Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Jack of all trades?

Vicaring is a funny life. As a public figure, the visible face of the church, the establishment, one gets all sorts of invitations to join forums and committees and steering groups and to attend meetings and studies and to be present at events and supporting social gatherings and great at assemblies with both tiny tots and tired teens and to generally be available in the way that it used to be in the good old days when the shops were shut on Sunday and everyone went to church in their best clothes. And presumably all of those activities are viewed by the people who participate in them and who invite vicars to join with them as being of the Kingdom of God. And we've not yet got to the infirm and the emotionally needy or to writing awe-inspiring sermons that gladden the heart, comfort the soul and kick the backside, or to preparing people for weddings or baptisms, or meeting with grieving families, or tidying one's study, or having lunch with a loved one. And so the list could continue. So vicars need to be jacks of all trades and masters of all of them, which sets us up to fail from the outset as we discover that we're master of none of them.
Or is there another approach? As I have started this new post I have tried to hit the ground not running but walking slowly, looking around, trying to discern where the people in the congregation, the local residents and I overlap in terms of creating opportunities to see the Kingdom of God in all its glory. But it's hard because I know that I need to let people down if they expect me to say "yes" to everything or to change nothing and do what was always done. Our relationship with God needs to be living and active, which means that the way that we order our worship lives and our church activity will also be changing as we grow and learn.
Rather than be a jack of all trades and master of none of them, I'd like to really discern the charism of this place, this calling on me and my family to minister in this place, and to do it to the best of my God-given gifting and potential.

No comments:

Post a Comment