OK, I know it's Holy Week. I love Holy Week more than you can possibly imagine. But it's all I can do to live in Holy Week this year without writing about it, if that makes any sense. I need a little more space between me and Last Suppers and Good Fridays before I can write about their shapes and contours. Tonight, I want to write about something I particularly love about my job...and my particular post at Covenant Point-Lakeside Cooperative Parish. See, I love "Wing-Walking Ministry." (My term--or at least I think I made it up).
My dad taught me at an early age that it pays to be sort of outrageous in your vocation, because that's where the fun of it is, and because, if it's your vocation, you need to be doing it in 5th gear with your hair on fire. (John Wesley was in agreement--in preaching he said, "I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn" or something along those comforting lines). Dad was an outrageous Navy lawyer, and he's currently an outrageous retiree....He used to say to the folks that worked for him "Look, we're not making a lot of money, there's no fame in it, or glory, so we might as well be having fun at it." He's courageously audacious in a way that makes your jaw drop. And he is an amazing lawyer because of it. He wanted judges and opposing counsel to say going into a trial, "Oh, it's HIM. We're going to have a heck of a good time today!" (Or words to that effect). Now, if that is so for lawyerin', and it most certainly is...how much more is it so for a pastor, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ? The mind boggles.
I am my own father's daughter I guess, because I want to be an audacious, outrageous, pastor. I want to be faithful and discerning and all those other things, but I also want to take some holy risks in this job. I want our laity to say "At the end of the day, I'm proud you're my pastor." And "I never know what you're going to say or do next." And "I am excited to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in this place." I am utterly thrilled to go to work every day in part because I believe anything is possible with God (and on the odd Monday morning I lose a bounce in my step, Pastor Love reminds me 'bout the outrageous Easter people we are called to be. It makes for a pretty darn fun and exciting work environment. "Yeah, Mandy, that'll be hard but we can do it. And how about THIS?" and he comes up with something more outrageous and more exciting. It's like trading jazz riffs with someone who loves the music as much as you do). I want to be a wing-walker of a pastor, you know, trying stuff, making mistakes, proclaiming the audacious, outrageous gospel and God has put me square with the folks who will make me the best wing-walker I can be.
In this line of work, there are a lot of dire predictions (ask Lovett Weems about the year 2018 if you don't believe me--the demographics for the mainline church are particularly bad in 2018). I take them seriously, I really do. I am particularly concerned about big expensive buildings that we have to pay to heat and cool and insure that we can't fill, and I'm concerned about declining numbers. But here's the thing. We serve a risen savior, who has endured a whole lot more than a bad Church Council meeting. It is a lovely and precious way to spend the gift of our time, being Church together and thinking about how we can be present in our neighborhoods in a new way. My DS a few years ago asked at Charge Conference, "What difference would it make if your church were to close its doors today?" I want the answer to be, "A whole heck of a lot of difference." Or words to that effect.
Our people, well, they're wing walkers for Christ too. They don't give up easy, and they mean to praise God and work until Jesus comes for the sake of the Kingdom. They inspire and encourage me on an hourly basis to see and work for what's really important, for what really matters. It's Holy Week, of course...but in this job, most all the weeks are holy, with crucifixions and resurrections and tears and joy. There's Lazarus and Judas and water and wine and that's Church. At the end of the day, God says "Yes and Amen" in Jesus Christ. And that's enough to keep me hangin' out on the wing, goggles and all, with a big grin on my face.
Good Friday? The Infamous 2018? Challenges? Looping loops at high speeds through the cloudy firmament of change and uncertainty? Pastor Love, our crazy brothers and sisters in Christ, and me...We're gonna do a little wing-walking in the name of the One who walked on water, the One who was raised from the dead. It's havoc on the hairdo but the view is spectacular, in a "He's not here, he is risen" sort of way.
I reckon I was writing about Holy Week after all. Be encouraged! Meet me on the wing and let's have some fun!
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