Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St. Bethlehem PA 18018-5989 610-867-4741
Reflections on Process by Anne Winkler for August 2002 Newsletter
It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in on a planning meeting of what is being called the "Trinity Health Ministry." Today, someone is being married in the church, our rector's wife is coming home after emergency surgery, our soup kitchen coordinator and her husband are both also recuperating from surgery, and we have just found out that a long-time parishioner has died suddenly. This is only the second time I've ventured out in two weeks after injuring my own knee. Life's happy, sad, and frustrating events are swirling in our minds as we take up the task of considering what we need to learn in order to formulate a health ministry.
This is our third meeting. We have talked about our needs, our concerns, and our experiences with illness, parenting, aging, death, surgery and hospitalizations. We have listed our talents, skills, and professional and volunteer experience. We have begun to brainstorm about the myriad things we could do and how they could be done. Some of us have raised important questions and concerns about what this ministry might look like and what problems might be encountered. Many of us have already volunteered to take on specific roles and responsibilities.
As I listen, it feels somewhat tenuous-so what exactly are we going to do and how are people going to know if they need us or if we can help them? And, if they know, how will we know? And what happens then? And, after that, what? Hmm…my anxiety is rising to meet those ever-present needs to know, be organized, be cautious, be right. So, I popped the questions, and as Mother Laura was speaking, I knew the answer was true-that this is the way it's supposed to be.
In the twelve or so years I've been worshipping at Trinity, I've learned not just about the strength of its ministries but how they come to be. This is a grass-roots parish. Or maybe I should say a faith-roots parish. I think this is what Jesus wanted us to be and do: to listen and to hear what people need, how people feel pain, why they suffer, and then to respond, to advocate, to feed, to clothe, to house, to relieve, and to comfort. In this parish family, it starts with a soup pot on a street corner, bags of diapers and warm coats, blankets on a parish hall floor, someone frustrated by the system, fearful about the future. Someone articulates the need and we respond. We don't need to nail it all down right away. We don't have to get it organized, categorized, budgetized, or enshrouded in any formula right away. This is our Lord at work. This is the Holy Spirit whispering to us.
I doubt that Jesus made lists. He suggested that we consider the lilies and not worry about financial support. He certainly didn't make a habit of announcing who would be on His right or His left. And He definitely didn't have a program. He had a ministry, clearly directed by God and guided by the Spirit. And He left it to us as our inheritance. We will keep meeting and meditating, listening and praying, asking for guidance, offering to serve-and we will have a Health Ministry. It will germinate and grow. We will take care not to tamp it down with rules and formularies. We will not write it all out in stone and deprive it of light. We will attend to it, delight in it, and faithfully watch as it flowers and bears fruit.
