New Adventures in Ministry

So this weekend I was exposed to a new aspect of pastoral ministry--visitations. On Friday, Ross took me with him to visit Belmont Village, a retirement community in Burbank where several of our members live, and it was such a wonderful time visiting each of them breifly in their homes (apartments) to talk with them for a few moments and then to pray for them. I am amazed at the stories that these folks have to tell--Irene, one woman we visited, used to work for NBC doing costume design for over 30 years, and used to do outfits for Dean Martin and Liberachi (yeah I probably didn't spell that right...). Another woman told me all about how her daughter lives in Seattle & she hates visiting her because it rains all the time, but her daughter doesn't like coming down here because it is too warm--Ross laughed and told the woman that I was probably going to sympathize with her daughter as far as weather goes! Then, Sunday evening, I got to join him at Windsor Mannor, another retirement community, where he led a short vespers service, and then the two of us joined the residents for dinner in their dining room. We had a delightful time hearing some of their stories, one woman, Mary, is 101 years old, and was one of the first secretaries at our church back in 1925! It was such a gift to be able to slow down for awhile, to listen to their stories, to not be in such a hurry to communicate twice as much information in half the time, but to take time to let the stories develop slowly. Everything is done at about half the speed as I am sure these individuals used to move, yet there is something so wonderful, and so foreign about that to the rest of us. In a world where I feel like I am constantly getting praised for being constantly productive, and for moving at a rapid pace no matter what I am doing, it was so refreshing to have a few hours to not be in a rush, to not be looking at my watch, but to simply sit and listen.

I am also falling in love with the concept of preaching, with the theology of homiletics (a fancy word for the proclamation or preaching of the Gospel). Looking at the theology behind why we preach and how we are to deliver the message and what the significance of preaching is or should be in our times of worship has been fascinating to me. Coming from the Lutheran and Presbyterian background, the proclamation of the Word, or the sermon, is THE central point of the worship service. Everything in the liturgy points us to the proclaiming of God's word and everything after the sermon points the hearers to taking that word out into the world--or the "sending" of the people to be ministers in their particular parts of society. So, studying what we mean by preaching, how to preach, who should preach, various ways to communicate, and how to take a text and move from that to the sermon has been amazing. I'm all of a sudden fascinated by word selection--how do you tell a story or communicate your careful research and exegetical work without sounding like you are simply giving a lecture? How do you paint a picture for your congregation using words? What makes an effective sermon illustration? I all of a sudden am finding myself completely enamored with preachers--with studying their styles, with reflecting on how they did something in their sermons. I have to say probably my new favorite is Barbara Brown Taylor--an Episcopal priest in the south who is a master communicator and preacher. (You can see one of her quotes above my picture on this page.)We're reading some of her sermons and she is incredible at painting pictures with words--I find myself reading her sermons asking out loud "wow, how did she do that?!" If one isn't looking for it, or paying attention, one won't even realize that the literary skills she displays are superb, but the gift she has at selecting words, at communicating the Gospel message is unbelievable to me. I've always enjoyed words--writing, speaking, various forms of communication--and now I am beginning to see another thing that one can do with a love and passion for words--preach the Gospel--communicate the grace that God has for his children--I am not sure that I can think of anything else I would rather be doing!