The ministry team had received word on Friday that a member was in critical condition up in Rochester. So early Saturday morning I set out on the three hour drive to visit and spend time with this member and his family. Now this is part of our job, part of what we are paid to do. I think, however, that people do not realize that in our ministering to them, they often minister to us as well. This was the case for me in visiting this man and his family.
By the time I arrived, he was doing much better, so the fear that had been clinging to his wife and son, had begun to unlatch it's hold. I was able instead to watch the way this family interacted. I was most struck by the beauty, elegance, and raw care that I saw in his wife's treatment. She was able to hold on to her strength and compassion with a patience that spoke directly to my heart.
I can hope that I brought them some amount of comfort. I know however that I left that room with a lighter heart and a refreshed view of marriage, family, and love.
When the visits I had were complete, I drove an extra hour to have dinner with a friend in the Cities. We sat talking about our lives, our future goals, our fears about the future, and where we saw God moving in our own lives as well as one another's. The weight on my shoulders that can come from 'handling' life alone fell away as we talked.
Friendship like this, so open, so honest and able to hold each other up while holding each other accountable, is such a blessing from God. It is also a reminder that we can not go through any journey completely alone. It is necessary to have people along for the ride. Plus it makes it so much more fun! I would not be able to make it through life, let alone internship without such friends!
After leaving the St. Paul, I decided to stop and get Starbucks for the road. (I have managed quite nicely with no coffee shop closer than 20 miles away and no Starbacks closer than Sioux Falls, but I never pass up an opportunity to visit one when such an opportunity exists!) As I ordered, my mind was racing towards Sunday morning and all that I had to do before it came. I was so tempted to just order and leave. But the barista showed her shock when I asked for an extra shot in my Venti Americano. I laughed and said that I had a long drive. We ended up talking for about 20 minutes. It was a simple conversation really, but her kind words replayed throughout my drive home, and my spirit was renewed in purpose through this casual encounter.
Community comes in so many shapes, colors, experiences, and faces. It is not just the people who live within a few miles of us. It is not just the people in the same church, or organization, or school.
Community is in the world, in every interaction that we have with God's creation. It comes in every smile, every word, gesture, and look that passes between the people we meet.
In the midst of all of this community there is ministry happening. Whether it is the ministry that fits into the mold, or the ministry that happens as friends simply act within that friendship, or the ministry that results when two strangers recognize God's presence in the other, it is ministry. It is the sharing of lives, of faiths, of spirit and of God's love.
Community and ministry are so tightly interwoven that at times, like Saturday, it is hard to recognize one without the other.
Thank God that it was not good for man to be alone. (Genesis 1)
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