by Andrew Stephens-Rennie
What does sustainable ministry even look like? After a year of parish ministry, I’m still struggling to figure that out.
Every time I turn around, I see ministry staff scrambling like the coworkers I left behind with my corporate job. Every time I turn around, I hear someone huffing and puffing about things that need to be done yesterday, stepping all over those alongside whom they are supposed to be ministering.
Where has holy communion gone? Where is sabbath? Where the time for reflection, meditation, and responsive, considered action? Why the capitulation to business models of governance that require us to be more productive, that require us to do more? Why the focus on doing, and the ignorance of the importance of being?
Where is the wisdom of spiritual direction? Where the wisdom of nuns and monks who realise the importance of setting time – in fact, setting aside one’s life – for the joy of being in the presence of God? Read the rest of this entry »
