Leadership Lessons: From Precarious to Courageous, Part 1

A call to ministry is, in some ways, a call to a precarious place – especially when it comes to our inner attitude. I want to share a precarious attitude and then one that is more in line with what the scripture teaches about ministry, particularly a call to a new ministry position.

Walking a Tightrope

A long time ago, when I was in seminary, I was praying with a friend of mine. And this friend was prone to getting divine revelations, some of which could be very disconcerting because they were so accurate. You know, there’s some things you don’t want other people to know, much less for God to tell them about you. 

And that was exactly my situation. We were just having a late-night conversation, and this friend and I took some time to pray afterward. And he said to me, “You know, Greg, when I think about you, here’s what comes to mind. It’s as if you’re on a tightrope. And life started at one end of the tightrope and ends at the other end. And you’re sort of in the middle, and it’s a high-wire tightrope. It’s like the circus, and there’s a net beneath you. If you fall, you will not die.”

My friend said, “That’s grace. But you really do see the Christian life as precarious – with all your might, you’re trying to get from one point to the other successfully.”

And everything inside of me said, “That’s true. And also I wish that wasn’t true.” And I really began to pray. Because I realized at that moment that what had happened, unbeknown to me, because I could quote all the Scripture in the world about how we are saved by grace through faith, was that there really was a force inside of me that was demanding perfection in a way that did not look like the gospel at all. 

Keeping It in Balance

The high-demand position you are in as a minister will sometimes speak that voice to you that says you have to hold it together: You have to pay attention to everything that comes your way, keep it all, in balance, respond to everyone in a timely and thoughtful manner, as opposed to what you might want to say when you get a certain email or telephone call. 

But what I would want to say to you is that the more precarious you allow a ministry position to, in essence, make you feel, the more out of kilter in your own heart you will become. And that will put you in a very, very different position from what to me are the two biblical pillars I want to focus on today. One is, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16a), and the other is “Abide in my love” (John 15:9b). 

Because honestly, the last thing a guy on a high wire is thinking about is abiding in God’s love. He’s just trying to get through the day.

But it is a temptation. Because the real thing we expect is to be doing this on a high wire and working really hard at it. Clergy members know the joys of seeing people changed by the power of the gospel. We get to be, as it were, on the inside with people in some of the most tender and precious moments that all of life ever presents. It is, at its heart of hearts, an extraordinary privilege. 

And we also get to be in those points where people are acting so childish, so divisive, so power-hungry, that just to step into the fray means we’re going to get the brunt of all of that anger and rage. And we become in some ways the personification of everything they don’t like about God and about their life. We are a kind of walking target.

 But thanks be to God, there’s more to ministry than walking a tightrope and trying to keep it all in balance. And we’ll discuss it in Part 2, coming next week. 

Have you ever felt you were “walking the tightrope” in life or in ministry? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.

 (This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on October 13, 2019, at the Cathedral of St. Luke, Orlando.) 

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.