I like this:

Sometimes, in church, the "children's message" contains as much that is inspiring or informative as the whole sermon.

This week's children's message was about "the priesthood of all believers" (Well, the sermon was too, but the children's message, because of its relative simplicity, was more striking to me). In it, the person talked about how we all have the chance to minister to people, even though very few of us are "officially" ministers. That if we listen to someone talk when they are sad, or we draw a picture for someone, or we help them when we need help, we are ministering to them.

And that's true. But I also like it because it reminds me of a number of important things, and thinking of the stuff I do for other people as a "ministry" rather than, maybe, a "burden," helps me to "keep on keepin' on" a little bit better.

But it also reminds me of something very important, and something maybe our culture tries to wipe away these days: not everything should be commodified and transactional. Maybe some things should be done out of the love of doing them - or the love for the people you are doing them for. That there are benefits beyond money we get out of things, and in a lot of cases, the benefits we get are bigger than the money.

Oh, don't get me wrong: even the Bible says it's wrong to muzzle a working ox, and people need to be able to make a living as well as live, and sometimes it is hard to find the energy to do the over-and-above things if you're always scrabbling for money. But a lot of us aren't at that point; we're comfortable enough, and maybe, sometimes, it's better to say "This does not enrich me materially but it enriches me spiritually" or even sometimes "this does not enrich me but it benefits a fellow being"

One of the things I miss about the heyday of craft-blogs was that a lot of it was like that - it was people putting up stuff and either going "this is something I found that makes me happy" or "this is something I made that makes me happy" and the idea was "maybe it will make you happy too" and eventually so many of the blogs either ended because the people got too busy with other things of life that demanded their time (in some cases: paying jobs) OR the person gradually pivoted the blog to a "monetized" model and yes, there are still people who think they can start a blog and make a lot of money doing it, and I think that's one of those one in a million things where people are led to believe that it's something they can do....when the blogs that became profitable in some way either did so as a matter of dumb luck, or had some weird undefinable thing that can't be reproduced (and anyway: so few actual newspapers seem to make money off their websites, and advertising on a blog or something seems so unprofitable).

And yeah, I've joked about the old Samuel Johnson line about how no one but a blockhead ever wrote for anything BUT money, but you know? There are a lot of us blockheads still out there.

But yeah....maybe once in a while I can say something here that's helpful or useful or amusing or that makes someone's day better, and that makes it worth it to me.

The other thing is, thinking of that, it puts a little bit of the lie to the You Must Do Great Things narrative that as a borderline-gifted child I got fed on a regular basis in school, and which I've used as a bat to beat myself up with these few months....not all of us can find cures to diseases or broker peace between nations, but...we can all strive to be kind and good and to help others, and you know? Maybe that's enough. It should be enough.


Also, a story, because the minister (who is sort of a lay minister; I guess he's credentialed to the point where he can marry people and conduct funerals and do baptisms, but he doesn't have a divinity degree) talked about the different terms used for ministers (ranging from Reverend down to "Holy Joe") and he mentioned Preacher and Pastor and it reminded me of something from high school - I had in my friend group a couple of African-American women whose roots were in the American south, and one of them, either her dad or her uncle (I forget which) was a minister. (I'm going to assume it was her dad for the purposes of the story) and some other of our friends one day made the comment to another person, introducing P., that her dad was a "preacher." She immediately drew herself up to her full height and declared, "My father is *not* a preacher. My father is a PASTOR. A preacher is a pastor without a congregation" and that struck me because I'd never known the difference (or perceived difference: I don't know if it was a regional thing or a family thing for her) and It was interesting to see how adamant she was about him being a PASTOR and not a PREACHER. (I wonder if it's a Southern thing though because when I told the minister it, he laughed with recognition and several other people around us did, too).

But yes. One of the things I have long cherished about the denomination I grew up in and am still a part of is the idea that all believers can, in their own way, be ministers.