Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I knew why he was calling so I picked up the phone. I was glad to get an update on his friend’s health condition: Some good news, some not-so-good news. (His friend is also a parishioner.) Prayers were shared. Prayers continue, I reminded him. While he had me on the phone, he asked, “Did I hear back from the local John Deere dealer about the lawn tractor?” And he had an update, which he shared, about the dishwasher in the parish hall. “Thank you,“ I said, and we wrapped up the phone call.

Later that evening, as I offered up my day in prayer, I smiled with unbreakable gratitude: How amazing it is, God reminded me, that in a quick little moment, in a span of, say, no more than fifteen minutes I attended, literally, to life-and-death and dwelt for a while in the riches of common prayer and, just as quickly, dealt with the banality of lawn mowers and plumbing.

This story from a day-in-the-life of a parish priest is really very common, probably so much so that lay leaders and clergy don’t give it much notice. Dealing with so many disparate things can be confusing, especially early in one’s ministry. It can also be frustrating: “I’ve used my tool box more than my Prayer Book!” being a common refrain. I am reminded of what my friend calls “psychic mobility” – the ability to go from and be present to one subject, one encounter, one person to the next; often transitioning in nanoseconds, drawing on different skill sets in so doing. For all of these reasons, and so many more, serving a Christian community is always exciting and seldom grows dull!

Many of us are good at this, at dealing with nearly everything thrown at us. Yet sometimes we forget all of “this” is to the glory of God. All of this. These various competing desires and pressures on our time may require different skills and tools – sometimes, literally – but the only language we have as the Body of Christ is the language of mission, language which is inherently theological. And the mission of the church, the Book of Common Prayer teaches, is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” (The Catechism, p.855)

I suppose we could expand this understanding to say that God’s mission is to restore all things, not just all people. Issues having to do with buildings and/or grounds are as inherently theological as liturgy planning. How people relate to one another and how projects get managed – and why we value doing it that way – are as important a consideration as carefully planning a liturgy or praying for someone’s wellness. How we budget our time, treasures, and talents as the Body of Christ may seem, at first, a purely sterile matter, best left to finance committees and those better-acquainted with Excel spreadsheets, but this, too, is a loaded theological consideration. And it requires, in turn, sensitive and careful theological reasoning, something the parish priest and, hopefully, most key lay leaders are not only trained to do but are ready and willing to do, as well.

Good administration is good ministry, and vice versa. So give thanks for those pipes that (occasionally) spring a leak. It is for that purpose, as well, that God in Christ has prepared and equipped you!

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