:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

Good ideas are such clean and safe things. Though they have their place and are a great starting place, true Christian ministry requires moving beyond good ideas into this realm of action.

Christianity itself stands or falls on whether we put our faith into action.

I often quote a wise administrator from my seminary who once observed, “When seminary students read a book they think they’ve put it into practice.”

Ah, that is spot on for me more often than I care to admit. I’ve done some ministry in my day, but ever since working my way through the safe confines of Christian academia, I have to confess that I would much rather read the book than do the ministry.

I mean, isn’t the book usually better?

Today I took my first headlong plunge into a new ministry that I’m really excited about. I have started a gardening group at my church. We’ll be tending a community garden plot and donating the food to local soup kitchens.

In my mind, this is but a first step among many. The end game is to also empower the poor to grow their own food. However, there will always be a need for soup kitchens in one form or another, especially if our economy continues to plod along. And for the time being, we hope to be handing out food sometime by the end of July.

I spent my morning working with several volunteers weed whacking and tilling our plot in scorching heat.  The owner of the plot had not used it, so the town gave it to us for our work, hence the late, weedy start.

We have some pretty huge work ahead of us, and I would appreciate your prayers for provision as we have two major needs (organic compost and tomato stakes/poles). However, today we got into the dirt and plowed up the soil.

Something has dramatically shifted. I can feel it. This ministry is moving forward, even if it’s a sputtering, jumping tiller at this point. I don’t even feel like I have complete control of it all, as if it has a mind of its own.

And that is exactly where I think God wants us to be right now.