Lesson Number Three: The Romance of the Ministry

"Saumur is an old provincial town in France on the banks of the Loire. At the end of the sixteenth century it was one of the chief strongholds of Protestantism in France, and a Protestant church still exists there...(However)...at the entrance of the ancient Roman Catholic Church of St. Perre, in the prewar days, the traveler might have seen a placard urging French youth to enter the priesthood. It read in part: 'There are just four days in anyone's life: birth, confirmation, marriage, death. Would you not like to be one who would be needed on all four of those days?'"
- Raymond Calkins, The Romance of the Ministry (Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1944), p. 192.

In his splendid and unheralded writing, The Romance of the Ministry, Raymond Calkins reminds us why and by Whom we are called. This is a vital lifeline for burrowing ahead in the often hard and cursed ground of the rural church. While people in rural areas are known for their agricultural skills and knowledge it is often the case that they refuse to apply said information in their spiritual lives. Thus, what you would assume would be fertile soil upon which to toss seeds of faith and grace, in actuality are stone-laden badlands of spiritual dirt that have not been harrowed nor cared for. As a man/woman of God who wants desperately to see spiritual fruit flourish in the life of your parishioners this stark reality can often been quite demoralizing and crush the joy which once compelled you to enter into the Master's service.

What to do? Calkins again writes, "And beneath all of this, there is the knowledge that his work is not in vain. Always he can see even in time of apparent failure the rod of the almond tree (Jeremiah 1:11-12). Others may despair; he never. When all looks like winter, he knows that there are infinite forces at work that can and will bring to life all that is best in man and in the world. He has the romantic hope that is not based on a secular appraisal of life, but rather has its source in the energizing powers of God...so the parish minister goes his way day by day, rejoicing in the very diversity of interests and activities that fill his days, dealing with almost every type of problem known to human experience, and filled with a hope that never grows dim." - (Ibid, p. 251-253).

Two things explode into view with Calkins' writing. First, underneath all of the external pressures there is an undercurrent of hope rushing as a river and washing away the despair of failure and despondency. This proves the critical point that our "hope is in the Lord." The Psalmists writes: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth," (Psalm 121:1-2, KJV). Notice the incredible difference in how the words are written - verse one is not a question. It is a fact. There is no question mark, only one solitary dot. Yet, the dot makes all the difference. It is a fact of life, and a fact of ministry, that our help comes from God. We are not to be in our own strength - at any time, or at any place. Watch despair and fruitlessness vanish as you do not minister in your own power, but in the power of the Holy Ghost!

Secondly, Calkins insist that we are to be going our "way, day by day, rejoicing." Oh, what a word! Rejoicing! Are you living in the joy of the Holy Ghost? Does a smile cross your face each time you meet up with a parishioner in the lines at the local market? Does your face appear to shine as you watch the young people of your congregation at local events? Do letters handwritten by you to the elderly in the church seem to be written with joy and precious thoughts of the one to whom the note is written? Can you adapt - without too much angst - and learn to text with the young couple's who work multiple jobs to simply feed their families? Paul wrote, " I rejoice with unspeakable joy..." Can you? Do I?

There is a romance of the ministry which no job on earth can compare. It is a romance between all of heaven and yourself. Calkins concludes: "Looking back upon it all...(the minister)...says, I would like to live it all over again. For my life has been pure poetry, real romance from the first to last. There is no more romantic career than that of a minister of Jesus Christ." (Ibid, p. 253).

*Photo at the top of this lesson provided by my brother, Guy Housewright. You can see more of Guy's incredible photographs at http://www.flickr.com/people/polyurethanewheels/