gateway

The local schools closed for the summer today.

Which means for me the bulk of the morning is spent along at the Royal High, the local secondary school. They have their Prize-giving and Leaving ceremony, with the pupils who are leaving going out through the grand memorial arch, while everyone else applauds.

A long, tearful line of young men and women, for whom now these days that they've shared in the school are all in the past. Their schooldays now are past: they won't ever have them again.

I always find it striking that the arch through which they go, quite literally, out from the hall and into the outside world, is the memorial arch, bearing the names of those from the school who died in the first world war.

A reminder that there is somehow a cost involved in being able to press on forward, even ninety one years on, into a whole new chapter in their lives.

The folk who died were most of them not much older than the pupils who were leaving school today. They all of them paid a price which meant, some three generations on, there's a future these young folk today can enjoy.

The memorial arch is the gateway to the future.

And I wondered today if maybe that's what is needed again, if we're going to give to our children, and their children, too, a future that's bright with the presence and blessing of God.

I suspect that we'll have to put our lives, too, on the line. I suspect there'll be a cost we'll have to pay. I suspect if we want to create that sort of gateway to the future God desires, it's going to cost us everything. We have to be ready for that. We're being prepared for that.

Death and resurrection.

The gateways to God's future always travel through a tomb.

ministry schizophrenia

This morning I was out at Kirkliston again.

Touching base with the new minister there. It was great to see her again. And great, as well, to hear how things are going.

Five new folk professing faith in a few weeks' time. Some up in years, some younger ones as well.

People coming to know Jesus. And all that just in the space of the first few months.

So I ended up longer out there than I'd thought I'd be. Partly because her brother arrived, and I hadn't seen him for a while, and the chance to catch up and to chat for a while was too good by far to miss.

But partly as well through discussing at length all the issues she's having to face.

She's very realistic, despite the expectations people have. Which are sometimes a bit too high.

She doesn't try to do too much. Which is wise. And a thing I have to learn.

In fact, I think it's a thing that we have to learn in the whole of our congregational life. We do - or try to do - too much. I'm more and more persuaded of that fact.

We had a meeting of our leadership team at night. And that sort of thing came up. Well, it certainly became apparent again.

There's an Italian proverb I came across some time ago which cleverly said it all.

Often he who does too much does too little.

It probably sounds a bit better in the original. Especially if spoken with a good Italian accent. But you get the drift, even in translation.

We're probably 'doing too little' because we're doing too much.

I read a book a few months back where the author said he'd met a man with a church of 400 people: and the man had said he had 187 different ministries in his church.

"I didn't know if he was bragging, asking me to pray for him, or making the case for a frontal lobotomy."

187 ministries. That's a pretty impressive statistic!

But not good for the health at all.

Too much. And as a result the poor guy's church is doing too little.

They're hoping to start some more ministries: and all the while the church is getting smaller.

"To me," said the writer, "this doesn't sound like a focused vision. It sounds like ministry schizophrenia..."

I don't know a lot about schizophrenia. I don't know if there's an 'early stages' sort of schizophrenia.

But we're at least in danger of succumbing to this, I fear.

Becacuse we don't really have a vision as such. We have about ... well, probably about 187 visions. And the ministries to go with them.

It can look quite impressive, as I say.

But it sure isn't good for the health.

For all I know, we've maybe got a growing dose of this ministry schizophrenia ourselves.