So – it took me a week to get anything on the blog after my fortnight’s holiday. A mad amount of correspondence, ridiculous levels of emails (3474, in case you’re curious – so much for anti-spam software), phone messages and people with new pastoral problems. Then some family stuff happened on top.
Congregations seem to respect busyness in a minister. It’s a sign of hard work, and they pay us. When I once had an Anglican colleague who would happily tell me at our meetings that he had spent the time cutting down a tree in the garden or sorting out a wardrobe, I was inwardly furious with him. I had been going from one thing to another, unlike him.
Rack this up against the book I’ve just finished: The Great Omission by Dallas Willard, in which the author characteristically states that the key to everything is spiritual formation as true disciples by following disciplines such as … solitude and silence. And I think, fat chance.
And the sense that church members pay ministers is something that needs challenging: strictly speaking, they do not pay us, they provide for us. Hence the manse, and not a salary (the rate for the job, supposedly) but a stipend (a living allowance). We need to recover this understanding, because it underpins the idea that enough is provided for me so that I can set aside time to pray and discern direction (something quite in tune with Willard’s approach). In these days where an understandable emphasis is being placed on accountability that is being directed into half-baked appraisal schemes and – worse for ministers – job descriptions, we need to hold onto these basics.
So it’s a challenging surprise to see announced a new book by Emma Ineson, a lecturer at Trinity College, Bristol, and formerly a chaplain at Lee Abbey, entitled, ‘Busy (Christian) Living: Blessing Not Burden‘. According to the blurb on Amazon, this is about being aware of God’s call in the busyness. Oh well, something else for the Amazon Wish List!
Technorati Tags: busy, spirituality, solitude, silence, DallasWillard, EmmaIneson
Big Circumstance 
As a new minister and a middle aged person I’m giving this issue quite a bit of thought. The ‘middle aged’ comment is pertinent as I spent the last 5 years of my training working at least 12 hour days but also knowing that I couldn’t keep it up indefinitely.
We had Ann Morisey speak at our last Synod and she talked about group dynamics in a context of anxiety (my bad paraphrase because she was an interesting speaker and not at all dry or boring). She confirmed my instinct that the last thing that a church needs is an anxious minister; I already knew that congregations would try to project a lot of anxiety on me and that’s part of the role in some sense.
I’m thinking of the phrase that ‘perfect love casts out fear’. For ‘fear’, read ‘anxiety’. If we are going to lead our congregations in coming to grace and in casting off fear and anxiety, then I think we have to model this ourselves. And I’m fairly certain that letting the projected fears and anxieties of the congregation roll of our backs (let alone giving up my own fear and anxieties) has to do with prayer and a deepening trust in God. I suspect that Dillard is right.
It would be interesting to hear what you think of the new book about finding God in our work. I found Chris Edmondson’s book very helpful.
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