Peace

One of my favorite parts about being in ministry are the colleagues with whom I am in contact. Many of these people live far away, meaning we now only connect through phone calls and attending conferences together, but others are close by. In the DC area, I'm thankful for the new clergy group I've become a part of in the past couple of months which I'm sure will be a great support to me in the future. My friends at my home church in DC have been great encouragers to me as well.

But, I also have great colleagues at my own church. One of these is Lonnie, who is the Pastor of Music and Worship. He's young like me, though he's already served three years at the church. I've enjoyed partnering with him on projects relating to the youth ministry, especially as we prepare to lead a group of 11 kids and 7 others on a choir tour/ mission trip to Maine in less than two weeks. Not to mention that we've all be working on Vacation Bible School is going on every night this week! And, Lonnie and I have worked on worship planning as I am preaching on Sunday as well.

As you can imagine the fury around our office this week. So much to accomplish in a short amount of time!

Yet, I hear of similar stress from my colleagues at other churches. There stress may be packaged in a different form, but it is very similar. It seems that while everyone else around the country slows down during the summer, the church goes at fast pace! Rest for a weary minister only comes in a free morning here and there. We have less "office days" to get a larger amount of work done.

In light of this, I've been encouraged again this week by a quote on the signature of Lonnie's email. It says this:

Deep peace of the running wave to you,

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the gentle night to you,

Moon and stars pour their healing light on you,

Deep peace of Christ, the Light of the world to you,
Deep peace of Christ to you.

I'm in need of this kind of deep peace. Maybe with a little of it in mind and body, the craziness of the weeks ahead won't seem as overwhelming.