This past week I’ve been feeling guilty.  The blossoming faith community that I am a part of has been an interesting influx of social/spiritual communion of which I am most grateful.  One of the things that we are inquiring about together is the notion of simply being a spiritual family together under Christ, rather than just another event or program people “go to”.  So one of the principles behind that desire is for all of us to be contacting each other throughout the week - and therein lays the problem.  I feel this little twinge of guilt when I go a whole week without talking to every person in the faith community I am a part of!
I am trained to be a “minister” in every sense of the word.  I’m supposed to be the leader of this program; I’m supposed to have the nice wrapping paper and bow to decorate our little worship times; I’m supposed to have all the answers.  Or at least I THINK I do…
Instead of making life so complex and hard on myself, I need to remember that this is first and foremost about simplicity and natural relationships.  Those in my faith family that I am naturally drawn to I will hang out with more than others.  I can’t spread myself so thin that no one, not even me, gets a worthwhile portion.

I remember a youth pastor at a mega-church I was a part of in High School; no matter how many times you “met him” his greeting was always a firm handshake, a warm smile, and “Hello friend, remind me of your name?”  That’s the picture of a man who doesn’t have a clue about his social center - or at least doesn’t care about the names of his regular kids.  If everyone in our group is to be a minister to each other, then everyone must take the initiative - all I can do is spread the vision and invite others to join in.

Last 5 posts by Mark

• Chicago Spiritual Map: Hyde Park - August 28th, 2008
• Off the Blogger Bench - August 27th, 2008

This entry was posted on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Confessions, Ecclesiology, Habits, Mega-Church, Mutual Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.