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Friends United Meeting |
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December 2003
25 Thoughts After 25 Years of Pastoral Ministry
Linda Kusse-Wolfe
Being a pastoral minister is a bit like taking people on a jungle safari through unexplored territory. It is a journey full of surprises, dangers, joys and growth. Here are a few thoughts that I'd like to share on what the experience has been like for me, so far!
1. Be the person you are created to be: nothing else works.
2. We have little right to speak of beliefs that we have not acted on in our own lives.
3. Foster friendships with people very unlike yourself — they will be good teachers.
4. It is more important to convey God's grace in everyday life than it is to explain it.
5. Agape love can't be given to others until it is experienced and embraced oneself. (An unfair truth of life is that the unloved don't function as well as the loved.)
6. Sharing the primary concerns of God (forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, justice, etc.) creates energy within us and others — it does not deplete energy.
7. Know when to be present.
8. Gratitude is a prime hallmark of faith. We are called together as a worshiping community primarily to thank God.
9. There is evil in the world. It is intentional, intelligent and powerful. It is a bad idea to pretend otherwise.
10. Approach evil with the awareness of God's presence and as an opportunity to be a Christ-bearer to the suffering. Do not think of evil as impenetrable — it isn't.
11. Model following "the promptings of grace" (walking in the light) by embracing the unexpected. As Isak Dineson pointed out, "To love God, you must love change and love a joke, because these things are closest to God's heart."
12. Have new experiences regularly that pull you out of your comfort zone. Process them deeply.
13. Our response to God's loving call (our metanoia, conversion, turning) is the core meaning of human life. It is not essentially a self-improvement project or a walk down a particular denominational path.
14. Jesus believed in the potential for moral goodness in ordinary people — including the obviously flawed and fallen. We need to do the same.
15. God wills community.
16. Christian faith is primarily an attitude about reality and our role in it.
17. Stay connected to the local poor. They are good spiritual friends.
18. Forgiveness is the key to intercessory prayer and to the gospel of grace. Practice it daily.
19. Remembering is holy. Making regular occasions to record and to share life stories is another form of the laying on of hands.
20. Steady, small successes are an excellent source of encouragement and energy in life.
21. Living on a high mesa of creativity and productivity is more fruitful than attempting to live on the mountaintop.
22. The quality of our relationship with God cannot be separated from our emotional health and the health of our relationships.
23. It is most helpful to speak of God in experiential terms — as a living witness — using words common to the culture you are a part of.
24. In a narcissistic culture, it is helpful to remember that self-sacrifice and the sacred are intimately connected.
25. All the good stuff — the very best things in life — come not from our own efforts, but from grace.
Linda Kusse-Wolfe, a member of New Garden Friends, North Carolina, currently is serving a United Methodist Church in Martinsville, Virginia. She and her husband, David, have three children, Abi, Josh and Andrew. Linda is pictured here in LŽon, Nicaragua.
Copyright (c) 2003 Friends United Meeting
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