Remember Real Life

https://sugandhmalhotra.com/2024/08/07/3fe9pfb1e2 None of us spend full-time blogging. We all relate to the world outside our house, outside our windows. Sometimes, however, in the midst of our blogging, in the midst of our disputes, we tend to forget that most of the people with whom we are involved neither know nor care about the things that seem to impress us so much. As a pastor I visit those people, and I hear their concerns. The only time I hear a theological concern is either when a healthy person whose life is going well wants to discuss theology for the pleasure of it. Or, much more often, I hear about a theological concern when someone is about to hit me with a complaint about something I did or said in the worship.

https://merangue.com/ycndwo117g9 But, if I am visiting and life is not going well, if I am visiting and tragedy has just struck or is sitting around the corner, then I hear little about theology. True, I may hear questions with theological import, “Why did this happen?” “Why did God do this to us?” But, the people who ask that are asking out of their pain. They are not interested in listening to me talk about what my seminary professor said. Neither are they interested in what we have historically proclaimed in the Church. They want to know that God and I both care. They want to know that the Church cares. Ultimately, they are looking to connect with God, with Someone bigger than them or their circumstances. It is at those times that every pastor find himself calling for help, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We look for words from above, and many times we receive them and say them with stumbling lips. Isaiah 28:11, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.”

https://inteligencialimite.org/2024/08/07/t6upajhew0 The day before yesterday I visited a man in the hospital for the second time. He was about to be released. He had had a blood infection, but it was cured now and he can return to his chemotherapy. Two weeks before I had been to visit his wife, who had had surgery. They have been married many years. I joked with them about taking turns being in the hospital while on the inside I was asking the Lord to give me His words. And, so, we prayed at the end, and I will see them again, and I am sure that I will pray again, “Lord, give me Your Word so that they may know You better and know that You are with them.” Today, I visited a young couple who own a store. They are in their very early 40’s. And, the recession has hit them hard. They are close to losing their store. It may close at the end of this month, maybe next month. And, again, my inner prayer, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and give me Your words to speak.” I have no solution for either couple. I can only be with them and pray that my words may be His Word, and that, in His mercy, they may be drawn closer to Him.

https://www.clawscustomboxes.com/l0nkggk And, so, I am, again, reminded that our ministry is in the world. I enjoy philosophy. Theology is my bread and my meat. Liturgics lets me express my inner “geek.” But, people are in the world, and they need God’s touch in their life, not our dissertations. And, so, I am, again, reminded, “. . . and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” — Micah 6:8