Saturday, May 14, 2011

Journey to a New Ministry

Matthew 28:18-20 (English Standard Version)

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.


So, I have been in ministry transition for awhile. I am still seeking where God is calling me to serve... and I wonder where I am going to be going next. In other words, I wonder where God is sending me.

Could it be to a new church where I would serve on pastoral staff?

Could it be to a different sort of ministry that I have yet to discover?

Could it be in the public schools where I am already serving as a substitute teacher?

Could it be in the Community Theatre setting where my love for the stage has recently been re-discovered?

Could it be a combination of some of these areas... or is there something completely different in store for me?

I don't know where I am heading from here, but I do know that God is with me... no matter where I go or what I do... 'until the end of the age.'

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Judging Others

Luke 37-38 (English Standard Version)
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.

Have you ever felt that when it comes to church and religion that you just don't fit in anywhere? I have felt that for a long time... almost since I first became a Christian... and all because people have judged my religious beliefs without really getting to know me any my true thoughts on the subject.

My first church experience was in a mainline church. I was welcomed and invited to participate, but I felt like an outsider... on the fringe so to speak. I had an experience while I was there where I began to have an 'indwelling of the Holy Spirit' in my life. This spiritual awakening was looked at with suspicion in the mainline church and students at the Mainline Seminary I attended. I was told by other students that I was naive and backwards and didn't understand the teachings of Christ. I went home night after night crying that they were being so hurtful. After speaking with my professor, I moved onto an Evangelical Seminary.

Now at the new Evangelical Seminary, I still encountered judgment, but for different reasons. Here there were students who spoke out against me going into ministry because I was a woman. Since my graduation from that seminary, I have been seeking a position in Evangelical denominations that have not formed much fruit.

The icing on the cake came this week. I had applied for a position at an evangelical church this week. I got an email back inferring that I 'might not agree with all their positions' including immersion baptism. The ironic thing is that I have been baptized by immersion in a church in the same denomination that they are a part of. Again, they were judging me without knowing anything about me. Needless to say, that position was not a fit.

I have been judged by both mainline and evangelical church systems. All I want to do is follow Christ. I know that we are not supposed to be judging each other on our walks. The only one who can truly judge a person's walk is Christ. I am working on forgiving those along my path who have judged me unfairly and I am also working on not judging those in my path. Even in the New Testament, we see how the Jewish followers of Christ struggled to get along with the new gentile converts to the religion. I pray that we come to a point in time where we no longer judge and can accept our differences.