I may be a pastor, but in the big
picture, I’m just the gardener. It’s taken me 21 years of ordained ministry to
figure that little piece of wisdom out.
Like the sower in Jesus’ parable, I have scattered all kinds of seed
over all kinds of ground. In 21 years, I’ve
served 3 congregations in 2 different states.
I’ve preached and taught; I’ve visited the sick; I’ve comforted the
dying; I’ve visited the imprisoned; I’ve fed the hungry; I’ve clothed the naked
– well not literally the naked. (There are boundaries after all.) In 21
years, I’ve rejoiced and wept with more people than I can possibly remember; I’ve
been encouraged by some and had my heart broken by others. In 21 years I’ve made brilliant decisions
along with a whole bunch of “bone-headed” ones. I’ve been an instrument of healing and have
without a doubt hurt a few folks along the way as well.
In 21 years of ordained ministry, I’d
like to think that most of the seeds leaving my hands have taken root and are
ushering in the kingdom of God in abundance; But probably not. I’ve never served a church where there was a
waiting line to get in the building on a Sunday morning. Nor have I ever experienced the need to
provide shuttle service from satellite parking lots in order to accommodate huge
church crowds. Instead I look out over
more empty pews than I’d like. I look at
old church pictorial directories and am haunted by the sizable crowds that
once filled our building. I hear stories
of packed Sunday School classrooms and the need for extra chairs during
Christmas and Easter worship services.
In all of this I wonder, what I’ve done wrong.
Maybe I should have been more
careful in where I dropped the seeds.
Maybe I should have studied the chemical make-up of the soil more so that
I would know where seeds do well and where they do not. There must be a way for me to replicate
growth mechanisms in seeds so that I can produce my own growth on demand. To see the mountains of brochures that come
across my desk, you’d think that would be an easy task. Here are just a few of the “do-it-yourself” items
I’ve seen over the past year that have at times added to my sense of pastoral
guilt:
“How
to grow a church in 3 easy steps”
“4
reasons why your church is not growing”
“5
most important church growth principles”
“6
essentials for church growth”
“7
keys to church growth”
“8
characteristics of growing churches”
“10
enemies of church growth”
“Pastors…grow
your church in 10 minutes for free” (my personal favorite)
But as
I pray about the gospel reading coming up on Sunday, Jesus seems to tell a
different story. According to Jesus, the
one who casts the seeds is not the one who grows them. (Sorry
church growth experts). In fact the
seed spreader “would sleep and rise night
and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself” (Mark 4:27-8a). Or as
the Greek literally says, “Of its own accord the earth bears fruit”. In other words, the sower cannot make the
seed bear fruit. It is entirely out of
the gardener’s hands.
It’s a
good thing, because in 21 years of doing this ministry stuff, I’ve learned
there are at least 2 things I cannot do.
I cannot create faith, nor can I attract large crowds on Sunday mornings. And yet despite these deficits and inabilities, I
see the gospel taking seed in the hearts of more and more folks as our
education and outreach ministries expand. I see seeds of faith being nurtured in our
young people as they become increasingly involved in all aspects of church
leadership and advocacy, while at the same time discovering the freedom to wrestle
with real life questions of faith and doubt.
I see the gospel alive and well in our monthly Dinner Church gatherings
as well as our emerging Pub Theology nights.
I see seeds bearing fruit in abundance as we feed the hungry and house
the homeless month after month. And all
of this is God’s doing, not mine.
God
has made the seed and gives the seed the ability to bear fruit. Not me.
I’m just the gardener; the one who is called to care and nurture the seeds. I can do that! And I am more than happy to let God do the
rest. It's only taken me 21 years to figure this out.
In thankfulness for being on this journey with you in love and patience,
Pastor Doug
No comments:
Post a Comment