THE MINISTRY OF PRESENCE
When Mark spots the shooter in the bell tower, he immediately runs to the tower and climbs to the roof where he encounters Ethan, a pastor who Mark had taught in seminary.
Ethan swung his rifle around to face Mark. “What are you doing here, professor?”
“I thought I was coming to the campus for a break from church work, but your rather dramatic statement caught my attention, so I thought I’d come up and see what you were trying to say.” He remembered from watching TV that you were supposed to establish a relationship with the shooter. “By the way, you can call me Mark.” He edged towards Ethan as he spoke. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but that was the way he remembered it from the movies.
How frequently are pastors caught in situations where, while inadequately prepared, they have no choice but to respond?
Mark’s decision reflects what is often called the “ministry of presence.” What is your understanding of what that means in the exercise of your ministry?
WHEN CLERGY LOSE THEIR FAITH
Ethan is a clergyman who has lost his faith.
“How long have you been a minister, Mark, twenty years?”
“Close to twenty-five now,” Mark said.
“How’d you do it?” Mark could hear the stress in his voice. “Didn’t you ever realize that resurrection is biologically impossible, forgiveness is for wimps who can’t win, and all the church is interested in is sucking the money out of gullible members to protect a failing institution?”
Ethan continues his indictment of the church. “We work for a church that’s collapsing from within because it is so self-serving and full of hypocrisy that no one under thirty will darken its doors…Even the older generation is beginning to abandon it because their beach house offers more comfort on the weekend. They would rather spend their money on pleasure than on sharing with those in need as the Gospel commands.”
How do you begin to engage a theologically trained but despairing clergyman who s overwhelmed with doubt?
THE INTEGRITY OF MINISTRY
Many pastors have from time to time entertained such doubts themselves. Mark recognizes that in himself. “The irony is, I share some of his anger only I’ve learned to survive. Maybe I’m the crazy one.”
Then Ethan challenges the very integrity of ministry.
“Face it, Mark. Don’t you feel like a hypocrite, getting up Sunday after Sunday, and telling people that they should love a neighbor who is willing to betray them to make a few more dollars? I’ll bet you tell them that they should trust your absentee God—a god who is willing to allow untold innocent children to starve in this world while Christians support governments who waste billions of dollars building weapons to destroy each other.”
“Isn’t God supposed to be all knowing? Didn’t the Almighty One know from the beginning that he was creating a universe in which such cruelty would continue to exist? A child with tinker toys could make a better creation than that.”
How do you feel about Mark’s response when he says: “You asked me a question, Ethan. “The answer is I do feel like a hypocrite, sometimes.”
THE HYPOCRITICAL OATH
“I think it is one of the unspoken burdens of the ministry. We are not given the luxury of taking a few months off when we are filled with doubts. Rather, we have to stand up each Sunday morning and try to offer hope and courage to a people who are desperate for some good news that will help them survive.”
Mark puts a positive spin on the definition of hypocrite when he says: “Life gets overwhelming at times. All good pastors are hypocrites. When life gets rough and the questions are without answers, they playact as if it is true until people can believe again. That’s what it means to be a hypocrite—to playact at the truth.”
Should pastors only speak of what they know to be true or is it OK to sometimes proclaim what they want to be true?
How do you evaluate Ethan’s analysis of Mark’s ministry to him in the final hospital scene? What does that say about ministry?