The more that I dive into the Word, and the more I desire to follow God's will, the more I realize that ministry just gets messy. And, I like it!
This weekend was our Purity-4-Life Conference, in which we discuss sexual purity and abstinence with out teens. On Sunday morning, a lady dedicated her life to Christ and asked to be baptized. This sounds like a successful weekend, right? Here's the "messier" part.
When I went to baptize the lady from our church, she came down and almost slipped. It could've been because she was giddy or it the baptistry was slippery - who knows? But, I helped her onto the seat and got ready to do the "baptismal" routine. So, I told her to cover her nose, and immediately she started sliding down, to go under the water. WHOA! I didn't get to pray for her! I didn't get to say the thing that we always say. You know…the "I baptize you in the name…" speech. Well, in the span of about two seconds, all of this flashed through my mind and I began to think, "What in the world am I supposed to do?" And then it hit me. While the words are important, they're not required for someone to be baptized. Jesus commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but He didn't say anything about mumbling words. In fact, those words are more traditional than they are necessary. The act of baptizing symbolizes that someone has committed their life to Christ; they have died to sin and are reborn in Christ.
Once I realized that she was going under, no matter what I said to try and convince her to wait, I said, "Well, I guess this is how we're baptizing tonight." She went down, she came back up, and then started walking out the wrong side of the baptistry. I got her attention and told her to go back the other way, so she turned and jumped back onto the seat and then jumped up onto the stairs. If I hadn't done it wrong yet, I most certainly was doing it wrong now. I mean, jumping in the baptistry is about as bad as using the baptistry as a spa.
In that moment, I knew that God saw her as His beautiful daughter. Who was I to be more concerned about the way in which we baptize and less concerned with how God sees people? I mean, isn't the whole point that we make disciples, baptize them, and teach them the ways of the Lord? What happened in the baptistry was anything but clean and neat; but, God was pleased with a new disciple being baptized. When did the tradition become more important than salvation?
After that, we hosted dinner for the congregation. It was left over dinner (from the conference), but we had enough to feed the entire church. I walked into the dining hall and was absolutely blessed to see the room full of people that were eating, talking, and laughing together as brothers and sisters in Christ. But, wait a minute, there was a new lady. Who was she? Did she literally just walk in off of the street? About five minutes later, another man rode his bike up and walked in to get a plate of food. Our first instinct is to protect our people from these strangers, but that is completely the opposite of what Jesus would have done. In fact, five years ago, I would've turned them away, only to find that we had more than enough food to take care of them. In fact, I would've turned them away, despite having enough food. And that makes me sad.
This is messy ministry. And, I think it's how God would've wanted it. So that He might be glorified in and through our lives. Has your ministry been messy lately? Have you asked God to send His Holy Spirit to comfort you and guide you through each day of your ministry? I encourage you to let God's Word be your guiding path, rather than human inhibitions. Really consider how Jesus would've handled each situation that you come across, so that you can bring glory and honor to Him, and not yourself.
God's blessings on your life this week,
Bryan
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