Ministry in the Middle

There Is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love by Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell  (HarperOne, 2017), 272 pages Many of life's challenges can be devastating, such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or losing a job.  When someone we care about faces one of these awful challenges, we can feel powerless and inadequate to help.  Often, we don't know what to say, and we don't know what to do. Many ministers receive specialized training to help them navigate these situations with compassion and confidence.  Personally, I cherish the unit of Clinical Pastoral Education that I took years ago, and still draw on many of its lessons today.  It was especially useful to help me learn how to be spiritually present with someone suffering by making sure my own emotional baggage does not get in the way. Not all ministers, and few lay leaders, have such training.  Instead, they simply rely on the...

This summer, the elders in my congregation and I have exchanged a specific piece of the worship service that we lead.  Since before I began serving as senior minister in this congregation, the pastor has been responsible for providing a short meditation before Communion each week.  This summer, each of them has had the opportunity to offer this meditation/invitation to the Lord's Table.  In exchange, I provided an offering meditation and prayer for the gifts offered -- typically something that the elders have led. In our denominational tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Communion is the centerpiece of worship.  In key ways, it represents the heart of our shared theology of Christ's presence in our midst, of radical grace and acceptance, of the teaching of the New Testament about the centrality of the Lord's Supper and Baptism.  Personally, I love the chance to reflect on part of what it means for us to gather and share Communion in the name...