"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,
Let me now go to the field,
and glean ears of corn after him
In whose sight I shall find grace.
And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."
Ruth 2:2 KJV
“M” is for Ministry . . . and yes, you've read that correctly, my second "M" post for my Quaker Alphabet is on ministry. I realize that some of you may be a bit curious or even shocked with this choice while at least one of my Friends may be quite pleased and eager to see where I go with this one.
As I began this post, I looked for definitions of ministry but the definitions I was finding had to do with Ministers and who/what Ministers do, that is to say that I found definitions of a Pastor and who/what a Pastor does - administration, not at all what I was looking for. However, I did, finally, run across a few definitions that seemed to get a bit closer to where I was going with this post:
- "Some who carry a concern that leads them to visit other meetings or groups in the wider world." (Glossary of Quaker Terms, New York Yearly Meeting)
- "When a person is inspired by the spirit to speak in Meeting for Worship, that is described as Ministry." (Swarthmore Friends Meeting)
- "Ministry is meeting people where they are at and taking them to where God wants them to be." ('Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep,' August 23, 2010, blog post, J.R. Briggs)
The first two obviously came from Quaker sources and speak of ministry in Quaker terms, but the third one really hit me when I read it . . . especially the last part of it "taking them to where God wants them to be." A phrase that is oh so similar to one that I found last year, and quoted in my second blog "The Meaning of GRACE . . ."
- "Grace is the empowering Presence of God enabling you to be who He created you to be, and to do what He has called you to do." (James Ryle)
So, by now maybe the pieces of this puzzle are coming together a bit more clearly for all of you. Eleven months ago "I Shall Find Grace . . ." sent me off "to do what He has called me to do," and now "M is for Ministries . . . " is "taking them to where God wants them to be," OR maybe this last one should read has "taken me to where God wants me to be."
Ministry is a word that you could say 'grew on me' this last year, or maybe a better description might be to say that 'I grew into it' this last year. Now, there are those of you who will totally understand what I mean here, for one reason or another, and others of you will be totally clueless . . . and that's OK, don't give up on me just yet, keep on reading.
I have a number of F/friends who have told me over the last several years that I’m doing a great job OR wonderful job with this or
that ministry, and I cringe! I’m not a minister . . . that’s my Uncle John – he’s the minister in the family. You know, he went to seminary, not me. I've had no formal education in ministry work. Yes, as a child I went to Sunday School, Saturday Church School, Church Camp, and Vacation Bible School. As an adult I've taught Sunday School, worked with Vacation Bible School, Kid's Club, served as a counselor at Church Camp, I'm an elected Director & assistant teacher with the Weekday Religious Education program, I'm also a member of Friends Committee on Scouting & I promote the Religious Education programs to all Scouts . . . and yeah, I know the bulletins at my Meeting say that we’re all ministers, but . . . I'm not a minister!
So image now, at least for a moment, the reaction I had on February 4th,
2013 when a certain Friend sends me a grant application to ‘travel in the ministry!’ But I’m not going to be traveling in the
ministry! And she said, I would be. Alright, I applied for that grant and I receive an award that covered my travel expenses, to participate in the Pilgrimage to
Ireland/Northern Ireland, 'to travel in the ministry.'
While on the Pilgrimage I
really didn’t think about ministry, or at least I didn’t think about doing any
ministry. I started this blog about a month before I left, and if you’ve read
the first paragraph in the left hand column you see that I said ". . . what I will share in the Blog will be spiritual in nature and will tell of the ministries I find myself in along this journey." What I published was different things I saw, felt and experienced that I saw as ministries, BUT, it was ministries that I saw my Irish Friends doing and not ministries that I was doing.
After I returned home, I published more posts
to my blog, sharing about my experiences and I found myself needing to also write reports
to the two groups that awarded me grants. The grant to ‘travel in the ministry’ asked me specifically to ‘describe the ministry undertaken.’ WHOOPS! I didn’t’ do any ministry,
so now what? I can’t just make something up. I’ve gotta be honest . . . and so I
was. And here’s how I began answering this question:
“I didn't set out with any ministries planned to do while I was on the pilgrimage. I was going for the
experience, to meet and learn about Irish Friends and what they are doing in Northern Ireland with regards to the 'Troubles.' Looking back I can now see several
ministries
that I was involved in while on
pilgrimage, ministries that just seemed to happen along the way,
or as some might say “God moments.” Some of these are/were a bit more visible or recognizable as ministries than others and one ministry was a group effort -
one that the six of
us on the pilgrimage, at that time, were involved in.”
A bit later in my report I made the
following statement, a sort of confession, if you will:
”I have become more accepting when someone talks to me and uses the word ‘ministry’ for what I do.
Seeing and hearing what our Irish Friends
have and are doing and my
blogging about their ‘ministries’
has made me see more of what I have done/am doing as
‘ministries.’ I
never thought I’d hear myself say that or write it
down. I see
this
as
one of the bigger lessons I learned from this pilgrimage experience.”
Yes, being able to look back at what I've done and look at what I’m
doing as ministries was a huge lesson learned last summer. But even so, I still cringe a bit when someone points out what I’m doing as a
ministry.
Last February and March the two questions I was asked most often were: 'Why are you wanting to go on this Pilgrimage?' and 'Why do you want to go to Ireland?' I had no clue and Ireland wasn't any place that I had ever talked about wanting to go to before, but I was having very strong feelings that I had to go, there was something or someone that I needed to see, something I needed to do . . . something God wanted me to see or do or someone He wanted me to talk to, something I couldn't really explain . . . although a few Friends understood.
A couple of Friends have made comments about my writings, my blog posts, and have said that they are wonderful 'devotionals' . . . and I thought maybe that's what it was all about. Did God want me to write, to write devotions? And now this evening as I sit and finish up this post on ministry, I wonder . . . is this what it was all for? Did it really have anything to do with Ireland, the Irish Friends, and/or my blogging . . . OR was it all to open my eyes so that I could/would see what I do as ministry? Was all my blogging about what I saw as ministries, among my Irish Friends, was that all just to help me see what I do as ministry? Was this one of those 'swift kicks' from God to open my eyes to see what others have been seeing in me?
Funny as now I have a song, that we've sung up at Quaker Haven Camp the last several years, going through my head:
Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see you
I want to see you
Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see you
I want to see you
To see you high and lifted up
Shining in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy,
Holy, holy, holy,
I want to see You.*
And it could be that this song is going through my head as I used it in the power point about Quaker Haven Camp that I put together for Meeting last Sunday.
What ministry or ministries are you doing? Where has God called you to go? What has God called you to do? What concerns do you have, and what are you doing about them? Have you give any vocal ministry lately? Or maybe a written ministry? Take a look around you . . . there are opportunities for ministry all around you, every day, everywhere you go . . .
*Paul Baloche
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~
Recipe time . . . One of my all-time
favorites is Marta’s German Cake, a name that we gave it way back when I was in
High School (early 1970’s). Marta was an older German lady who was a live-in
helper for Auntie Pearl, after Uncle Walt died. Uncle Walt and Auntie Pearl Schmeirer (sp)
lived on a small farm south of us in South Bend, Indiana, and they were very
good friends with Grandma and Grandpa Jena, my dad’s parents. Mom’s Blueberry
Pudding, again I have no clue who ‘Mom’ is/was.
Marta’s
German Cake
¾ pound margarine
3 cup + 3 Tablespoons sugar
6 large eggs
3½ cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
9 Tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 325˚F. Grease 12 cup Bundt
pan.
Beat margarine and sugar well. Add eggs 2
at a time, beating well. Add flour, baking powder, and milk – always start and
end with flour. More flour may be added- no more milk! Dough will be stiff! To
a little less than ½ batter add – 4 ½ heaping teaspoons cocoa, 3 heaping teaspoons
Nestles original milk cocoa (sweetened chocolate), 2 heaping teaspoons instant
Sanka (decaf coffee).
Pour into Bundt pan – white layer around
bottom, 3 spoons brown, more white, more brown, finishing with white. Do not
stir to marble!
Bake 1-1 1/6 hour. Test with long Q-Tip
(with the cotton removed!). Must come out clean. May put a piece of foil on top
- loose, if getting too brown. Cool ½ hour before turning out.
Mom’s Blueberry Pudding
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 cup water, boiling
Preheat oven to 350˚F. 9” square baking dish. Turn down to 325˚F if using glass.
Cream butter and ½ cup
sugar. Add milk, baking powder, salt and flour, beating well. Place the fruit
in the bottom of baking dish. Pour dough over the fruit. Mix ¾ cup sugar and
corn starch and sprinkle over the dough. Pour boiling water over all.
Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Serve warm with ice
cream or cold with whipping cream.
For frozen berries cut
down the boiling water to ¾ cup.
For peaches: use 3 cups
fruit – sprinkle with little sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
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