What challenges have you been grateful through?
Day 2
This is much harder to do, because it doesn’t generally fit in your grateful/thankful list. But as I look back and try to think of where I am today and how I got here, there are some challenges that have become moments of thanks.
One of them is what happened at the end of Vietnam War. I was drafted and my number was 005, automatic. I received a student different since I was already in school. The war ended and the draft was suspended in the second half of my senior year, well after enrollment in seminary had come and gone. I was going to do my two years of alternate service for my country and had put off seminary for that reason. Then all of a sudden, I needed enrollment in seminary. I made the call to see, since I had missed ALL of the deadlines. Surprise, they had several openings all of a sudden, when many dropped out because the war was over. Not only did they have room, they suddenly had scholarship money available too. And If I wanted, I could do a summer internship just before Fall semester for Scholarship help as well. So what went from a challenge, became a whole slew of thankful moments.
Another challenge related to my first appointment in ministry. I had 3 small country churches on a charge, as UMC folks call them. After 3 years, Number 1 wanted to vote me off the Island. Number 2 loved what I was doing and wanted me to stay, and the 3rd did not want to break the tie. My superintendent met with them, and then told me not to worry, they had a great place for me next. It turned out to be my grandmother’s church in Baltimore City. That developed into a Cooperative Parish and I thoroughly enjoyed my ministry there. I could ride a bus to Memorial Stadium to watch the Orioles play, when they were in playoffs and World Series. Many other adventures, but they might not have happened had the churches not been able to come to a consensus about my ministry. We had seen a great deal of growth and the church that voted me off the island, that was afraid the church would change too much if I stayed.
Another challenge was the sudden death of my mother in an auto accident on our younger son’s birthday even. In the midst of the awful shock, I came to see far more how others feel in tragedy. In the long run, it made me a much better pastor, especially to the grieving people in my churches. I also learned how helpful having family and friends rally around when there is a tragedy. A gift I might not have discovered. When the Beltway Sniper killed a church member, I was able to provide a great deal of comfort to the family and to the church because of my awareness of the tragedy and its pain.
In my divorce, I learned that what I thought meant the end of my ministry became a feature to understand 1/2 of my community where divorce occurs. Suddenly members of my congregation returned because they knew I would understand. Many of my leaders offered help because they too were divorced and re-married. It also made me very aware of how precious family can be and I am very sorry that I wasn’t aware of that before this. Pastoral ministry, especially living in the fishbowl next to the church, can have a tremendous impact on family. I’m not suggesting pastors have to endure all the challenges and hardships, but simply recognize a roll they play in helping others. In the church world it’s an example of Incarnation. God is with us, in our messy situations. Jesus born in a manger under Roman Domination, and persecution, help us realize that God does understand us, in ways we may not be aware of when most of life is going well.
Portraying William Bradford, of Pilgrim fame, put me in touch with Of Plymouth Plantation, fame, which introduced a whole level of tragedy and struggle over come to come to America. The myth of Thanksgiving we live with now, needs to be recovered with a sense of reality. But there are many really helpful and worthwhile lessons in that story for which we can be thankful in the challenge. Did you know that Squanto, the Native American who was so helpful to the Pilgrims, was captures by pirates, sold into slavery in Spain, escaped, walked across Europe, was rescued by monks, became a Christian and was helped to return to his native land. All just before he wad able to speak the language and the spiritual heart of those who he was helping in Plymouth. Fascinating story. So is the adventures of the pilgrims in Holland before they migrated to North America. To them it was Egyptian slavery and deliverance just like Old Testament story. Great reading and a real lesson on how we can be grateful in challenges.
So thank you Diane Butler Bass, for pointing us in the direction of giving thanks through challenges and tragedies. May each of you find some places that can become sources of gratitude that weren’t there originally in the midst of the mess.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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