Third Sunday, March 8

Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. When clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Ecclesiastes 11

The Value of Diligence or "Thoughts on Ministry"

If you were at First on a Rejoicing Spirits Sunday at around 4:30pm you would see a bus pull up to the front of the building. On this bus, on a very good day, are maybe eight of our Angels Place friends plus maybe one or two others, Peter Miller, Marcie, a paid driver who is not a member of First or possibly any congregation, and me. We are the Rejoicing Spirits bus team and it wouldn't take long to see that what we do is done in an extremely inefficient manner. Well, it is. It doesn't take four people to pick up maybe eight but we aren't doing business, we're doing ministry and Thank God, the rules are different.

If you take a quick look you will see that I've added my title to that of the editors of the NRSV. My title is "Thoughts on Ministry" and this is why. In doing the ministry of the bus for Rejoicing Spirits I'm not driven by thoughts of ten years from now, or how many come on the bus. I'm not overly concerned about how many people are involved from First, though I'd like more, or anything like that. The members of the team are following our passion, casting our bread in the form of our time, energy, and availability on the water of ministry with no guarantee that we'll find it in the form of some kind of reward again. By casting our bread in the form of our time and energy, we have and will continue to learn together, we'll grow together as we take risks of ministry. The risks of learning, of changing our perspectives as we experience others, and growing into the people that God has called us to be. As we do this we'll have the wonderful opportunities of getting to build relationships with each other and the riders, to encourage each other, to help each other out of the cultural boxes of who is serving and who is served that it is so easy to get caught in.

I hope and pray that you find a ministry that works for you. If you haven't yet come, join Marcie, Peter, the driver Steve and me as we do our ministry. Maybe your bread of time and energy will come back to you in finding that it is your ministry too, or maybe you'll find it a springboard to something else. Either way is fine; just cast your bread.

Terry Chaney