It snowed yesterday and today, rare sight in Alabama. Here’s some pics. The cows seemed confused.
Category Archives: Rural Life
Gospel and Place: the Pastor’s Calling
In a few hours I will be calling the people in this place to come together for the sole purpose of worshipping our Lord. We will sing and pray to the God who created this beautiful land we have worked and played in all week. We will listen to the Word of the One who ‘dwelt among us’ and died for our sins on a cross. And we will ask that the Spirit stirs us again to be renewed to deal with the disappointments, fears and guilt that build up between Lord’s Days.
While singing a hymn last Sunday I, looking out on a congregation of not quite 40 that day, thought about the large churches in cities that would be playing huge pipe organs, having anthems sung by choirs larger than our whole congregation and hearing sermons by preachers who had more time and skill to devote to studying the Bible and preparing an eloquent sermon. Many churches on any given Sunday would have congregations larger than our whole community.
As I thought of this I turned toward the altar. It is the same Lord we are worshipping. Our congregation might not be large, but the God we worship is, and it is His presence that makes the Church. God is no less present in a house church of two or three gathered in his name than in the biggest mega-church or most beautiful cathedral (Salisbury would win for me!).
I have often thought along these lines. I once heard Eugene Peterson say that the Pastor is responsible for the Gospel in a particular place. This stewardship of the good news in a specific context and location has shaped the way I view ministry. I’m not just a minister of a small congregation somewhere. I’m the pastor of specific people with histories and destinies – vocations and a story to live out. But a minister is also a steward of the mysteries of God in a place. So my ministry intersects the Natchez Trace and Bear Creek, in some way it has a bearing on all of God’s creation: the trees, the river and the deer.
Thinking like this helps me remember that we are ministers of the Lord before we are ministers for the people. If we are concentrating on the number of worshippers in our congregation we are not concentrating on the One we worship. If we look at our ministry area solely through demographic data, we miss something about the PLACE in which we minister. I think Peterson was right and it is a great joy to immerse oneself into unique people and a specific place.
Seasons and Rhythm
Part of rural life that I truly enjoy is that the rhythm, for me anyway, feels closer to the natural change of seasons. When most of your surroundings are pavement and buildings each day looks a lot like the other, but if you’re surrounded by grass and trees the view out your window is constantly changing: leaves turning, falling, new green growth followed by turning again. Even though most people don’t farm now, we’re still surrounded by enough fields for cotton and corn to give us an ever changing backdrop, and enough people raise vegetables and hunt that most of our diets are heavily influenced by what’s in season. Most folks here have lived in agriculture long enough for it to set the pace for life. It’s kind of hard to explain but there is just a mood in the community that follows the ancient patterns of planting, growth and harvest. I’ve tried early on to impose the liturgical calender on the folks here, I’ve learned that it is also wise to be attentive to the natural patterns the people live in and recognize that with our church calendar as well.
Bull!
Living in the country has it’s own unique style or mood to it. The rythm of life seems to be closer to the natural patterns of the seasons. We dont’ have to deal with traffic jams, noise pollution and big crowds. But we do occassionaly have to deal with roaming ‘critters’. Yesterday afternoon as I was walking to the church for a session meeting, oblivious to the world around me thanks to my iPod and Eric Clapton. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a rather large, solid black bull loose in the field beside the church. When you realize you’re a few yards away from one of these with no fence to seperate you, you come to your senses no matter how loud the volume is, they also are twice as big if there’s no fence. The bull of course was much more interested in the grass than me.
We’ve had flying squirrels loose in the sanctuary before. A donkey in the front yard of the manse and deer have been known to charge their reflections in glass doors. And that’s not mentioning the strange sightings…
