no place for pedestals

There was a meeting out at Kirkliston again tonight. The leaders were meeting again.

In the course of their discussions, one of them spoke of the way in which the lady who's been ministering there had visited him in hospital.

She was more like a friend, he said, than a minister.

His fellow leaders laughed. Imagining, I guess, how a thing like that could be rather misinterpreted.

But I picked him up on what he'd said and thanked him for his words. Because he'd underlined a really very vital part of what we're all about.

It's the relationship rather than the role that really matters.

To treat a guy like a minister may well be a mark of respect. But it's not what a guy is needing or looking for. It's friendship we all of us need.

The marks of respect can be things creating a 'distance'. A means by which we keep another person at pretty much arms' length, and don't let them close at all.

Which is why, I think, some ministers end up feeling so very isolated. Too much respect. Pedestals aren't an easy place to enjoy a lot of friendship!

Jesus befriended people. That's at least a part of his 'bottom line'.

You're my friends, he said to the people who'd chosen to follow him right from the start.

In fact he chose to be friends with all sorts. Treating them on the level. No strings attached.

And that's really what we're seeking to do here, too.

Helping the range of people we meet to get a feel for Jesus in the down-to-earth and on-the-level friendship we extend.

And that's how it's been with the leaders out there at Kirkliston. We treat each other as friends. There's not a lot of 'ceremony' on which we stand. That's not what it's all about.

In fact, I guess, the more there is of that 'formal' stuff, the less we've got the point.

They asked in the course of the meeting about the 'protocol' in a certain situation. I had to say I'm not really into protocol myself. And neither are they!

People are really what matter. And a lot of what we're all about is creating those contexts where those sort of friendships can grow. With the hope and the prayer that right there in those friendships there'll be something of the sense of Jesus too.

Not that I'm in among people all of the time.

A fair bit of time has been spent today preparing for Sunday's services. And today's lunch-time service as well, of course.

Because I value people I refuse to have them 'short-changed'.

They're looking for something that ministers grace to their souls. A good and wholesome 'meal' as it were.

And I can't just throw that together. I have to work in the 'kitchen' of my preparation time for quite a while, preparing the different ingredients, combining them all together, and 'cooking' them all in such a way that the 'hardness' has gone and the 'taste' is brought out to the full.

Like I say, that takes time.

But that's what I do for my friends. I cook them a spiritual meal!