I was handed the latest United Church of Canada periodical, “Touchstone: theology shaping witness” and told it might speak to me. The issue is titled, “Ministry, why bother?”
An article written by Hugh D. Reid struck me as I read it this morning. He tells of the ministry experience of a man named Christian.
“He met hostility and suspicion from the people to whom he was sent, people who could believe more easily in their rejection by the world and their insignificance to the world than they could believe in a God who loved them, but Christian was equipped with joy. He said, “in the face of their antagonism,” he was sustained, “by the truth about them that they did not know.” His task was not to coerce or to manipulate them into recieving this truth for he was more than a conqueror; he had only to patiently be for them until they could own for themselves the love and significance that was theirs. He has seen many lives transformed from the street to stability, from violence to community, from death to life as the redemption that has been accomplished took hold.”
Do I have the eyes (and the patience!)to see in others the truth about them that they do not know?
Lord, you have given me the desire, give me also the grace to complete this task.
PT
What if...? 