Troubling...

I was a little troubled this afternoon after I read in a Filipino Methodist blog a question from a Filipino pastor about baptism. I was not troubled by the discussion nor by the content of the question. The question, what is thhe Methodist belief in baptism, is a valid question. But for this question to be asked by a pastor, someone who leads a church and guides the faith of his congregants is a little troubling. How can a pastor (much more if he/she is ordained elder) not have any clue about Methodist belief on baptism? Are these the kind of church leaders we have? Then what kind of christian followers (who are guided by the pastor) do we have? I hope the laity know better than the pastor. But this is not to blame the pastor. This is to question the church, the church structure, the District COM, the Conference BOOM, and everybody responsible for affirming and ordaining a person to be a pastor who may not yet be fully ready and equipped. We must consider this. Pastoral ministry is not a job or occupation. It is not to be taken for granted. That is why, we must take courage to educate our pastors for us to have quality church leaders.

"You don't need a cross..."

Last Sunday, when the children came in for Children's church, they were so proud to show me the cross necklaces they got as gifts. One of my students, Kayla who is 5, came to me and said, "Look, Pastor Neki, (holding her cross pendant) I have a blue necklace. This cross shows I am a Christian. The cross is Jesus so I have Jesus with me always... (she paused for a moment) But you don't need a cross to have Jesus with you. Jesus is always with us." She explained. I was amazed how a 5 year old can articulate so clearly the presence of us always. Immanuel - God is with us. Always. With or without a cross necklace.

Preaching

I preached last Sunday in my field ed church. My pastor have to be out of town to attend to some important matters so I have to do everything on both services. It has been a while since I prepared a sermon. When my pastor said that I have to preach on both services, it was already on a Friday. So I either have to prepare a new sermon or I have to recycle an old one.
Because I already took preaching classes, I should know better. The sermon is the word of God for the people. Although it is a discipline to write and prepare a sermon what is more important was to speak to the particularities of the congregation. Thus, in a sense even a recycled sermon being God's word have to address and speak to the congregation.
And so I went to the library after my Hebrew class and prayed hard for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I prayed so hard that I fell asleep. But when God is at work, nothing is impossible. And so I was not troubled even if it was already Saturday morning and I have only done the exegetical part. From there on, the Holy Spirit just guided my hand to write God's word to the people. And yes, the Holy Spirit also works overtime so I had to stay up late to finish the sermon for Sunday. But everything is well. Without the guidance of the God, the almost one year of not writing a sermon could have taken a toll on me.