I am back at work after 9 months of maternity leave. For those of you to whom this is news I hope it helps explain this blog’s mysterious silence.
I have now been back at work for several months. Due to the timing of my return in June and its proximity to the lull of the summer holidays it was as gentle a transition as could be expected back into the world of full-time ministry work. This means that the busyness of September has hit me like a ton of bricks. September 1 marks the start of a new Connexional year for all (British) Methodist congregations and that along with the start of the school year means there are all kinds of activities starting up and a fresh round of meetings.
These transitions in my life, due to circumstance & season of the year, lead me to reflect on what is the nature of the work of ministry. I found the following quote by Henri Nouwen helpful and thought-provoking. I hope you find it challenges you too, because after all the work of ministry isn’t just about what the clergy do. Ministry is the work we are all called to by virtue of our baptism.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
The question is not to prepare [for ministry] but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o’clock, six o’clock, or nine o’clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God–that’s ministering.
Source: Time Enough to Minister in the journal Leadership (Spring 1982)
If you like this quote and would like to receive other reflective quotes like it daily in your inbox you too can sign up to receive an email from inward/outward. I am so pleased to have recently found this resource from the The Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. and I am especially glad to share it with you. Their description of their daily email is it provides a space set apart to wonder, dream, explore…what it means… why it matters… how it works… when ordinary people come together in pursuit of community, justice, forgiveness–set free for the sake of Love. Check it out; I hope you feel blessed by it too!
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