Tod Bolsinger has some great posts on George Barna’s new book Revolution.

His post today on Trinity, Community and Church is a great one.

Bolsinger says:

Since God is a Trinity, the essence of God is loving relationship, best understood as Communion. Therefore, the essence of humanity, as God’s creation, is also relationship.

This can be very difficult for us modern Westerners to grasp. In cultures where identity is tied to family relationships, trinitarian relationship and identity is more easily understood and accepted. But we have been so steeped in individualism that we forget that even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. We naturally believe that the very essence of humanity is the individual will. Truly understanding who God is, is absolutely necessary to understanding who we are and who we are meant to become.

I am more and more beginning to understand the importance of the reciprocal nature of the Trinity these days, and how that reciprocity is indicative of who we are also, as creatures made in the image of God.

I have been thinking a lot about the recent, and ongoing comments from the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

And it is somewhat shocking to me the lack of alarm or attention it is getting in most of the main stream media. I am no scholar on Hitler or his rise to power in Germany, but very few seemed to pay attention to his rantings until it was too late.

People seem to either be too busy, or feel helpless in the global scale of politics to think their opinions or actions can have any effect.

But if you have studied the Nazi’s rise to power in Germany, you know that it was a particularly dark time for Christians and the Church. There were some amazing Christians and theologians who opposed Hitler….Dietrich Bonhoeffer comes most to mind. But most of the Christian Church was either compliant with the Nazi’s rise to power, or seemed to look off in the other direction as if nothing was going on. Even to the point that the Bible was replaced on pulpits with a copy of “Mein Kempf”, and the Nazi flagged draped over it.

When I was visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., I was most impacted by the place when I was leaving, and came across this quote posted on the wall as you leave:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Let’s hope that the Church in 2006 does not repeat the mistakes of the past, or we may find ourselves wondering who will be left to speak for others, and for us.

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone……….So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.”

I was reflecting on this passage this morning from Exodus 18:17-22, and a few things are running through my mind:

1) I think there is a tendency in ministry to do the Lone Ranger thing, and to go about tasks alone.

2) There is a tendency to equate burnout and exhaustion with the qualification that it is okay since we are serving God.

3) We not only burn ourselves out when we push and push, but we burn out those around us.

4) God has given us people and community to bear the tasks, joys, burdens, etc. of ministry with one another.

5) Delegating the work of ministry is an important gift/skill to learn and possess.

6) It is no surprise that talk of Sabbath rest abounds in the Exodus text.

This is a beautiful passage about Jethro taking interest in the self-care of Moses, his son-in-law. Jethro knows that if Moses is going to continue to follow God and lead His people out of the wilderness, then he is going to have to take more care of himself, and not go about this task alone. Jethro also knows that if Moses burns himself out, he is also going to burn out those around him.

I see this in ministry all the time. And I have experience it myself. Leaders often take on the brunt of the task, and either a) don’t want anyone else involved in making decisions b) don’t know how to delegate and allow others into the process. If a pastor or church leader does not learn how to do this, then I think a burnout is sure to happen at some point, and then we become angry at those around us for not helping out, though we have not allowed them to help. Or we become angry at God, and disillusioned with our calling, or with the church and its people.

Self-care is an important aspect of ministry and it is a discipline that I believe must be practiced time and time again so that one can get into a good rhythm. The 6 days work, and 1 day rest is a rhythm. A Sabbath rhythm, and we must learn to join in on it.

Self-care is also not only important for pastors, ministers and those who are leading, but for everyone that is volunteering. I see too often where a great volunteer comes along, and the next thing you know, we have pulled them into so many things in the service of God and the church, that they too get burned out.

Self-care is ultimately about letting go of the control in your life, and maybe the ego or pride that says only I can do this task. It’s about allowing the other members of the body (I Cor. 12) being in on the work of God.

“What do you , Rhett, do when you feel distant from God?”

Here is what they do when they feel distant from God…..

Comments

Posted by: Heather at January 24, 2006 06:12 PM