LET ME confess in the very beginning, I think I've had it. I'm finished, through, done in. Let men of stronger faith and greater courage right the world's wrongs; I must be content to sit in the house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.
I have served on boards and commit tees until they are running out of my ears. I have given speeches to PTA's and service clubs until my name (within a limited area) is a household word. I have opened every kind of meeting and con test extending from the Association of Commerce and Industry to the gradeschool swimming meet. I have prayed for baseball, football, wrestling, and junior high proms. But the Lord seems strangely distant to me right now. My nerves are jittery, butterflies are continuously in my stomach. And my church members, who used to love me dearly, now wonder what I do with all my time. They seldom see me in their homes, and of course I'm never at the church when they call.
Two weeks ago I preached a sermon, using as a text that glorious passage from Isaiah 61: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to pro claim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn . . ."
As I worked on the sermon, I hearkened back to my ordination vows. I remembered the charge to the minister, as well as to the congregation, and the moisture in my eyes when the hands were laid upon me.
And as I read and reread Isaiah, and recalled that Jesus quoted the very same words, it dawned upon me again; this is the true job of the minister. The members of my church have their joys and sorrows the same as people every where. Only so many times, instead of being with them in their hour of joy or sorrow, I am attending a committee meeting. Maybe I'll get to them later in the week, but by then it is too late. To be sure, they can hear me on Sunday and gain a certain vicarious help, but it is nothing like having the minister in your front room when you want or need him.
I know what my job is. It is (1) to preach good tidings to the meek, (2) to bind up the brokenhearted, (3) to pro claim liberty to the captives, (4) to pro claim the acceptable year of the Lord, (5) [to proclaim] the day of vengeance of our God, (6) to comfort all that mourn. And if that is not a full-time job, then someone does not know what his job is. These Biblical goals represent a divine commission no minister can escape. Either he acknowledges Jesus Christ as Son of God, and lives and dies in accordance with these goals, or he is in the wrong profession and has not even the right to call himself CHRISTIAN.
So after much soul searching, I have decided to cast my lot with that splendid group of people, unknown throughout the ages, unknown in the modern world today, whom I call MINISTERS ANONYMOUS. They are mostly ministers in difficult churches, underpaid, over worked, and ofttimes not appreciated.
MINISTERS ANONYMOUS take seriously the words of Isaiah that their sole job is to preach good tidings to the meek, bind up the broken-hearted, pro claim liberty to the captives, and comfort all that mourn. What was good enough for Jesus (Luke 4:18) is good enough for them. To them has been given a group of people to love and to cherish. They are the shepherds of the flock. The congregation may number a hundred or a thousand . . . the job is the same.
MINISTERS ANONYMOUS awaken in the morning with the thought: Who needs me most today? One who is ill ... in sorrow . . . broken by failure? The confused, the distraught, the frustrated? The young, the old? Christianity has THE answer to all problems. If the minister does not bring the solution, there will be no solution. To be sure, he needs help. He may call in a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher. But the minister deals with the total personality, which is the area wherein the problem must be solved.
MINISTERS ANONYMOUS are interested in civic affairs, but they never let this interest swerve them from their appointed rounds. If they have to choose between the United Fund and a Sunday School class, they will take the Sunday School class every time. They may not get their picture in the paper, but they are doing their job. Leading one small child along the straight and narrow way can in the long run be more important than raising a million dollar budget.
MINISTERS ANONYMOUS would like to make twice the money they are now receiving. They know there are ways to do it if you play all the angles. Some ministers make lots of money; some serve their people. You cannot do both. So I am a charter member of that group known to all as "The least and the last." I call them MINISTERS ANONYMOUS.
Adapted from Ablaze. Used by permission.
