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Last Saturday I spent the best part of four hours holding onto a rotary hoe, preparing ground for a spring lawn planting. Some of the ground had not been turned over in years, another part was a large tract where soil had been moved in the previous six months. What I expected to be the worst part was a level plot exposed by some serious landscaping (digging and soil relocation) some six months previous. It did not look like a large area of land - until I came to use a cumbersome machine to turn the soil.
As indicated, it was four hours of HARD work. By the end of the time my hands were cramping on the dead man grip as I tried to work one last tract of stubborn earth. In the following days I was suffering significantly from muscle tightness across the upper body...
The land has, to my knowledge, never been built on. It had been at least twenty years since much of it was disturbed: it was clearly set in its ways and resistant to change. It has taken a combination of forces to reach this stage where seed could be spread in the hope of lawn emerging...
Which makes me wonder about the implications for gospel ministry in an era which almost demands instant results. When soil has been hardened through years, can we expect to simply plough through and harvest instant results? If the exhaustion flowing from my efforts last weekend is a guide, we might have insight into the rapid rate of pastoral turnover in churches and the level of burnout. There are two responses to heavy resistance - bring in the heavy artillery for big effort, or take longer-term organic approaches. Both have a cost.
Some of the soil still to be addressed in our landscaping endeavour is pure clay. No kidding, we could make a pot out of it! Not even heavy artillery will make much of a difference. Short of pulling it out and replacing it with something else, the only option is to work with it, seeking to change its texture. In summer it sets like a rock, in winter it becomes slippery as ice.
Many of the leadership models given us for church are business-oriented, rather than nature-oriented. We are yet to see the full implications of expendability implied in the business approach, where buildings can be pulled down, left behind or reconstructed, and people moved on, merged in or out, or sidelined. It is rare to see businesses grown these days by anything except acquisition and merger. Such is the rate of change in the business world that very few of the top 100 corporations of thirty years ago are still in existence, let alone in the top 100. And we still are tallying the environmental cost, while the people cost is hidden amid the small numbers who have made large financial gains.
There is an organic mindset which endures, and allows for perseverance and endurance. As my hands gripped tighter around the rotary hoe, almost in an involuntary way, I realised that there has been no better way invented which lasts.
And what was it that Jesus said about putting one's hands to the plough....?
Posted by gary at September 16, 2005 02:39 PM
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