"There can be but one response to your questions.
It's not as easy as you make it out to be!!!
I have work, family and other interests that all take place along with church life. I don't have the priveleged position of being paid to do church work all day so that I can engage with other things outside of church like you.
You place so much guilt upon people like me because of the choices I make and this is extremely unfair. I think you need to be more realistic and loving towards others."
I have work, family and other interests that all take place along with church life. I don't have the priveleged position of being paid to do church work all day so that I can engage with other things outside of church like you.
You place so much guilt upon people like me because of the choices I make and this is extremely unfair. I think you need to be more realistic and loving towards others."
God and I were discussing the issue of what being Church means and during our conversation I found myself reflecting on the plight of God's people and their brick-making efforts whilst they were living in Egypt. The task just got harder and harder as the constituent materials were withheld - all because they'd asked Pharaoh for a bit of time off to worship the LORD. Seems that whenever we set out to serve the LORD we find ourselves up against it.
Of course the bricks and straw story (Exodus 5) ends up with Moses complaining to God about having got them into trouble and chapter six takes us to a place where God tells Moses that by the time he's finished, the Egyptians will be ordering them to leave - captivity over man!
A minister recently described being in ministry as being like making bricks without straw. The bemoaned the fact that they were expected to keep up production (just like the Israelites) without the people and opportunities to make it happen. "If only we had more people involved," they cried, "We could really be effective for Christ!" Picking up the baton, another started talking about how they had decided to drop a project they'd started last year because the help had dropped of to such an extent that it was only the wardens and the minister's own family who were doing and coming!
The response to yesterday's blog and the comments from ministers leads us back into one of the most contentious issues that consistently faces Church life (and ministry), namely the:
Church - Life - Work Balance
and this is something we need to consider as we seek 'more straw' for the living bricks that make Church a reality. There are many thoughts on this, for instance having asked five people what priorities they have, I was given:
1. God - Self - Family - Work - Church - Everything Else
2. Family - Work - God - Church - Everything Else
3. God - Work - Family - Everything Else
4. God - Church - Family - Work - Everything Else, and
5. God - Family - Work - Church - Everything Else
Over the next few days we will be looking at the work/life balance and I'd welcome any suggestions for the order you have decided on (and why).
Pax
1. God - Self - Family - Work - Church - Everything Else
2. Family - Work - God - Church - Everything Else
3. God - Work - Family - Everything Else
4. God - Church - Family - Work - Everything Else, and
5. God - Family - Work - Church - Everything Else
Over the next few days we will be looking at the work/life balance and I'd welcome any suggestions for the order you have decided on (and why).
Pax