| I write this as one
who has just recently finished seminary-and even more recently been
ordained. I'm not sure yet what to think of this "other side" of
the journey. It is a place I have often wondered if I would ever
actually get to. And yet, here I am, having been pronounced fit
for ministry by all the "official" types, and able to begin serving
full-time in a church that I love alongside people I have a great
deal of respect for.
 I
think that the "official" stuff is soon going to cease to matter,
and when it does, I think that what will rise to the surface of
my awareness and take hold of me will be a realization that not
only is the journey far from over, but a realization that I am doing
the only thing I can do and remain happy and whole. Frederick Buechner
once said in so many words that vocation is where your "deep gladness,"
and "the world's deep need" meet. I cannot imagine feeling that
deep gladness in any other way than I do in ministry. It is a way
of life, who I am, the air that I breathe-even when the air is difficult
to breathe and even when who I am is difficult to define.
I don't doubt that the next part of this journey
is going to be rough-any one in ministry will tell you that. But
that's no reason to steer clear of it. The important thing is, as
my dear friend and colleague who preached my ordination service
quipped, is to "keep the main thing the main thing." That main thing
is love-love for each other, love for God, love for the church that
we (both ordained and lay) serve together. My dad says that ministry
(and even faith itself) is sort of like a dance-a dance in which
the partners continually change and move and yield and grow, a dance
in which no one is ever quite sure what the end will be like, but
also a dance where folks are willing to keep dancing towards love
and grace. Ministry is about being willing to always come to that
dance-even when your feet are sore, your heart is tired and your
soul longs for resurrection. Even then, you keep coming any way,
because God keeps calling, and the dance goes on.
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