Good Grief...

A special light in the faith family of which I am privileged to be a part is a young woman who inspires and leads us all with her passion for faith and sharing faith with others.  She has answered God's call to be a leader wherever she is...serving our church as its first youth elder...serving the greater church in conference leadership...serving God in her daily walk...sharing God's love with everyone she encounters.

Frustrations abound as she practices her faith.  You cannot answer God's call without frustration.  But she recognizes that God is working and she journeys on.  She heads to seminary in the fall.

She shared with us last night what all of us who serve the church experience.  With the excitement and challenge of serving as we are called, we also grieve the loss of those communities that nurtured us.  We can't worship on Sundays with those people who raised us in the faith.  We lead worship.  We can't enjoy Christmas Eve services in the community that first blessed us with God's love.  We preach those services.  We can't celebrate all the baptisms, confirmations, graduations, youth Sundays, (insert celebration here) of our friends and families because we are celebrating all those baptisms, confirmations, graduations, and youth Sundays in the churches to which we have been called.

The call of ministry is a blessing.  I can tell you that I have been nurtured and I have loved many congregations in the body of Christ.  Every church I have attended has blessed my life.  But I, with all my colleagues, also grieve.

I think what I am discovering is, in the life of faith, sacrifice and blessing walk hand in hand.  Pain and growth are inescapably intertwined.  And the ability to trust the journey of faith, even when it looks nothing like what we had imagined, is part of our call, whether we are called to ministry of Word and Sacrament, or whether we are doctors or lawyers or teachers or sports reporters.  We may be called to sacrifice things we love...things we never imagined we could do without...things that we don't want to give up.  But the blessings pour in, and we have the opportunity to bless others.  And it is good.