Skip to main content

Minister

             He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6)

            Competent: having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully: acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding

             Minister: (archaic) a person or thing used to achieve or convey something.

             Administer: To be in charge of…

 

            If you’re like me, “He has made us competent” will get a cheer. I’m competent! That means I’ll get things right, and everything will turn out as it should. Everyone will point at me as I walk down the street and say in an awed voice, “She’s competent!”

           I’m not quite that silly. I keep saying I want to be invisible because I don’t want people pointing at me and saying, “Aren’t you the one who ____?” I use a pseudonym as a writer so that I don’t have to be “the author of___” when I just want to be myself. But I suspect we all want to be competent…good enough…valuable (not just valued, and there is a difference.)

            But Paul doesn’t just say that we’ve been made competent. He tells us we are given the competence to do: minister. And if your first reaction to that word is, “Oh no, I don’t want to be a pastor,” don’t worry, that’s not what it means. If nothing else, these days, pastors get paid. Ministers may or may not be paid.

            I spent a few years as an administration assistant to the guy who was responsible for the function of the county properties and the county executive’s right hand. Technically, I was a right-hand woman to the right-hand man of the county executive. It was my job to take care of the routine details for the departments of operations and administration. All of the work, none of the rewards. If anyone knew who did the real work, it was someone within the office.

            As ministers, we’re supposed to be like members of Jean Luc Picard’s crew and “Make it so.” When we pray “The Lord’s Prayer,” one of the lines is “Thy will be done.” I tend to want to pray it and sit back to watch God get to work, but as ministers, it’s our job to do that will, to live in the spirit and to minister that life to others.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more