God's Progress Report

Wednesday 1/18/2012 4:51 AM

In my reading today James Fenhagen describes various ministries of the local congregation.  According to Fenhagen there are ministries of caring, ministries on behalf of justice and reconciliation, ministries of witness, ministries of dialogue, ministries that bring Christian values to bear on the decision-making process of politics and business, and ministries of support.  As I read through the list I thought of people who performed those ministries.  Mother Teresa had a ministry of caring, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we just celebrated this past Monday, had a ministry of justice and reconciliation, and so on.  Similar names came to mind for the other categories as I read through the list and I began to wonder into which of the categories I might fit.  There was no category for ministry of teaching math to community college students.

Once again the longing for significance is rising within and I wonder what God thinks of my life.  The ministries of my day-to-day routine seem insignificant at best when compared to those described by Fenhagen.  When I think of the parable of the talents, I feel like the servant who buried his talent in the ground because I see no return from my daily investments into the lives of others.  I’m probably going through some kind of midlife crisis or else I have a great deal of insecurity, but I feel much like I did in my first year of teaching when I wanted some feedback on my teaching ability.  I wanted to know the things I did well, so that I could continue doing them, and I wanted to know what I was not doing well so I could improve.  In the parable of the sheep and the goats, both the sheep and the goats are surprised at God’s pronouncement upon them and both groups ask the same question: When did we see you hungry, or naked, or in prison…?  Since God wants everyone to come to faith, and no one to perish, I sometimes wonder why God didn’t tell the goats they were missing the boat and why he didn’t encourage the sheep to keep up the good work.  Then no one would have been surprised.

It would be nice if God would give me a progress report on my life’s work so, if necessary, I could change course.  Unfortunately, for me, it seems he maintains silence.