Man, Oh, Manic ...

Manic-Depressive Ministry

Today I have been contemplating the fits and starts, the hard lefts followed by hard rights, that are a part of ministry. Scripture calls us to celebrate and to mourn with each other. That is wonderful in theory. Where it gets difficult is when you have to jump from the manic cliff to the valley of mourning below and then, after you've adjusted to the fall, begin climbing back out of the pit to the mountain top. Sometimes it's really hard to do.

There is a classic video of former president Clinton turning his tears on and off:



As eye-rolling as that clip is, I am afraid that it seeps into the lives of ministers as they move from hopeful folks to grieving folks; from a happy young couple who just had a baby on the first floor of the hospital to the elderly person on the sixth floor, whose IV drip machine keeps beeping so much that the nurse quits bothering fixing it. I hate to say it, by I can identify with the clip above (except for the fact that he appears to be doing it for image's sake).

In an age of technology the problem becomes worse. I can log onto my email and get great news and then, after one more click, get horrible news. I will need to respond to both of those in that same sitting.

I felt it this dichotomy this past Sunday. On one hand it was so nice to see how full the first service was. Wooohooo! On the other hand, some people left because they couldn't find two seats together (it really was crowded). Oh noooooo!

I felt it this past Sunday as Jonah was baptized by his father ... meanwhile another member of the church is in ICU, non-responsive.

This is why the church requires the whole body of Christ to be ministers, a nation of priests to serve our God. The range of life is too much for one, or two, or three people. Most days it's not too big a deal. Some days it drains you.