Ordinary People, Ordinary Lives

Why don't they teach us to be more like Rafiki in seminary?

Maeve and Declan on a recent hike here in Oregon.

Have you ever had a mentor who sees something in you that you don’t see yet? And, artfully, they help you get back on the right track? I’ve talked to you about Curtis before, but he asked me a question a couple of years ago that stuck with me: “Adam, I wonder how this pastoring thing is going to pop back up in your life?” I, like Jonah, have thought that one can say a polite “No thank you.” to God when He puts a call on your life. I’ve found out that you can’t, really. The booming “Where were you when I created the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much? Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” cuts through and/or our own trip in the belly of the whale dissolves the hubris at some point. We can only take the next step in blind and humble obedience.

I thought the story I told about “leaving ministry” was both convincing and true. “I knew it was time for me to get out of pastoral ministry when..” in 2017, I sat down to eat breakfast one morning and realized the next book on my reading list was The Art of War by Sun Tzu — and I had a moment of realizing how spiritually impoverished pastoral ministry in a church was leaving me. What are you DOING, Adam. If I had any chance of a healthy family, a healthy marriage, a healthy relationship towards God and my neighbors… I had to get out. I was losing my faith faster than my ability to fake it with with a quick smile and the right Bible verse. I could still just barely see and believe that there was a way that leads to life and a way that leads to..

It sounds like I’d found the moral high ground on God, right? Save your soul, Adam! It is for your family! It was exactly right and exactly wrong at the same time. The exit was disorienting. I left the role behind, for the best in my case, but the work keeps running into me at the grocery store.

I stumbled my way further along up the road, coming to find out that this whole “raising money” thing and “take some pictures and make a website” deal fit into the broader fields of Development & Marketing. I’ve found ordinary ways to answer “So what do you do for work?” that didn’t involved a bunch of “uhh…”. I initially found creative ways to work that would allow me to wall myself off, but eventually was led on a journey of forgiveness and healing.

That led to a phone call with a fellow fundraiser at my org last summer who listened to my story and said, “Adam, you do know that the donors I serve call me their pastor don’t you?”. I was stunned. This again? The work I couldn’t get away from? Over and over again, this was confirmed. Here, I thought I’d rejected the pastoral work, and yet God continued to make the path straight in front of me. The work was the calling; not the title or the role. “I wonder how this pastoring thing is going to pop back up in your life…” In shepherding, advising, mentoring. In tying the clouds together. In servant leadership.

Romans 12:9-16

Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying. Take care of God's needy people and welcome strangers into your home. Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask Him to bless them and not to curse them. When others are happy, be happy with them, and when they are sad, be sad. Be friendly with everyone. Don't be proud and feel that you know more than others. Make friends with ordinary people.

Have you ever watched The Lion King? Kelly and I watched it together on Broadway a few years ago, but I still think there is nothing better than the 1994 animated movie. It was the first film I ever saw in a theatre.

Rafiki is a little crazy, but a helpful guide to the hero of the story. A true pastor or spiritual leader type — faster to ask questions than provide answers. Off-beat. Quirky. Differentiated. He doesn’t need it. He’s already home. This scene shows him doing some of his best work:

So go, get back at it. Live out Romans 12. Be generous. Be amazed at what you find and how God uses you as you love and serve. Be brave enough to make a new friend or to face your past. You can either run from it, or learn from it. So what are you going to do?

I’ll leave you with a litany from Len Sweet — my favorite one I’ve experienced:

The world’s a better place because Michelangelo didn’t say “I don’t do ceilings."

The world’s a better place because Luther didn’t say “I don’t do doors.”

The world’s a better place because Wesley didn’t say “I don’t do fields.”

The world’s a better place because Noah didn’t say, “I don’t do arks.”

The world’s a better place because . . . .

Abraham didn’t say, “I don’t do unknown destinations.”

Moses didn’t say, “I don’t do Pharaohs.”

Ruth didn’t say, “I don’t do mothers-in-law.”

Rahab didn’t say, “I don’t do spies.”

David didn’t say, “I don’t do giants.”

Mary didn’t say, “I don’t do virgin births.”

Joseph didn’t say “I don’t do a pregnant fiancée.”

Peter didn’t say, “I don’t do Gentiles.”

Paul didn’t say, “I don’t do letters.”

The world’s a better place because Jesus didn’t say, “I don’t do crosses.”

The world’s going to be a better place because you don’t say,

“I don’t do . . .”