I'm not sure I made the right decision to start reading 1 Samuel just before beginning a new ministry. The whole process of the development of the leadership of Israel through Samuel and to the monarchy, shows up the flaws in the leaders and the failures of the people. Reading Saul's ascension story made me wonder about the way in church we can get ourselves in to the place of wanting a leader in order to be like the other churches. And then when we get a leader it's not quite what we expected it to be! John Ortberg's "Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can handle" quote comes back to mind.
So here we are, about to do far more than simply go through the motions of a Baptist induction. Sometimes it can feel like a process, a hoop through which we have to jump, but it is of far greater significance that that. It's an opportunity for us, as a church family, to gather together and remind ourselves of why we do this thing called church and what we're meant to be. It's a time to remember that for reasons known only to God himself, he's called some of to be set apart for this thing we call ministry. It's certainly not a time to breath a sigh of relief that finally an interregnum is over!
For me, being the centre of attention is not may favourite place, but being at the centre of what God is doing, well that's another thing.
It's going to be a great day. An exciting day and hopefully a day to remember. Maybe it will be my last induction, maybe it won't. None of us know what God has in store for our time in Upminster but I hope we have a lot of fun finding out.
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