Grasping at Hints ... Going Off at Tangents

Yesterday, 16^th March, I marked the 40^th anniversary of my ordination. Back in 1979 in the west of

Celebratory Cup Cakes

Scotland, I was ordained, and inducted as the minister of Beith E U Congregational Church. Yesterday was our Synod meeting and Synod generously marked the occasion, not least with cup cakes!

I am not quite sure how I got to this milestone, but doing so has inevitably led me to reflect on some of what got me here, and part of that has been thinking about how it all began and the influences on my early ministry.

With my parents on my ordination day 

One of my ‘heroes’, if that’s the right word, of the time was a Roman Catholic priest called Michael Hollings, and not least because he had written a book on ministry, entitled ‘Living Priesthood’. I recently dug out my copy and found myself revisiting a passage from the book that I marked when I originally read it. Hollings wrote: “it is .. only possible to come to the core-meaning of [ministry] by being nebulous and diffuse, grasping at hints, going off at tangents, rather than coming to centre points. There is only one centre point – Christ.  For Christ whom we are following, the one high priest, emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.”

Beith E U Congregational Church

I was so glad to reread that. I have spent so much time in ministry grasping at hints and going off at tangents – but when I think about it, I find that I agree with Hollings. That is OK.  That is what it’s about.  God doesn’t expect us to save the world.  That’s God’s job, and best left to God. If we try to do it all, we will end up feeling, as Hollings comments: “pretty desolate and frustrated, shallow and unused.” However, he adds that if we are “prepared to be emptied, to become everybody’s slave, fulfilment and joy will creep up … unawares.”

So, bring on the next bunch of hints and tangents – that might just be where God wants me to be.