Know the job

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Thomas Howells, my beloved English Professor in College

Once opined

That you ought to know the job requirements before you take a job

 

Sounds right!

 

But I think, looking back, that I have

More often than not

Taken jobs, and then tried to make them fit my expectations

 

I don’t think I really thought it through

When I decided to take on the job of “minister” or “pastor”

 

Even after four years of seminary and an M.Div.

I am not sure I had really thought about what it meant to take on that role.

 

If I had, I would have understood that I did not have the skill set

I had some of the skills

But not all

Perhaps not most

 

So I remade the job to fit my natural skills

Which meant parts of the job got neglected

Perhaps worse

 

I got away with it, mostly

But underneath some real successes

Was some real poverty

 

It gets even worse if we start thinking about the whole idea

Of being a follower of Jesus

OMG

Seriously!

 

It is one thing to go through the motions of

Memorizing scriptures

Showing up on Sunday morning and being pious

Thinking it looks cool to wear a cross

 

It is quite another to die to one’s self

To embrace radical love

Which means embracing

Radical generosity

Radical forgiveness

Radical compassion

Radical acceptance and welcome

 

Which means being willing to let go of much that we prize

And be a servant

And perhaps

Stand against the powers of this world

And resist abusers of power

And haters

And the greedy

 

To go against the core values

Of a nation gone wrong

Of a religion gone off the tracks

 

To try and be a follower who is also a “minister,” a “leader?”

Way beyond me

 

All I can do is echo the words of Paul (Romans 7,  JB Phillips)

In my mind I am God’s willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death. It is an agonizing situation, and who on earth can set me free from the clutches of my sinful nature? I thank God there is a way out through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Thank God for the Spirit

Thank God for grace and forgiveness

 

Thank God for the ways God can use us

Despite ourselves

 

May we, in these difficult times

Be honest about what the “way” looks like

About who we follow

What we embrace

 

May we, as best we can

“take on the job”

Of being God’s people