I spent the better part of January holding annual consultations with the clergy of the Capital District. The consultations provided time for me to get to know each person better and listen to what was on their hearts—both the things that worried them and the incredible dreams that God is stirring within them.
One of the things we talked about during the consultations was joy, or specifically, where do you find joy as you serve? I received some expected answers. Many spoke about preaching and teaching bringing joy. Others gave surprising replies like “I enjoy everything about ministry!” Really? I had to interrogate those sorts of answers. Everything? Well, maybe not everything when we really got down to it!
There was one frequent answer that was interesting to me. Many said that they most enjoyed walking with people through life, having the privilege of being with people through heartache and disappointment, and during times of celebration and fun. Experiencing community was a frequently mentioned joy in ministry.
Living in community may be joyful, but it is also challenging. As I prepared to leave my career in politics and government to attend divinity school, I was eating lunch in the General Assembly cafeteria one day when a state senator I knew stopped by my table. He said he envied me for my call to serve the church and remarked how I must be looking forward to going to a place where no one debated or disagreed or where there was no conflict, unlike most days at the General Assembly. I simply replied to the good senator, “Where is this placid and peaceful church you speak of? I want to serve there!”
Yes, the church is not always a loving and peaceful body, and yet this is where we are called to serve and where we can certainly experience joy. We find joy with others because we find Christ in the body of believers. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together, “Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ…we enter into common life with them not as demanders but as thankful recipients.”
Friends, my prayer is that we will always recognize God’s presence in each other, and that our common life will bring us joy even in the most challenging circumstances. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
