Today’s Readings: Psalm 92; Genesis 22:1-18; Matthew 27:1-10; Romans 8:18-25; Psalm 39
These are certain interesting times to be involved in the practice of ministry. Why do I say that? I say that because so many things in our society are fundamentally shifting or changing. One of the most challenging books I’ve been reading about the practice of ministry in these unsettled times is titled Leadership on the Other Side: No Rules, Just Clues; it was written by an individual named Bill Easum. I really love the subtitle of the book – No Rules, Just Clues – because it really gets at the heart of the issue: all of the old rules that guided the practice of ministry in the 20th Century are essentially gone and we are living into a completely new era full of possibility and uncertainty. This era can cause a tremendous amount of pain and angst for Type A personalities like myself who thrive on certainty and order. I was commiserating with a colleague about all of this when I bemoaned the very real sense of pain I was experiencing. At times in our conversation I literally cried out for the pain and uncertainty to end. My colleague gently smiled and said, “Remember, Craig, not all pain is bad. Sometimes the pain we feel is a birth pain which signals the arrival of something beautiful and amazing.” I smiled when I heard that bit of wisdom and drew great comfort from it. In many ways my colleague’s remark picked up on a stream of thought that Paul expressed in today’s passage from Romans for the passage reads: “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting…” (Romans 8:22-24 – The Message). Perhaps you are experiencing a certain amount of pain in your life – pain that you wish would just go away. That pain might stem from a relationship, from a vocational setting, or from a financial circumstance. Whatever the case, I invite you to sit with the notion that the pain might not be pointless. Perhaps the pain is signaling the birth of a new period in your life: a period of bigger and better things. May God give you the strength and courage to hold on until the evidence of that new life begins to emerge. Til next time…
These are certain interesting times to be involved in the practice of ministry. Why do I say that? I say that because so many things in our society are fundamentally shifting or changing. One of the most challenging books I’ve been reading about the practice of ministry in these unsettled times is titled Leadership on the Other Side: No Rules, Just Clues; it was written by an individual named Bill Easum. I really love the subtitle of the book – No Rules, Just Clues – because it really gets at the heart of the issue: all of the old rules that guided the practice of ministry in the 20th Century are essentially gone and we are living into a completely new era full of possibility and uncertainty. This era can cause a tremendous amount of pain and angst for Type A personalities like myself who thrive on certainty and order. I was commiserating with a colleague about all of this when I bemoaned the very real sense of pain I was experiencing. At times in our conversation I literally cried out for the pain and uncertainty to end. My colleague gently smiled and said, “Remember, Craig, not all pain is bad. Sometimes the pain we feel is a birth pain which signals the arrival of something beautiful and amazing.” I smiled when I heard that bit of wisdom and drew great comfort from it. In many ways my colleague’s remark picked up on a stream of thought that Paul expressed in today’s passage from Romans for the passage reads: “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting…” (Romans 8:22-24 – The Message). Perhaps you are experiencing a certain amount of pain in your life – pain that you wish would just go away. That pain might stem from a relationship, from a vocational setting, or from a financial circumstance. Whatever the case, I invite you to sit with the notion that the pain might not be pointless. Perhaps the pain is signaling the birth of a new period in your life: a period of bigger and better things. May God give you the strength and courage to hold on until the evidence of that new life begins to emerge. Til next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment