Krista’s family has always taken some sort of picture on Easter. So this year, our family decided to give it a shot since we have so little pictures of our family together (most of the time Krista or I are taking the pictures.) So, here is the 2008 version of the Corpus Christi Chapter of the Norman Clan.
Happy Easter!
Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” Matthew 28:1-7
That’s why we celebrate Easter… because the tomb was and is empty! Because of that truth, we are offered a hope that goes beyond anything we can imagine. So Happy Easter. Now you can go hunt eggs.
I love community
In ministry, we talk about community so much. We refer to a community of faith. We teach the power of a believing community. The fact is that God has placed the power of synergy within community.
I noticed this while studying for my OT II test tonight. On my own, I am one of the least disciplined, most easily distracted, and laziest seminary students you’ve ever seen. I walked in Barnes & Nobles tonight absolutely clueless. As I approached, every question that was asked was met immediately by a blank stare on my part. But after learning in our study group, and listening to the input of the other students, I now can say that I know just enough.
They share the information, and I usually put some pop-culture spin on it that helps make it memorable. It’s the power of synergy in our group. The knowledge and capabilities of 6 individuals merge together to form a powerful combination.
I am so grateful for my community.
A Minister’s Challenge
This morning, Micah’s school had a ceremony to kick of Texas Week. So all of the teachers and students gathered around the flagpole and watched the raising of the flag of the USA and the Texas flag. We said the pledges to each flag, then we sang the Star Spangled Banner and Texas Our Texas.
I noticed during the ceremony that the lady who led the pledges and hosted the event pawned the leading of the singing on some others – not really intentionally (it appeared to surprise them as well). I asked another teacher why she didn’t love Texas enough to sing (I can be disruptive sometimes).
Her response was that she probably didn’t know the words and didn’t want to mess up in front of a bunch of elementary students. And, that got me to thinking…
In ministry, how guilty are we (at times) of the exact same thing? We teach, preach, and counsel one thing, yet so often are found trying to lead a student to a spiritual maturity beyond our own.
Here’s one thing I know of ministry. We will never lead a student to a spiritual maturity beyond our own. We set the pace. If our students’ prayer lives suck, chances are that ours do as well. If our students’ lives are filled with chaos and a lack of peace, we’d better check our own. Our spiritual fervor and hunger will limit and stagnate the spriritual growth of our students if we aren’t disciplined enough to maintain our relationship with Christ.
This thinking prompted my use of a Bible reading schedule this year. This thinking prompted my own personal need for accountability. So, as we minister to kids and discover what exactly is missing and weakest in their lives, we need to first make sure that we are living out what we are teaching by preaching incarnationally.
“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” – St. Francis of Assisi
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and fail to notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get the speck out of your eye’, when there is a plank in your own? You fraud! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you can see clearly enough to remove your brother’s speck of dust.
Matthew 7:3-5 (Phillips NT)
Jeremiah Thoughts
My first reading of Jeremiah was memorable to me because I was struggling with burnout at the time. So, I can’t read the text and not see a lot of myself within the confessions of Jeremiah.
What minister hasn’t accused God of taking advantage of them? I speak from experience knowing that I have had moments when I believed God was expecting more from me than I could give, and that there was an injustice in what I was going through in my pursuit in ministry.
My wife was two weeks from giving birth to our daughter (our second child) when I was called into the senior pastor’s office and notified that the board of trustees was unhappy with the numbers and direction of the student ministry. Therefore, they were graciously going to give me four months to “turn it around,” but since they felt I would be unable to do that, they were going to go ahead and interview applicants for my replacement.
I wanted to go. I didn’t merely want to leave the church, I wanted out of ministry. I could live with serving God, but had no compassion or appreciation for his church. It only served as a tormentor towards me. I had gained nothing from serving in ministry, but it had threatened the welfare of my family, and that I could not take.
So I prayed, and I prayed. I bided my time. I must have “turned it around,” because they didn’t hire my replacement, but I was hurt nonetheless. I chose to leave the ministry. I applied for several police department positions. One of which, I was unable to pass the physical test. The day before I was scheduled to take a written test for a fire department, I was hospitalized in order to receive an emergency appendectomy. I passed another police department physical exam two weeks post-op.
I was speaking to my best friend (another youth pastor) and he and I had a discussion about my struggles, and my desire to leave ministry. His comment was that if I could possibly leave ministry, then I should. But, if I’m called to ministry (which he believed I was), then I could not possibly be happy or content outside of ministry.
His statement rang true deep in my core, and I realized – like Jeremiah – that “his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)
Regardless of how I felt about the church at the time – regardless of my thoughts of being overwhelmed by God and used by him – I knew what I still know. I cannot be silent. I cannot stand idly by and not speak God’s word. I once thought that I could work a “secular” job, go home, and live in a happy Huckstable home.
There are people that can be content in that situation, and I applaud them (and at times envy them). However, I am not one of them, nor (now) would I want to be. I am called by Christ, to speak his words, to share his message, and to tell his greatness at every available opportunity.
I know who I am. I know what I am called to, and strangely enough, it is in accepting my role in the Kingdom and embracing the awesome responsibility and privilege of being one of God’s spokesmen that brings me joy.
I love the church. I love what I do within the church. I can’t imagine doing anything that doesn’t incorporate speaking God’s truths to anyone willing to listen – whether I do that in the context of Student Ministry, or in leading worship, or in (one day?) leading a church.
Perhaps the reality is that the very same feeling that upon burnout can be described as being overtaken by God and taken advantage of God, is the very same feeling that upon surrender is actually a comfort of being called and qualified by God. What feels to be pressure and heavy responsibility becomes (and perhaps always was) a passion and awesome privilege.