Strengths and weaknesses

Yesterday, Linda told me that I'm "fabulous" after church. The reasoning was because of the craziness that went on during our second service. The acolyte hadn't showed up by about 5 minutes before the service, so we had a girl who is in the choir carry the cross in and take care of the candles and everything. Since she's in the choir, she couldn't do the offering, which we talked about beforehand. Part of the way through the service, I realized she also wouldn't be able to take care of her Communion duties, so I jumped up and took care of that.

The lector and I usually split the lector duties, so we sometimes get confused as to who is doing what each week. This week, the dismissal came earlier than we would expect, because we didn't sing a sending hymn. The lector wasn't quite ready, and so I jumped out and did the dismissal. No big deal--something needed to be done, so I did it.

We talked about this a little bit after church, and Linda thanked me for stepping in and just recognizing when something needs to be done. Instead of waiting around to let someone else take care of these issues, I did it myself. This is a great virtue--as the seminarian. But I pointed out that there IS an issue here--I can't take care of everything that needs doing when I'm the pastor. That's exactly the kind of pastor that I don't want to be, yet many congregations expect their pastor to be.


I guess what I'm realizing as I go through this process is that I'm learning a lot about myself. I already knew that I have some gifts for ministry and some qualities that I'll have to overcome. Through the last few months, I've learned what more of these are. I've also learned that something that seems to be a pro can actually be a con in the wrong situation. I'm hoping that I can continue to recognize these. This whole time has been a great learning experience.