NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

I have been thinking a lot bout ministry this past week as the EfM [Education for Ministry] year draws to a close. As the Program Overview in the Reading and Reflection Guide given to participants in the program states “The Education for Ministry  [EfM] is a four-year study and group reflection process for the formation of Christian ministry through the development of knowledge, attitude, skill, and identity as Christians.”  And so I found myself asking myself, just how well this process had gone …which led inevitably to the question “Just WHAT is ministry?”   If you look at the Merriam Webster online dictionary  you will find as #4, after ministration, the office, duties, or functions of a minister,  the body of ministers of religion, … a person or thing through which something is accomplished  which I guess is where this falls in. I’m sure many of us remember sermons we have heard exhorting us to use our gifts, probably based on  Romans 12.6-8. “We have gifts that diff

  ‘Writing is like praying, because you stop all other activities, descend into silence, and listen patiently to the depths of your soul, waiting for true words to come. When they do, you thank God because you know the words are a gift, and you write them down as honestly and cleanly as you can. ’ - Helen Prejean C.S.J. [Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., (born April 21, 1939 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Roman Catholic nun, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.] When I came across this quote recently, I immediately copied it down. Prayer has for years been the bete noire of my spiritual life.  Everyone within the hierarchy of the church seemed to agree that one should pray, but alas I never managed to follow their suggestions to any viable conclusion. I would attempt to follow these suggestions, but always ended up laying them aside after a few days feeling like a failure. So this quote immedi

It was years ago when I was asked that question. I had been explaining to someone how in travelling home from the University of Toronto, I would decide on which subway station to leave from, depending on the time of the buses leaving from the depot at the other end. IF the time permitted I would walk the few blocks to the subway station on the line heading north. But if not, I would take the eastbound subway over to the northbound station. Being just a couple of minutes late could mean anywhere from a 30 minute to an hour’s wait for a bus at the  other end depending on the time of day and as both a student and a mother, I resented time spent waiting in the waiting area or on the platform. Answering the question wasn’t difficult either. The time saved was used listening to stories about school events, getting the evening meal on the table, and all the other myriad activities that fill any mother’s day. However that question has stayed with me in varying forms over the last 30+

35 years ago now, when I was going to university, I remember having my essays read by someone who I trusted both for their knowledge of English grammar and for the subject matter. I can also remember saying on more than one occasion when looking over their suggestions for changes, ‘But that’s NOT what I meant!’ Somehow I felt that the validity of my ideas was being challenged. I had long ago forgotten about these exchanges, but they came to the forefront of my thoughts again this past week. Thinking about them from a distance, I now believe that my editor wasn’t deliberately changing my thoughts but rather was just putting what they perceived as the meaning I was trying to make into better grammar. At the time, however I saw it as an attempt to actually change the meaning. And how often this happens to us in our daily lives. Someone reads this blog and really likes it because it said …. and I have to go back to the written word to look at it again because I don’t remember hav