Everyone should have the opportunity to be on a pastoral call committee at some point in their life. Yes, it is a challenging responsibility and is very time consuming, but the opportunity to listen to pastors describe their faith, their core beliefs, and their ministry is always interesting and sometimes even life changing. Last night's candidate was no exception.
Last night's candidate talked about ragtime piano music. In ragtime piano the left hand maintains a constant repetitive pattern while the right hand can go off and play all sorts of different melodies and rhythms. The left hand's repetitive pattern keeps the beat going and prevents the right hand from going out of control as it experiments.
This pastor used the analogy to talk about empowering people to do ministry: freeing people to develop new ministries while providing them with the "left hand"--the necessary support, communication and feedback so they are not working alone.
That's a great concept for church, but it made me think about family. Ideally that's what families provide---the opportunity for us all to go out and try new things knowing that there is that steady "left hand" encouraging us, supporting us, and -- if necessary --reining us back in. What a wonderful gift---and I'm thankful to all of you who either by genes or by friendship have been my "left hand" over and over again!
And, of course, as a "sinister" person, any analogy that praises the left hand is truly wonderful to me!
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