ministry
Monday, January 17, 2005 by niebuhrian
Sometimes I feel so uninteresting. It is as though I am sitting on the side of the interstate watching the traffic pass by. I have a life, a wonderful life, with a beautiful wife, and not a great deal of strife. But sometimes it feels so banal.
For instance, I was reading the newspaper yesterday afternoon. The front page and two full middle pages were taken up with an article touting Jerry Falwell’s new law school at Liberty University and Pat Robertson’s at Regent University. I was livid. Why is it that everything these nutcases do is front page news in Virginia? Why do they deserve three full pages in the Richmond newspaper, some 60-80 miles away? Where are the progressives, the moderates, the people with common sense?
I really can’t understand their ministries. I have always understood ministry to be about reconciliation, hope, and most of all love. But something just doesn’t feel right when I read articles and see Jerry and Pat on the television. Every time I hear them speak, I come away feeling dirty.
It is a depressing thing to see people use God’s name to spread fear and make people dependent and powerless. It is horrible when people’s ego centers are torn away and they become automatons, performing at the will of those who hold the power. It is horrible when God’s name is woven into the rhetoric of war, wealth, and terror.
It is horrible feel as though you sit on the side powerless yourself, unable to move, to create change; afraid to call yourself minister, especially a Christian minister, out of the fear that you will be lumped into the same category as these conmen on television…
For instance, I was reading the newspaper yesterday afternoon. The front page and two full middle pages were taken up with an article touting Jerry Falwell’s new law school at Liberty University and Pat Robertson’s at Regent University. I was livid. Why is it that everything these nutcases do is front page news in Virginia? Why do they deserve three full pages in the Richmond newspaper, some 60-80 miles away? Where are the progressives, the moderates, the people with common sense?
I really can’t understand their ministries. I have always understood ministry to be about reconciliation, hope, and most of all love. But something just doesn’t feel right when I read articles and see Jerry and Pat on the television. Every time I hear them speak, I come away feeling dirty.
It is a depressing thing to see people use God’s name to spread fear and make people dependent and powerless. It is horrible when people’s ego centers are torn away and they become automatons, performing at the will of those who hold the power. It is horrible when God’s name is woven into the rhetoric of war, wealth, and terror.
It is horrible feel as though you sit on the side powerless yourself, unable to move, to create change; afraid to call yourself minister, especially a Christian minister, out of the fear that you will be lumped into the same category as these conmen on television…
