Reading

  • The Writings of the New Testament
  • The Pursuit of God - Tozer

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Snail

It feels as though my blogging pace has slowed to the pace of molasses on a freezing winter day. so....just in case you didn't catch it....my progress on this blog is ridiculously slow. sigh.
i've thought to write often and there have been too many things to think about, too many things to say and the blogs would have been gargantuan ramblings that most likely contradict themselves and fail to make a real point.
but i found a prayer of sorts that i liked. so here it is. good old catholics.

Ministers to the Future
By Cardinal John Dearden of Detroit (1979)

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; It is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord's work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
That the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No sermon says all that should be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.

That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow,
We water seeds already planted
Knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provided yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very, very well.

It may be incomplete; but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and to do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between the Master Builder
And the worker.

We are workers, but not master builders. . .
Ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future that is not our own. Amen


thoughts anyone?

1 comment:

Michelle said...

mhmm

That is exactly something that I have been learning as of late. And it's so wonderful a thing to learn.

It makes life make a little more sense... and be a little more freeing and fulfilling I find.... to realise that you don't cut it but that's okay.

thanks Lise