My counselor who I see from time to time for a check in, told me a joke this morning: A group of workers went golfing together. Later that day they came back and all of them looked very stressed, some crying. Another person asked how it went and they said it was awful. When asked why, they said that Ed had a heart attack on the 4th hole and died. There was much grieving. Another person mentioned that it must have felt awful, to which on employee replied ‘what was worse was having to drag Ed after each hole of the remaining 14 holes.’ There is a point to this terrible joke, see below.
Ministry is filled with failure, conflict, and pain. In being sinful people working with sinful people in a flawed community, these things are unavoidable. Sometimes you can learn and grow from these experiences even in the midst of pain. These things can always be used for the glory of God and are always redeemed by the author of all humanity. Sometimes these conflicts, failures, and experiences of pain can become dead bodies that we carry around in ministry, even after we move on to a new ministry. The joke is ridiculous and the notion that someone would do such a thing (yes, even for golf) is more ridiculous yet most pastors I know (myself included) have some dead bodies we are carrying. Let’s work together not only to preach the gospel of redemption and grace, but embrace it ourselves and leave the dead bodies at the 4th hole for THE PROFESSIONAL to deal with on our behalf.
Amen.