in my head, most of them didn’t make sense in my heart and spirit. Luckily today’s Gospel reading from John provides an element that is missing from the programmatic approaches. It adds a spiritual dimension to the issue. And what’s so beautiful is that the approach it suggests works not just at the corporate level, but at the individual level as well. The key that I’m speaking about comes from the mouth of John the Baptist who, in speaking of Jesus’ burgeoning ministry in John 3:30, says: “He must become greater; I must become less” (NIV). In those eight simple words, John lays out a plan that can benefit us all. During the last two weeks of Advent, I invite you to spend time in prayer and meditation as you begin to live into John’s way of being. Til next time…
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