It can be tempting as Christians to make clear distinctions between the sacred and secular – but I don’t think it serves us.
It doesn’t seem to be how Jesus and his disciples operated either. One of the ways we mistakenly do this is by looking at “ministry” as that which happens when it’s done by people employed by the church and associated church volunteers, and everything else as “other” – whether that’s social services, business, health, education or other fields.
The reality is that where-ever the people of God are found, God’s people are (or should be!) at work seeking the Kingdom and the kin-dom of God where they are, listening to God’s invitation to use their gifts and skills in service in spaces where God is already active and at work.
As such, it was a gift for me to have members of my church family come into my workplace at Restorative Justice a few weeks ago to pray for the work, the people and the space we meet and operate in.
In Restorative Justice we have the privilege of connecting with people in some of the lowest and most painful moments of their lives. We encounter grief, shame, anger, resentment, despair and confusion in people whose lives have gone off course – whether that’s in people who have been harmed or in people who have caused harm to others, intentionally and unintentionally. To me, and to my colleagues, this has always been holy work, as we seek to listen, to care and to invite people into reflection, repentance, healing and reconciliation. For my church community to come and bless and acknowledge this space of ministry as holy ground too was a real gift.
At the entrance, pray-ers were invited to consider the worst thing they’d ever done and the harm that that caused to another person, and to imagine what it might feel like to turn up to this space to discuss that with a group of people, including the person or people you had harmed. They were then reminded that nothing they have done, no matter how awful, is the defining thing about who they are, and that God delights in forgiveness and welcomes us back into wholehearted belonging.
This work repeatedly teaches me how vital it is to be grounded in the grace of God towards me, and then to seek to be a conduit of that kindness, grace and forgiveness to all those that I meet. That doesn’t mean I don’t hold people accountable and refuse to collude with damaging behaviours. It does mean however that, whoever I meet with, I am seeing first and foremost as a child of God before anything else.
Society is not made up of good people and bad people, criminals and law-abiding people, or any other such binary.
I suspect we probably all need those reminders that every person we encounter – in our workplaces, in our relationships, in our political engagement, et cetera – is a treasured child of God, and in caring for one another we may find we have been serving Jesus all along.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
It can be tempting as Christians to make clear distinctions between the sacred and secular – but I don’t think it serves us.
It doesn’t seem to be how Jesus and his disciples operated either. One of the ways we mistakenly do this is by looking at “ministry” as that which happens when it’s done by people employed by the church and associated church volunteers, and everything else as “other” – whether that’s social services, business, health, education or other fields.
The reality is that where-ever the people of God are found, God’s people are (or should be!) at work seeking the Kingdom and the kin-dom of God where they are, listening to God’s invitation to use their gifts and skills in service in spaces where God is already active and at work.
As such, it was a gift for me to have members of my church family come into my workplace at Restorative Justice a few weeks ago to pray for the work, the people and the space we meet and operate in.
In Restorative Justice we have the privilege of connecting with people in some of the lowest and most painful moments of their lives. We encounter grief, shame, anger, resentment, despair and confusion in people whose lives have gone off course – whether that’s in people who have been harmed or in people who have caused harm to others, intentionally and unintentionally. To me, and to my colleagues, this has always been holy work, as we seek to listen, to care and to invite people into reflection, repentance, healing and reconciliation. For my church community to come and bless and acknowledge this space of ministry as holy ground too was a real gift.
At the entrance, pray-ers were invited to consider the worst thing they’d ever done and the harm that that caused to another person, and to imagine what it might feel like to turn up to this space to discuss that with a group of people, including the person or people you had harmed. They were then reminded that nothing they have done, no matter how awful, is the defining thing about who they are, and that God delights in forgiveness and welcomes us back into wholehearted belonging.
This work repeatedly teaches me how vital it is to be grounded in the grace of God towards me, and then to seek to be a conduit of that kindness, grace and forgiveness to all those that I meet. That doesn’t mean I don’t hold people accountable and refuse to collude with damaging behaviours. It does mean however that, whoever I meet with, I am seeing first and foremost as a child of God before anything else.
Society is not made up of good people and bad people, criminals and law-abiding people, or any other such binary.
I suspect we probably all need those reminders that every person we encounter – in our workplaces, in our relationships, in our political engagement, et cetera – is a treasured child of God, and in caring for one another we may find we have been serving Jesus all along.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
