Thanksgiving Reflections

I realize that it's been a few days since Thanksgiving, but I did celebrate it, so I thought I'd tell you about how an American might spend the holiday in a foreign land.

First of all, I took Thursday and Friday off. Granted, I had earned the two days in the two weeks before, but I would have taken them anyway. It just didn't feel right to work on Thanksgiving and I definitely needed the day after to recover.

Some of you will remember that last year, I celebrated by having dinner at my cousin Phil's house. It was the first time I had met Phil and his wife, but it was enjoyable to have somewhere to go. This year, since I have the biggest house (by far), I offered to host. So Phil, Marianne, their daughter and a handful of people who I met last year at Phil's all came over. Add to the guest list my friend Kara who lives in Bournemouth (a Duke grad who I met in a Duke bball chatroom), my English friend Jenny, and the bloke I'm seeing, and we had ourselves a party. It was absolutely fabulous. There were a few comments along the lines of 'this is the best Thanksgiving ever!', but I'm sure the copious amounts of wine flowing helped to brighten everyone's mood. In all fairness, though, I think a group of Americans getting together in a non-American place did help us bond. And all the Brits had fun, too.

And now for something completely different.

When I came home in August, I met with my District Superintendent just to remind him that I existed and to pave the way for the appointment process next spring. At that meeting, he asked me to periodically send him some reflections on ministry. So I finally sent some to him today. Here's what I said:

In some ways ministry looks a lot like I thought it would when I started out. Leading worship, doing some visitation, leading a Bible study or two, dealing with the petty stuff that inevitably arises. In other ways, ministry looks quite a bit different than I had imagined. Part of that, I'm sure, is due to my geographical location. Church in England is vastly different than the Church I grew up in and studied. I am very grateful for my education--especially the Church history. It's definitely come in handy in trying to figure out how the English Church got to be where it is.

There are things I think I'm doing well. Leading worship, connecting with people of all ages, being present when and where I can be for each of the four churches, teaching. At the same time, there are things I'm not so good at. Evangelism and outreach, visioning, visiting enough. It's scary how easy it is to fall into the trap of tradition--in worship and in the business of the church. It's easy to do meetings. I know how to do that, and so does the rest of the church. When it comes to doing outreach, making contacts in the community, etc....I know that's an important part of ministry...but I don't feel I'm very good at it. It makes me nervous, to be quite honest. I don't want to fail or be rejected. Theologically, I know that's rubbish. Theologically, I can see Jesus' apparent failure and outright rejection. But practically, I'm hesitant. Why that is, I have a few theories, not least of which is my limited time here. But then again, time will be limited wherever and whenever. So I really don't have any excuses. Having said all that, I will admit that it is a struggle for me.

One of my biggest frustrations is my location in the suburbs. I'm finding my tolerance for whiny rich people isn't very high. And trying to get them to engage in things outside their environment is a challenge. Within myself, I often wonder what I'm doing ministering in the suburbs. Jesus didn't go to the suburbs and even though the idea scares me, I want to go where Jesus would have gone. I want to make a real and palpable difference--in both material and spiritual ways and I don't feel like I'm doing that here in the 'burbs.