By Ron Baker
I have the great privilege of teaching college students at Eston College. The class I teach is called Philosophy and Practice of Ministry.
One of the first things we explore is the question of what ministry means. After all, you really can’t have a philosophy of anything if you can explain what the anything is.
In our case, we are talking about Christian ministry. The word ministry is about service. In order to serve, there must be a directive that is given – true service obeys the directive. You walk the talk. Dismissing the directive is to dismantle your service. You are then just rebelling.
As I’ve mentioned before, Bob Dylan portrayed this well in his song, “you gotta serve somebody.” Many will serve themselves – we call this selfishness. In our day and age, this has been given a positive spin with self-awareness, self-actualization and even self-care. These are not necessarily bad approaches when used for understanding service to another. But when they characterize a self-service, then they can become destructive.
When we observe (research) people, we become aware that within a person’s psyche destruction is a constant. Therapy and other methods seek to cope with this trend toward destroying both ourselves and the world around us. But somehow coping merely covers the stench of evil.
If our philosophy of ministry merely focuses on ourselves we are headed down a dark, deep wide road to destruction. We need to walk out of that wretched past onto a road that’s built to last and go on forever (phrase compliments of Andrew Kennedy, one of my students).
In this case, a complete change of heart needs to happen. Coping mechanisms will not change a heart. In a very real sense, a heart transplant is needed. We need to exchange our spirit of selfishness with a spirit of selflessness and service.
And that’s where the Easter story arises. Religions carefully approach this matter of disharmony in the universe – they know this is core to a change to world harmony and peace. The Christian story gives a very plain answer.
The creator, in giving freedom of will, has seen the direction humans have taken towards destruction. This is an affront to the original intent of creation and that sin against the creator God must be remedied for peace to reign. God in person – flesh and blood – then mingles amongst the created. The real live flesh person is known as Jesus, from a real-life town called Nazareth. While Jesus does not sin, he experiences the influences of sin – understanding sin and gathering all of that to himself. Then in a selfless act, with oppressors wrongfully accusing him of sin and demanding he forsake the leadership of his kingdom, he allows his taunters to kill him for the sake of a righting the world.
But the Easter story does not end there. Three days later some of his followers go to check out his grave. His body isn’t there. And in the next few weeks, people keep seeing Jesus alive. For all the designs of the oppressors to silence this usurper, he is very much alive. Not only is sin addressed, even death has been conquered.
Which brings us to the path – walking the talk and turning the world upside down. In the years that follow, Jesus’ followers are labelled as “pathers”. Their lives are not about their own paths but about the path of Jesus. The world is never the same again.
And that’s what Easter is about.
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