Sunday, May 22, 2005
ouch :)
At the door of our Sunday morning congregation, as my hand is shaken. “I pray for you every day pastor. I pray that God would deepen your teaching ministry among us, so that we can hear the Word.”
Ouch. So amidst all the change, there is (inevitable) unease.
Ouch. Isn’t this the use of prayer as a Trojan horse to deliver a message to a person, not to God?
Posted by steve at 02:45 PM
)
“He has made me glad, he has made me glad. i will rejoice for he has made me glad”.
May this person be glad of all God is doing!
Comment by lynne — May 22, 2005 @ 4:26 pm
And so ends the honeymoon period…
Comment by Anon. — May 22, 2005 @ 4:32 pm
This is certainly a slanted/painful way to get a message across. Whether they are justified or not (I am not discussing that point) doing it this way the problem remainss theirs not yours. Let the honeymoon copntinue!
Comment by Elizabeth — May 22, 2005 @ 4:57 pm
Its like people encouraging others sitting right in front of them by praying and ‘thanking God for all their talents’ etc. Not that its bad to thank God for other people, but if you’ve got something nice to say-say it to their face 🙂
Comment by Digger — May 22, 2005 @ 6:18 pm
Anon, i’m not ready to call one comment the end of honeymoon. It could be. We’ll see. I blogged it cos it was such a humourous encounter 🙂
steve
Comment by steve — May 22, 2005 @ 9:32 pm
Yikes. Dodgy use of “Anon”! Interesting, but not very brave perhaps. I thought it was a funny story too, and responded in kind (jauntily). La la la 🙂
Comment by lynne — May 22, 2005 @ 11:11 pm
I don’t know if was a dig at you at all?
Person said
a> You are being prayed for, every day
b> You have a ministry of teaching
c> People are hearing the Word
If you’d spent just over a year overseas, and had returned to Opawa like I had, you’d take that as a compliment, because the Opawa I left, and the Opawa that is there now are at two opposite ends of the spectrum
Comment by Andrew — May 22, 2005 @ 11:53 pm
steve, i’m glad this was humorous for you. you’re a better man that i. backhanded statements like that kill me and i’ll mull over them for days.
Comment by robert terrell — May 23, 2005 @ 10:24 am
hmm.. methinks it might be wise to laugh at this one, as steve and lynne are aptly doing! a wise pastor knows when to give the benefit of the doubt for his own sanity!
Comment by tash — May 23, 2005 @ 11:26 am
Yikes, no I am not very brave, especially when I am ‘reacting’ instead of ‘responding’. I think that person’s comment, even humourously told, reminded me of all that has gone before. I have not fully recovered from those years, it would seem.
I was berating someone else, in my head, for posting anon, and was ‘saying’ to them that if they can’t put their name to what they say, they should not say it. And then…I saw myself in that light. Ouch! 😉
When the dream ended last time, and those of us loyal few realised that there would be no happy endings, I was so hurt. And dis-illusioned. When I read your blog, I remembered all that, and I was bitter.
That was wrong, and I’m sorry.
The honeymoon ending would not be bad though, it is just a season, and a new and better one awaits you. Harder and sweeter it will be, I foresee. And maybe this time, it will be different.
Comment by Sharyn — May 23, 2005 @ 11:30 am
Sharyn, i hear the pain and would want to stress that this is one person about many. And that the chance to ventilate is really important. That’s why I stand at the door, to catch feedback. Better for it to be out than in.
This comment then becomes a wonderful chance to grow together. Which for me is what the gospel is all about.
Comment by steve — May 23, 2005 @ 12:13 pm
“I pray for you every day pastor. I pray that God would deepen your teaching ministry among us, so that we can hear MORE OF the Word.”
Keep preaching the Gospel Steve. You’re in the righr place at the right time.
Comment by Lorna — May 25, 2005 @ 8:06 am
Maybe reading this misses the tone in how it was said or something, but I fail to see how this is a backhanded comment. Shouldn’t we be praying for our leaders and encouraging them through prayer? Isn’t it encouraging (and humbling) to know that others are praying for you? Just reading those words as text strikes me as them being good words, not a Trjoan horse.
Comment by Roger N Overton — May 26, 2005 @ 8:28 pm