With Me

Recently, I went to the home of a long-lived parishioner who had died.  I was going to meet with his family to plan the memorial service.  As I walked in the door, a boy came running up to me and said, “Who are you?”

I introduced myself and asked him what his name was.  “David.”  

“Oh!” I said, “My husband’s name is David.  I really like that name.”  

I found out that this David was one of the deceased’s great-grandchildren, and that he was eleven.  He had a beaming smile and a tender warmth about him.

After the memorial service, as the post-service luncheon was going on, I heard one of our church leaders come into the church office calling out, “Rev. Anne, there’s someone here to see you.”  

Yep, you guessed it.  David.

                  

David comfortably sat down on a chair in my office and proceeded to tell me that he could help me quiet down the children who were running around the church.  I got up with David, and we went out to investigate.  Turned out there were no children, but a couple of the members of the family were loading up the arrangements of flowers.  I asked if David and I could help carry some of the arrangements, and we were welcomed into the activity.

                  

Just before the gospel writer, Mark, names the twelve disciples, he says this: 

“Jesus settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out…” (3:14 from The Message)

The plan was that they would be with him…

Jesus knew the importance and value of ministry as it was to be lived with his disciples.  Of course, there were moments when he went off to pray by himself, but his disciples were usually not too far away.   Most of Jesus’ ministry was lived with his disciples close at hand.

                  
That plan of Jesus’ is one we can embrace as well.  When is the last time you invited someone to be with you in your ministry or your life?  There are many ways to engage in this form of ministry.  Here are some examples: invite someone to lunch with you after church on Sunday, invite someone to join you in reading a book of the Bible and discussing it, invite someone to go to see a movie with you, invite someone at your office to church and offer to pick them up, invite someone to make a hospital or nursing home visit with you, or invite someone to go with you to a ballgame.  The opportunities are endless!  However, it is easy to keep such a full schedule that we forget to take the time to think and act upon bringing others along with us. 

                  
When I was a girl, I got to go to dinner with my Dad alone once every three months.  The reason it was every three months is because my two sisters got the other two months.  It was a way my father took me along with him.  I always felt very special when it was my turn.

                  
We never know how God will use us as we bring people alongside us in ministry.  Although brief, my interactions with David came at an important time when his great-grandfather had died.  I believe even the smallest of tasks, like carrying out flower arrangements after a service, can be used by God for building relationships with others.

In Christ’s Service - Anne Clifton Hébert