The Ministry of Presence

All the news channels carried the story of the suicide of Matthew Warren yesterday.  He was the son of Rick Warren, pastor of the famed Saddleback Church, and the son had faced, what was reported, years of depression.  All of these stories seemed to focus on the effects of depression and the effects on the people who tried to intervene and help.   I finally switched the channels to Golden Girls where I would have something light-hearted to distract my thoughts.  After all, I told myself, I could do nothing but whisper a prayer for this family and the church family! 

But one of the commentators had talked about the "Ministry of Presence" and it stuck in my mind.  I switched off Rose and Blanche and Dorothy and her mother and switched on my computer.  What is the "Ministry of Presence" and how many miles does it cover?   What is my responsibility and what is my alibied and valid excuse for not being a presence?   I don't live in California and I don't attend that mega-church!  Does that let me off the hook in this situation or in any situation?

I remembered a verse I learned in Vacation Bible School years ago from Galatians 6:2:  "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."  I have tried to do that when opportunities arose--I wasn't one to "butt in" where I was not asked;  I did not ask about situations when the person did not bring it up;  I visited with the person but wanted to appear as friendly as I could without assuming additional burdens to add to my over-burdened load.   I was physically present without being nosy and I hoped that that counted for something!

But this "Ministry of Presence"!  Hey, this seems to be way more than I have made it out to be!  Bishop Joe Pennel is a retired bishop of United Methodist Church and is a professor of pastoral leadership at Vanderbilt Divinity School.   He writes on this subject:  "One of the ways that we respond to a giving God is to give ourselves to others with intentional acts of embodied love."

I think that that statement probably means that we will reach out to others even when it makes us hugely uncomfortable and "butting in"!