Friday, September 17, 2010

Good Morning,
I pray that the day is finding you well.

Yesterday was a rather tough day for me. In one day I had:
A call from a Pastor who has been put on medical leave and does not know the future for him and his family.
A call from a Pastor who flew to another state to help his aunt, his mother, and his father. He arrived after his aunt had already died. His mother not doing well, and his father in a very angry state.
A call from a young man who had gotten in an accident and thought that he had done everything that the authorities had mandated that he do, only to find out that he had not and now may face prosecution.

There are times when there isn’t much you can say. It is called the ministry of presence.

Brotherly pastoral care is essentially distinguished from preaching by the fact that, added to the task of speaking the Word, there is the obligation of listening.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1954), 98.

Everyday we have an opportunity; it may be a hard opportunity but an opportunity nonetheless, to help people, to positively impact their day. In most cases this opportunity has a lot more to do with listening and a lot less to do with speaking.

My prayer is that I realize the difference.

Blessings,

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