Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.”
(Jeremiah 1:6-7)
It’s one of the most iconic comedy moments in the early days of television. Lucy and Ethel get a job at the chocolate factory, wrapping candies on a conveyer belt that just keeps moving faster … and faster … and faster. Unable to keep up, they start stuffing the chocolates in their mouths, in their shirts, and under their caps.
Ministry right now can feel like that chocolate factory job. The responsibilities, challenges, and pivots just keep coming. Who has time to do anything but pluck items off the conveyer belt and deal with them in any way possible?
The Wizard of Oz offers a different image of ministry for our time—an image of responding to challenge and dislocation by trusting one another and moving forward.
When a tornado whisks Dorothy and her dog Toto from their Kansas home to the magical but completely strange Land of Oz, Dorothy has to seek out the wizard to find a way home. Along the way, she makes new friends, forms a community, encounters obstacles of all kinds (seriously, those flying monkeys), and leads her unusual band to find the wizard. They don’t wait to get what they need … they get on the move! And along the way, they discover all they need in the least expected places. When they need someone to help them think about next steps, it is the “Scarecrow in search of a brain” who thinks things through for them. In fraught situations, it is the “Tin Man in search of a heart” who expresses deep feelings and keeps rusting for his crying. And when they encounter danger, it is the “cowardly lion” who proves brave and strong.
If your church board waits “for everything to line up” or “for the budget to look stronger,” you may become as stuck as the Tin Man rusting without his oil can. Throughout scripture, when God calls, God equips. Jeremiah tries to duck God’s call by claiming a lack of credentials, experience, and preparation. God responds, “I’ve called you. That is all the equipping you need—I will supply everything else as you go along the way.”
Church boards can spend too much time glued to the conveyer belt of ministry. Church boards can also get stuck anticipating problems, worrying about deficits (financial and otherwise), and waiting for a better time. All of this comes at the cost of hearing the call of God. What is God calling your church to do today? Who is in pain that you need to reach with God’s love? When keen listening for God’s call becomes the first and most important thing a church board does, by God’s grace, everything else will fall into place.
Or, in the words of Dorothy to her unlikely friends, “Let’s go…we’re off to see …”
Where in your own life do you feel most like Lucy at the chocolate factory? Where do you feel more like Dorothy in the Land of Oz?
How about in your congregational leadership? Between Lucy at the chocolate factory and Dorothy in Oz, which better describes your experience as a church board of late?
Have there been moments in your church board work when you moved forward without having everything needed at hand? What did you learn along the way?
Does God adequately answer Jeremiah’s concern in Jeremiah 1:6-7? If so, how?
What items are coming down the conveyer belt toward your church board this month? How will you prepare yourselves to receive them without rushing to deal with them as quickly as possible? How will you as a church board listen for what God is calling you to do?
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