The ministry that comes to us from the still silence within, that we share together in worship or in other ways, most often comes out as words. But the inspiration of the Divine that becomes such ministry is not given to us as words.
The gift of ministry is pure inspiration, an injection into our being of guidance, of ideas, of symbols, of images, of relationships, and we cannot comprehend it consciously in its original form. Sometimes, for some people, it finds its best expression and understanding in a form other than words, though still it is not exactly what was given. When we do express it as words, it is necessarily imperfect. The inspiration might help us find the right words, but still it is we who find the words.
It is not only in the finding of words that we diverge from the inspiration of the Spirit. As we struggle, consciously or subconsciously, to make sense of the ineffable that we find in our minds, it is forced to conform to the paths and spaces that are already there. Powerful gifts might reshape that landscape as it passes through, but there is a limit even to that.
And so ministry, in words or other forms, is inevitably shaped by the knowledge, experience, and even the prejudices of the one through whom it is given. Remember when you share ministry that you give of yourself, as well as of the gift of the Divine. When you receive ministry given through others, remember that it takes of them as well as of God, and reflects their own mind and spirit as well as the overarching Spirit which we all seek to know. If they say something that you know, from your own experience of the Light within, cannot be a right expression of the guidance of that Light, know also that both their ministry and your experience are coloured by your respective selves.
Seek then to learn, over time and through ministry given by way of people of diverse experiences and opinions, to know that which gives forth so richly varied, sometimes contradictory messages. In seeking to know the Spirit that gave them forth, you cannot look only within, nor only to those things someone saw fit to record, nor only to those things that strike you as Right, nor to any combination of those. As each gives a view on one small part of the Divine, seen through murky waters and distorted mirrors, the only way to work towards knowing the whole, undistorted, is to seek it through as many perspectives as you can.
Written September 2021
