Today was a day of meetings. I had clerius in the AM followed this evening by a warden’s meeting and a parish council meeting. Lots of meeting. It was a good day in that there was lots of interaction with those who minister. This morning it was the ordained – tonight it was the baptised. Either way it was good to be with those who minister. It was in being with others that I am given hope for accomplishing that which God is calling us to. There are days that it is not easy to accomplish all that needs doing as a priest on the church. John Chrysostom wrote about the challenges that faced him as priest in the church.

 

“I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work; for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea.”

The difference today from the fourth century (at least hope I hope it is the case) is that we have come to understand that there is much more to ministry than a priest alone can provide. There are days that I am flabbergasted at the magnitude of all the need. Yet I am put at ease when I have opportunity to meet with the people of God as I did today (well yesterday by now) and realise that while stormy billows vex my reality I am not alone and I do not minister alone. No matter how small or puny I feel, no matter how ffeble I thnk my attempts at ministry sometimes are, I know that I am not alone. My ministry is rooted in community and that is a gift no matter what storms lap at my existence. The people of God are ultimatley the Priesthood that matters. I am glad to have a role in that. 

 

Thank God for the multitude of gifts and talents that are alive and well at St. Mark’s by-the-Lake.