Sometimes God acts in strange ways...

One of my greatest struggles of going into ministry has been that of worthiness. I have often caught myself struggling to accept I am worthy to lead humans, let alone to serve God. It is often more easy to see what we lack than the gifts we have been given.

To some extent, thinking on the fact that participation in God's plan is an act of grace freely given by God to humanity has corrected this. It is not a matter of our worthiness but God's grace, as I said yesterday.

Then I read one of my scheduled Bible readings for today. It included Acts 16:16-18. In this passage Paul and Silas are harassed by a person possessed, who continually proclaimed their identity. I don't know if any of you have ever worked with those who have diminished mental capacity, but I know from experience how hard it can be to convey a message to the wider community while being enthusiastically and continually interrupted by someone with a limited sense of boundaries. After two days, it would be no wonder that the ministry team would have been more than a little frustrated and annoyed.

In a moment of what seems to me like sheer frustration, Paul casts out the demons in Jesus' name. While it is not one of Paul's greatest moments, it is a moment where Christ was present and active through Paul's ministry. I believe that if Paul was genuinely concerned about this woman on his own basis, he would have done this much earlier. It was not through Paul's love, but through the love of Christ that this woman was healed.


So what does this mean for us in ministry? To me, it shows that Christ is able to do great things with and through people, despite their weakness and even uses a moment of weakness to bring profound change to the life of one of the most disadvanteged in the community. While I don't believe that this means that God does not strengthen us and change us on our walk, it does serve as a reminder of the unconditional love of God for us and the strange ways in which God is free to work in the world. If we get too hung up on our needs to be worthy for ministry, we deny the grace that is inherent in our call.