Waiting is the hardest part…
I’ve heard that saying so many times in my life that I don’t remember who said it first. But there is much truth to it, especially for me at this juncture in my search for a call. I’ve sent my profile to a dozen or so churches, and I am waiting for a response. I’ve interviewed, and now I’m waiting to hear if I’ve made the cut to the next step. I’ve had a search committee come to hear me preach, and I’m waiting to hear what they thought, waiting to hear if I’m good enough.
Transitioning from the corporate job search world to searching for a call in the church is a HUGE adjustment. I’m used to the process going relatively quickly as business usually try to fill openings as quickly as possible. In churches, the focus is different. The discernment process takes time – churches are looking for the best candidate, the best fit for their congregation. While I appreciate this and also seek to find the best fit for me, I am also chomping at the bit to get started in ministry.
Waiting can be a frustrating thing. It can sap your energy, drain any sense of hope that you are clinging to.
Yet, I have to realize that I am still doing ministry even if I am not settled in a call yet. As my cousin reminded me in a conversation we had on facebook this morning, doing ministry does not require a job. I am already doing ministry as I supply preach. I am doing ministry in my role as a chaplain to Boy Scouts. I am doing ministry when I make hospital visits as an on-call chaplain. I need to keep reminding myself of this as I play the waiting game.
Yes, waiting is the hardest part.
My thoughts earlier this week on this passage about wealth and mission have totally transformed and became this week’s sermon.
“How do I get into Heaven?”
Today’s lesson from the Gospel of Mark is one of the more familiar stories in the New Testament. It appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. Matthew describes him as young, Luke as a ruler. They all say he has money. So we have the story of the rich young ruler.
It is also one of the more problematic passages. We hear those words on Jesus’ lips even before the man approaches: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Even before Mark tells us so, we know that the rich young man will run away from Jesus grieving. And some of us grieve with him as we see him leave, knowing his choice could be ours as well. One commentator writes that no one can take comfort in this story – it’s profoundly disturbing.
As a preacher, I know my job is to preach the Good News of the Gospel. But sometimes this good news is disturbing, uncomfortable, and even downright inflammatory. Jesus’ message to us isn’t always easy to hear.
So, as I read and prayed on this passage this week, I kept coming back to the man’s question – “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and I kept thinking that there is something in this inquiry that is so heartfelt, so honest, that I felt bad that the man didn’t stick around to hear the rest of Jesus’ message to his disciples – to us. As uncomfortable and disturbing this passage can be, I also found comfort in Jesus’ words. read more…
The texts for this week can be found here.
This week I am supply preaching again for a church that I have preached at before. It adds a bit of comfort factor and some context into where I take the message.
This week’s Gospel lesson from Mark is the story of the rich young ruler. Of course, Mark doesn’t call him rich, or young, or a ruler.
The man comes up and asks Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” What a question. Aren’t we in the business of telling people how to get to heaven? Jesus tells him that he knows the commandments and then lists them off. The man, sensing that there is more, tells Jesus that he keeps the commandments religiously. Jesus responds by telling him that he lacks one thing – and proceeds to instruct him to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.
In this age of rampant consumerism, this is a hard lesson to preach without offending. But there is Truth in it. The church I am preaching at this weekend is very mission oriented, so I think that is the direction the sermon will take. I believe that the text is telling me that it is not the act of having wealth that is sinful, but the coveting of that wealth without regard for the poor that gets us in trouble.
Where are you going with this weeks texts?
Lectionary Thoughts – Ordinary Heroes – 17th Sunday after Pentecost
The readings for this week can be found here.
I’m not preaching this week, but I still have one more Sunday scheduled to preach coming up, so I thought I would stay in practice of studying the texts.
This week brings us to the story of Esther. This story is a fascinating read from start to finish – it’s too bad the lectionary just gives us this one nugget. To get the whole picture, you really must read the entire book.
The story in a nutshell is this: After the return from exile, many Jews stayed behind in Babylon. The king needed a new queen, and held a beauty pageant to choose the best one. Esther, a Jew, won and was crowned queen. Haman, the prime minister, plots to destroy all the Jews. Esther hears about the plot and informs her husband, the king, and begs for their lives. The king would have done anything for his beautiful wife, so he agrees to stop the plot and has Haman killed. The Jews celebrate and from that we get the festival of Purim.
That’s the very abridged version. Esther is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life when she was chosen to be queen. Rather than forget her upbringing, she became a champion for her people.
Kate Huey writes:
Unlike several other books of the Bible (for example, Daniel or Exodus), God’s deliverance of the people in this Book of Esther is not accomplished through amazing, miraculous events but through the actions of flawed but courageous human beings who were probably never sure they were doing the right thing.
How can we bring about God’s deliverance of us? How can we (who are definitely flawed humans) work towards bringing about the kingdom on earth? How can we link this passage with our struggles for social justice?
Where are you going with the texts this week?
“Our decisions and our search for guidance take place in the active presence of a God who intimately cares about our life situations and who invites us to participate in the divine activities of healing and transformation.” — Frank Rogers, Jr.
One of the hardest things about the search and call process for me is separating it from a normal job search. My tendency is to tackle it like all the other job searches I have ever done and take the first job that I can find. This is a normal reaction for most human beings – I need a job to pay the bills, so I will take the first offer of employment. What this neglects, however, is any recognition that God is involved in the process at all. With the search and call process, the act of discernment needs to be front and center. What God wants for me and my life is of utmost importance.
All of my jobs in ministry so far have been just that – jobs. I was in seminary, or just graduated, and needed employment while I navigated the ordination process. Most were part-time, and I always took whatever was offered to me so that I could pay the bills. They weren’t always a good fit for me. The best example of a bad fit was the job I took as a youth pastor where the search committee told me that they didn’t want to “do God stuff” in youth group meetings. I didn’t think they knew what they really wanted, so I took the job and tried to do God stuff in the meetings and got nothing but flack from the youth and the parents. It was not a fun year for me.
As I search for a call, I am extremely anxious that when do get that first offer, I will not be able to discern whether that is where God wants me to be. I am afraid that I will take the wrong position and end up in another bad fit and be stuck. I am afraid that I won’t be listening for what God wants for me. The stakes are much higher now, because I will be subjecting my wife to the outcome of any decision I make – taking a call that requires us to relocate outside commuting distance for her means that she will need to quit her job and find another one (and she has done enough job searching lately).
I think I have been listening to God with the nibbles I have had so far – I know that two of the churches with whom we have decided not to continue exploring possibilities would not have been ideal fits. God made it clear to me that one of them would have been a BAD fit. As I prepare for another interview next week, I am listening to anything that sparks a worry, or a concern for me. So far, I am feeling nothing but tepid excitement about the interview – tepid because I don’t want to get my hopes up to have them squashed.
I am praying that God makes it crystal clear to me where I am supposed to be. I don’t want to have any doubts.
How did you discern where God wanted you to be?
Here is the sermon that I preached this morning. It is based on Mark 9.30-37.
Who’s on First?
One of the most famous baseball comedy acts to ever take place was the humorous exchange between Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The general premise behind the exchange has Costello, a peanut vendor named Sebastion Dinwiddle, talking to Abbott who is Dexter Broadhurt, the manager of the mythical St. Louis Wolves. However, before Costello can get behind the plate, Abbott wants to make sure he knows everyone’s name on the team.
As Abbott begins to tell Costello the names of the players, Costello gets confused and interrupts him repeatedly. It goes a little like this (and forgive me if I blunder it).
Abbott: Well, let’s see, we have on the bags, Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third…
Costello: That’s what I want to find out.
Abbott: I say Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third.
Costello: Are you the manager?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: And you don’t know the fellows’ names?
Abbott: Well I should.
Costello: Well then who’s on first?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: I mean the fellow’s name.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The first baseman.
Abbott: Who.
And it goes on and on and on through most of the positions on the team, and still Costello doesn’t get it. No matter how many times Abbott tells him, Costello still doesn’t understand that “Who” is the name of the guy playing first base. He just doesn’t get it.
The disciples didn’t get it either. read more…
The texts for this week can be found here.
I’m supply preaching again this week, in a church that I have done some supply for in the past. I’m thinking I am going to preach from the Mark text this week.
The disciples have been arguing about who will be the leader among them when Jesus leaves. Which one is the best. I imagine them arguing about all the times they stepped up for Jesus and all the miracles they performed in Jesus’ name. They are having this conversation out of earshot of Jesus, but somehow he knows what they are arguing about.
Jesus tells them “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
Whoa! Stop the presses! This is news to them. They thought they had to be the best of everything, and be Jesus’ right hand man. But then, like Jesus always does, he turns their whole world upside down and tells them that they have to be the last – the servant of all.
The concept of servant leadership is not new to Christians, but I think that sometimes we let out ego’s get the best of us. Instead of letting ineffective programs die naturally, we think that we failed if we don’t get participation. We take these failures personally.
Another concept of servant leadership is sacrifice. If we are going to be last, we must sacrifice a bit of ourselves to serve God. For me, this means remembering not to take credit. Not to think it is all about me.
Where are you going with this week’s lectionary?
No matter how many times you hear it, or how expected it is, it always hurts just a bit to get rejected.
Since my profile started circulating six weeks ago, it has been distributed to eight churches (that I am aware of). Seven of these churches have acknowledged receipt of it, and three churches have been in contact with me via either phone or email. As you know, I had one interview. Another church has been checking my references. Everything seems to be moving forward on all fronts as it is supposed to be.
Over the weekend I received two letters from two different churches telling me that the search committee felt that the fit is not right at this time. One of them was from a church that had not been in contact with me yet. Their reason was clear and understandable – they were looking for a pastor with a history of serving churches for a long amount of time. I am searching for a first call, so obviously this would not be a good fit.
The other letter was from the church that I interviewed at. Their explanation was not quite as clear. All they said was that the fit “would be less than ideal.” This was a little troubling, because in the interview they were very enthusiastic about both my pastoral care experience and youth ministry experience.
I kinda figured that they weren’t going to go any further with the process with me, and I think that I would have had to do some hard soul searching if they offered the job (my background growing up was different that most of the community). I might not have even accepted the call if offered. But I do wish they were more clear in HOW the fit was less than ideal.
Rejection always stings a bit – even if it was expected – we all want to be liked by everyone.
It also goes the other way. I am currently searching for the right words to say to a church that is courting me who I think would be a bad fit. How specific should I be in my explanation? Should I be candid and tell them that I am looking for a church with more families and less retired folks? Should I tell them that I don’t think we match theologically? Should I be blunt and tell them that the main reason is that they openly told me that the would not permit a pastor to perform same-gender marriages (which is completely legal in the state we live in)?
What is the best way to reject a church?
The readings for this week can be found here.
This week I begin a run of supply preaching. I am preaching at 3 different churches over the course of the next 4 weeks. One of the pitfalls of supply preaching is that I lack the context of the community I am preaching to. So, rather than tailoring my message to the community, I need to come up with a generic message that can be heard by a community that does not know me – and one that I do not know. How do you prepare such a message?
This weeks lectionary takes us into the wonderful world of the wisdom literature: Proverbs 1.20-33 is an introduction to wisdom – introducing her as Lady Wisdom – and extolling the virtues of following wisdom, as well as the dangers of ignoring wisdom.
The gospel lesson is Jesus asking “Who do people say I am?” and “Who do you say I am?” Jesus then reminds us that we must “take up our cross” and we must lose our lives to save it.”
I’m still not sure what direction I will go in my sermon. Both passages give many opportunities for preaching, but again without the context of the community, I am at a bit of a loss as to where to go.
Where are you going with this weeks passages?
image from the one year bible blog
2 years ago today, M
rs. Tourguide walked down the isle and took my breath away. I barely was able to speak my vows through the tears of joy.
The past two years haven’t been easy – with the path towards ordination strewn with obstacles to navigate – but because of Mrs. Tourguide, I have always had the support I need.
I love her more today than ever before.
