How many people could identify ministry with stripping? I think it’s safe to say that no one would equate the two at first sight. Steve Courtois made me think more on it, though. Tonight at our last Friday Night Card Game (yeah, I know, it’s a Saturday one — the name’s stuck though), Steve joked that he had a shirt I should wear for my last Sunday with the congregation: “I Strip for a Living.” The reason it’s so funny for Steve is that he works as a part-time janitor at the Catholic elementary school in town and one of his duties is to strip the floors of their covering each summer and then reseal them before the school year begins.
Part of me really wanted to wear the shirt; stripping is a metaphor for ministry. Ministry, in several ways, requires people to strip many aspects of their identity in order to make room for the ministerial one. Intrusive shyness blocks one from meeting people enough to know their needs. This summer I didn’t have a problem with shyness but instead with using some of my spiritual gifts: not all of them are best suited for First Christian Church in Keokuk. One reason I’m successful, especially in Ft. Worth, is that I can find fast ways to overcome obstacles. I’m usually good at finding solutions that work. This summer is full of instances where I found solutions to problems, but couldn’t convince others or create the impetus to make them reality. A primary example: DSL for the congregation. We were using a dial-up internet connection and found out that Qwest has DSL for only $7 per month more than what we’re paying for the dial-up. Nothing could be done at the old church, and each week it looks less and less certain that anything will happen at the new one. I’ve had to strip off my wish for wanting to do things the way that I see are the easiest. I’ll enjoy some of the independence during the next couple of years before I work in a congregation full-time.
Stripping isn’t just something that Steve Courtois does or that ministers have to do. It’s something Christians must do. Once people become Christians, their lives change. Not only are they passively changed by God’s grace, but they also change themselves. They strip off the portions of their lives not worth continuing and they reforge their lives to fill the void left behind. So I now have to ask, why doesn’t everyone want to strip for a living?
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