in a world of church politics, hierarchies, cut-throat/competitive ministries, bloated egos, self-expressed brilliance, etc. i miss my God. i miss what ministry is...
i was enticed to take a sabbath day and do some reading and writing (for some this is work, it just happens to be my sabbath). i took the enticement and feel i was richly blessed. hanging in the quiet corner of the library at an old Christian college here in nashiville, i was looking through the card catalog.. yes!! the card catalog.. it was awesome.. i saw a title from one of my favorite authors that i had never heard of before, so i roamed bookshelves and pulled this small thin text, which has been rebound, maybe more than once... "Clowing in Rome" by Henri Nouwen... let me read to you a second
This small book was born in Rome. I had always wondered what it would be like to live in Rome for more than a few weeks of vacation. When the staff of the North American College invited me tto join them for five months, I had a chance to find out.
It took a while to get used to living in a building overlooking the Vatican as well as the monument of Victor Emmanuel; it took a while to become familiar with both the solemnity of the papal ceremonies in St. Peter's and the fervor of the demonstrations in Piazza Venezia; it took a while to feel at home in a city in which piety and violence rival each other in their intensity; and it took a while to take for granted that the devout worshipers in Piazza San Pietro are as much a part of Roman life as the bohemians on Piazza Navona. But after a month, the imposing buildings, the large crowds, and the sensational events seemed little more than the milieu for something much less visible but much more penetrating.
During these five months in Rome it wasn't the red cardinals or the Red Brigade who had the most impact on me, but the little things that took place between the great scenes. I met a few students of the San Egidio community "wasting" their time with grade-school dropouts and the elderly. I met a Medical Mission sister dedicating all her time to two old women who had become helpless and isolated in their upstairs rooms in Trastevere. I met young men and women picking up the drunks from the streets during the night and giving them a bed and some food. I met a priest forming communities for the handicapped. I met a monk who with three young Americans had started a contemplative community in on eof Rome's suburbs. I met a woman so immersed in the divine mysteries that her face radiated God's love. I met many holy men and women offering their lives to others with disarming generosity. And slowly, I started to realize that in the great circus of Rome, full of lion-tamers and trapeze artists whose dazzling feats claim our attention, the real and true story was told by the clowns.
how wonderfully simple it really is.. ministry.. we get bogged down with worship rights and wrongs, church politics scaring people from the church.. "i have the answer for all your problems, and it only takes 5 steps books" for repairing congregations.... ministry is all so simple, become like a clown
Clowns are not the center of events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall, and make us smile again after the tensions created by the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don't have it togheter, they do not succeed in what they try, they are awkward, out of balance, and left-handed, but... they are on our side. We respond with amazement but with understanding, not with tension but with a smile. Of the virtuosi we say, "How can they do it?" Of the clowns we say, "They are like us." The clowns remind us with a tear and a msile that we share the same human weaknesses.
to this i say, turn off your high tech worships, arrogance of turning from the "church," blasting politics of who should be ordained or not & truely become a clown in ministry. truely serve the poor, downtrodden, weak, lost, fearful... we will not bring people back to the body of Christ with fancy words, fabulous charismatic worship experiences, etc, but only when they say "They are like us." when that day comes we can truely say we are the body.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously-- take God seriously. Micah 6:8 (the message)
blasted you henri nouwen for ruining me again!! you always have to bring me back to my humble God. Amen!
