Dear Friends,
Year ago I taught Sunday School to a wonderfully gifted group of youth. I was please, when invited by the preacher, they unanimously agreed to help lead Sunday worship one morning in Advent by reading aloud a rather complicated and dramatic harmony of voices. They had more than a month to prepare. Plenty of time, right?
We held rehearsals Sunday evenings at 5, and ate supper together afterward. It was great! Their enthusiasm grew the more we practiced. Finally, the bulletins were printed with all of their names listed. One youth member had even designed the cover for that bulletin. The night before our appearance, I called and reminded each one to set their alarms. "9:45 in the Youth Room," I said, "for a warm up."
The day arrived. I remember sitting with my own children (Kie and Andrew) in the Youth Room looking at my watch thinking, "I may be a little fast." But by 10:00, only two more kids had come. I parked them in various offices armed with phones and the numbers of their cohorts. Terrified by my threat to make them appear without the rest (and the assurance from my kids that I would actually do that), the four were more than happy to oblige. "Miss Robin says, 'GET HERE NOW,'" they said. "She doesn't CARE if you haven't had a shower." At five minutes before the 11:00 service began, I had a band of 14 (out of 17) disheveled, miserable young people gathered. "What's going ON?" I asked. "You were so excited about this!"
One of the girls, a 7th grader named Margaret, sighed. "Miss Robin, do we HAVE to do this in front of everybody? Because I think it was the idea we liked." I tried very hard not to squeeze too hard as I put my arm around her and smiled sweetly. "No, Margaret. You don't HAVE to do this. you WANT to. Now let's go."
They did themselves (and me) proud that day. Their gift to God was flawless, even without the warm-up. The people smiled and applauded. Our youth were so talented! Such a blessing! No one had a clue that their Sunday School teacher teetered close to the edge of distraction that day. I remember the kids standing on the steps after they'd finished, their chests puffed with pride while I did a deep breathing exercises to slow my heart down. Margaret turned to me as she headed back to her seat and whispered, "You were right, Miss Robin. We did want to do this. We just didn't know it yet."
How mahy times have you agreed to do something, and then regretted ever having uttered that fatal word ("yes")? Me, too. The idea was great. And the date was far enough away not to overwhelm us with any read sense of urgency. But time flies, and now we're being called to follow through. While we'd really rather slink away unnoticed, we know that one is only as good and one's word. We pretty much have to do it, right? So we step up, and we shift around our schedules to make room for one more thing. It's highly inconvenient, and we'll never agree to do anything ever again (we always say that, don't we?), but this time, okay. It'll be over soon.
Then it's done. And (surprise!) it dawns on us that we're actually glad to have done it. It wasn't nearly the burden we thought it would be, nor the inconvenience. I guess we didn't expect to enjoy ourselves, or we didn't kmnow we'd feel so satisfied or invigorated or BLESSED. Like my friend Margaret put it: Maybe we really did want to do it. We just didn't know it until it was over.
You are the church; "...royal priesthoot...;" the hands and feet and heart and voice of Jesus Christ, charged with carrying on his mission in the world. To pass the bulk of ministry to the pastor, the staff, and a handful of tired volunteers is to limit that ministry severely. It limits you, too - and the fullness of your experience as faithful disciples and servants of Christ.
"Christan Network: (C-Net) is a delivery system for ministry, intended to help you determine how and where you want to use your God-given spiritual gifts in the conduct of ministry with the understanding that as you are engaged in a ministry to which you have been called, you will be blessed. Secondly, C-Net organizes church needs in such a way as to spread the responsibilities out among the members of groups organized for the purpose of filling specific needs. There are many who can and will serve when we are able to show them how and when and where the needs are; when we have organized them in such a way as to be able to plan ahead for each event. When adequate preparation has taken place, there is no last minute frenzy, no need for the frustration that invariably rises to the surface when the troops feel so pressured. Because your C-Net ministry will take place within the context of a group, instead of being overwhelmed or overworked, your service will offer you a sense of joy and fulfillment.
It is my hope and prayer that all who include themselves in this congregation in any way will support C-Net wholeheartedly and with enthusiasm so it can live up to the promise it offers. Not because our church needs her member to serve; not even because in order to find a balance in life and faith we have a need to serve;but because Christ has asked us to take his mission and fulfill it. And by our faith, we have agreed. The minutes that's done, the minute there are no needs or hurts left, we can rest from our labors.
Take it from Margaret (and me). You may not know you want to do it now, but I have a hunch you'll be very glad you did it.
Blessings,
Robin