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“My Energy in Ministry” |
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Fourteen years ago (1991), my father, at
the age of 65, retired from his “job” as a Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) minister. For the last ten of those years, I watched him struggle with
depression, fatigue, and “burn-out.” He stumbled along, his energy sucked out
of him by the demands of ministry in the churches he served. He plodded along,
putting one foot in front of the other, with as much difficulty as a fifty-five
year old amateur runner who was completing the last mile of his very first
marathon. Upon retirement, it was as if he collapsed at the finish line and stayed there because he had nothing left in him to give. This year, I celebrated my fifty-fifth birthday, but I’m having the time of my life! What’s the difference? Why did the ministry take everything out of my father, while I’m being energized by it? A few years ago, I had a conversation with Dad about his ministry. He admitted to me that one of the strongest reasons he went into the ministry was because my mother really pushed him – hard! She always wanted to be a “minister’s wife.” And you can’t really do that unless your husband is a minister. I’m not sure that Dad became a minister so much as an answer to a call from God, as it was from some heavy pushing from my strong-willed mother. For him, being the pastor of a congregation was a profession and a job (which, by the way, he did very well) – but not a ministry. My situation was different. I became a minister in answer to a definite call from God. It was an urging that I had heard/felt/experienced for more than four years. I finally responded to that call the summer of 1971 – and (as I said before) I’m still having the time of my life. You don’t have to be a professional, full-time minister in the church to experience the energy-draining burnout that church work can cause in our lives. I’m sure you’ve heard at least some of these statements: “We need more members to fill all the committees.” “I guess I’ll do it if you can’t get anybody else.” “I’ve done my share and now I’m tired. Let some of the newer members carry the load.” “Who are we going to get to do that job?” Because congregations are so needy, and a congregation’s vision should be bigger than its resources, there is always more to be done than there are participants to do it. If we work in the church because we were promised, or arm-twisted, or made to feel guilty, or recruited, or maybe even lied to, we suffer, our families suffer, and the church suffers. The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel once had a vision that he described this way: “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath (wind/spirit) in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord’” (Ezekiel 37:1-6). Ezekiel’s vision was depicting a battlefield. The bones were dead Israel after the Babylonian invasion. But I think it can also be a good metaphor for a church that is dried up because it is full of jobs for people to do instead of ministries of Christ. The bones are a lifeless body of Christ – a body with many members (or parts) – pulled apart lying dead and useless in the dust. Did you hear what God’s response was? God said, “I will cause breath (that is, the Holy Spirit) to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you” (to me, these are the spiritual gifts – the real muscle – that God gives the Church) “and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath (again: wind/spirit) in you and you shall live; and you shall know that I am God.” If these are relevant, living words of God, then I believe they are a message of hope for our Church. Nearly 700 years after Ezekiel, the Apostle Paul was writing to the Roman Christians about a new life in Christ, and he was talking about bodies – both, our own, as living sacrifices to God, and the Church, as a body with many parts. As I read today’s scripture passage aloud in three different settings this week, three different listeners made the same observation: “This sounds like Bread of Life Christian Church!” We are trying to avoid being conformed to the norms of this world, and instead, let our study, sharing, and prayer renew our minds so that we may discern the will of God – for both, our personal lives, and our congregation. Paul went on to write about the Church as one body that has many members (or parts). The Church, made up of many parts, is bound together by the different gifts God gives us. “We have gifts that differ,” Paul wrote, “according to the grace given to us” (Romans 12:6). The gifts he listed are prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation (that is: the ability to urge through a strong argument), giving, leadership, and compassion. These are all gifts needed and used to support and build up the Church. The pattern is clear. When a person makes the decision to become a disciple of Jesus, it is a call to ministry and service on behalf of Jesus. He or she is baptized in the name of God, the Creator, Christ, the Savior, and the Teacher and Gift-giver, the Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit gives the gifts that give the Church its vitality – its energy – its witness – its strength – its life. Jan Linn, in his book, Rocking the Church Membership Boat (2001), states with conviction that the key to a congregation’s vitality is that the gifts must be used in “ministry with deep spiritual roots that becomes a reservoir of life and energy … Ministries are born from people serving out of call rather than persuasion or election … serving through the use of one’s spiritual gifts” (p.16). To be one of Jesus’ disciples is to hear the call to “come, follow me,” to accept that call, to begin a new life in Christ through baptism, to receive the spiritual gifts that God gives, and then to use them faithfully in the ministry to which you are called. Dr. Linn, in his book (2001), says this about Christian discipleship: “serving in ministry is not optional for those who claim membership in Christ’s church” (p.17). Jesus connection congregations, of which we are one, are not spectator churches. We take seriously this call to ministry enabled and strengthened by spiritual gifts. Ministry takes the personal disciplines of time, energy, and commitment. On May 22, our members will be invited to enter into an annual “Covenant Discipleship” with Jesus and with the Church. One part of the covenant will be a one-year commitment to use your own spiritual gifts, time, and energy in a ministry to which you feel a call. As we actively claim our call to Christian ministries, join our gifts together in those ministries, and commit ourselves to the personal spiritual discipline of “Covenant Discipleship,” we all discover a new energy and joy in our lives! God puts the breath – the life – the Holy Spirit – in us (the dry bones of the Church). God puts the sinews – the gifts – the muscle – on us (the dry bones of the Church). And, Ezekiel prophesied, we (the dry bones of the Church) shall live! Let us pray: O God who calls, blow your life-giving breath over us. Revive the dead bones of the Church with your spirit, your gifts, and our commitment to use them in ministry. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen. |