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Wisdom Story
Abba John the Dwarf once went into the desert to live the vow of obedience to his Abba, a Theban in Scetis. John's Abba planted a piece of dry wood. He said to Abba John, "Water it every day with a bottle of water until it bears fruit."
The water was so far away John had to go out late in the evening and did not arrive back until the next morning. Three years later the tree came to life and bore fruit.
Then Abba John took some of the fruit to the church, and said to the brothers, "Take and eat the fruit of obedience!"
Comments
I have served in Madison County, FL, two congregations for these last eight months. My Bishop appointmented me here. When I was told I would come, I had to go to the web to find out where the place is located, for I had never even heard of Pinetta, FL.
I have served two fine churches in a healing role. I was sent into a situation in which the last pastor had been fired by the Bishop.
In two months I will be moving to Punta Gorda, FL. I will serve another congregation on behalf of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. I informed my Bishop that I would move to where he appointed me and serve there.
I grieve leaving the people I serve. They have been a blessing to me, and they say I have been to them. However, I am enthused about the new beginning. These mixed feelings often pertain in endings and beginnings.
As a United Methodist pastor, I serve in an appointment system. Ultimately, the Bishop, consequent of consultation in a group of cabinet members, assigns me where they discern I can best serve in the larger United Methodist Church, Florida Conference.
I have affirmed I will serve where my Bishop appoints me, regardless of how comfortable I am with the choice.
Why? I am a servant of the whole Conference, with all its churches; so, where I serve is in the context of the needs of all those communions of faith. Also, I respect the authority of my Bishop, and in respecting his authority, I respect God and the churches who give him that authority for the good of all the churches.
What has this meant for me? Such obedience for the good of the larger Church has given me a freedom I never knew when it was just Brian doing what Brian alone decided God wanted me to do.
In our individualistic culture, much of our religion is about what God wants us each to do. We may be comfortable making God's will only a private transition between us and God. However, we find freedom in submitting, in the name of Christ, to the good of the larger Church. That is the chief model in the Old and New Testaments.
Discernment is not simply a private thing between us and God. We learn how God speaks through others. We learn the virtue of our respecing the needs of the larger Church. We have freedom in our surrendering private discernment to that of those with authority to act for the whole Communion, granted by God and the Church.
While few of us lives under the monastic Vow of obedience, we can learn something from the wisdom contained in that practice.
Suggested Reflection
How might a commitment to obedience under the authority of persons assigned for the larger good shift your understanding of what it means to discern God's will for your life? Do you find such a way of submission in community a means of freedom or the opposite? Explain.
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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