Last night at Misknits (the GREAT little knit shop just off 39th at Terrace) we had a happy group knitting (except me, crocheting). A woman sitting next to me was making a gorgeous raspberry alpaca yarn "mystery shawl." I guess on a certain knitting website, you can get a "mystery" pattern which you follow---it only gives you one short part of the directions at a time. Each week , I think, she gets a little more of the pattern and it is taking shape in her hands, but she is not told what the pattern will look like when done or how intricate it is. She just trusts that the directions are correct and that she will have, after several weeks of this, a beautiful shawl. So far, it looks pretty good to me.
A metaphor, of course, for this unfolding new year, and most appropriate, it feels like, to what the bulk of my d.s. work is right now. I am "interviewing" all of the pastors under appointment in my district (except one retired guy) and hearing how things are going, what they hope to work on and how I can be helpful to the pastors' vocation and lives. This year, with just a few interviewed so far, there seems to be a willingness to share with me in "real" ways---the folks are not afraid, at least to some degree, to be "human" with me---this is a treasure, I take as a real gift. What my relationship with these pastors will be has not yet completely been revealed, but the relationships are unfolding in some very interesting patterns. I feel as if in some cases I have earned trust, but in others, the pastor who may be new in the district can simply tell somehow that my desire is not to play "gotcha" with them in these interviews but to be along side them, helping to see where the patterns are emerging in their ministries, and where a corrective stitch or two needs to be made, and where, by the grace of God, the texture and color of their ministry is a thing of beauty. This is a time of handling holy things, as so much is in this ministry I have right now and I am so very grateful for the opportunity to stand along side pastors at all stages of ministry and to see with them what God is doing in their lives. And to be assured that as the patterns are discerned, we can all trust that whatever the intricacies or unexpected turns, there was at the beginning, and will be at the end, Love.
2 comments:
Read your blogs, including the clergy women's party. You said, "It occurred to me this year, with two of the three d.s.s being women in the KC area, whether this idea of a women-only party is outdated."
1. Even if all DS's were women, that wouldn't eliminate gender discrimination in the churches.
2. There are issues in addition to gender discrimination that threaten the viability of churches and ministry as a vocation. From your experience you surely can make a long list.
3. If pastors and church members can be believed, one of the serious problems of the UMC is ineffective or misguided supervision by District Superintendents and Bishops. (NOT a criticism of you personally.) Also a problem is the lack of accountability on the part of laity. Pastors are sometimes ineffective, too, but they are accountable at many (perhaps too many) points.
4. While the "Five Practices" merit consideration, the issues referred to above don't appear to be receiving equal or adequate attention. The turmoil in many congregations and the pain felt by many clergy is unabated.
Rick Gressman
c7730b@gmail.com
4.
Thanks Rick. I would agree with some of what you assert here, that's for sure. One of the ways I determine how to react as a d.s. in certain situation that may come up is to think back on the effective superintedents whom I have had and think how he (they were all he) might deal with it. Unfortunately, I remember times with a d.s. that have taught me to be careful not to react as he did. This position, as I know you have heard, is something one must experience to appreciate.
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