Preachin' it

When I began applying for seminary and thinking about this path, I didn't consider parish ministry (being a preacher in a church) as an option. I kept this attitude through the fall semester and every time a professor said something like "...when you're a pastor this will help you..." or "...someday when you're preaching..." I always sort of rolled my eyes at these statements and thought "Oh great, they're trying to make us conform into these cookie cutter preachers and send us to the pulpit. Blah"

In February when I had my first meeting with the Committee on Preparation for Ministry, one of the members asked my what scared me the most about this seminary/ordination process. I told them I was most scared that I would end up a preacher. I was determined to stay the course and head toward some sort of alternative ministry and didn't consider parish ministry as an option.

But then I read a book this semester for our Worship class that spoke to my heart. It is called The Worshiping Body: The Art of Leading Worship by Kimberly Long. This book has transformed how I look at worship, which I don't really have time to get into, but I wanted to mention this passage:

If the pulpit makes preachers uncomfortable, it may not be an altogether bad thing, for proclamation of the Word is not a task for the fainthearted. One approaches preaching with fear and trembling; who are we to think that we might have a word from the Lord? It is only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we are able to speak ––and only because of the grace of God that we are allowed to go through with it.

Preaching scares the bejeezers out of me. Turns out that's okay.

At this point I'm considering parish ministry.