Interviewing Is Hard Work

How do you describe what happens daily in a Church Office to someone who has rarely spent any time in one? We have a job description for the Office Manager we are seeking, but there is oft-times a great deal of disparity between what the job is perceived to be and what it actually is. Communicating the disparity in an interview, without scaring the candidates away, is hard work . . . kind of like describing to the disciples what it means to be the Savior without them having a context to understand it.

How hard was it for Jesus to explain the disparity between what people wanted the Savior to be and what He knew it meant? How many times did Jesus sweat blood over them (and us?) getting it right, or at least coming to some sort of understanding? Maybe that is exactly why He had to show us in terms of steadfast faithfulness to God in the midst of chaotic human expectations. His choice to walk in faithfulness, even unto death, is the visual bridging of the disparity between what we want a Savior to be and what the Savior must be. We wanted a political deliverer who would do the work for us - and then allow us to share the glory without having to bear the pain, and He became a Deliverer who endured the pain that we might have faith to continue the work through Him for all time.

Embodying the disparity between expectation and reality is hard work, yet it is in this week which is before us, Holy Week, that we come face to face with what the job description says . . . and what God intends the ministry to be in being the Savior of humankind. I am grateful that Jesus takes the time with me to explain in Body and Blood what it means to be Savior and I will strive in the days ahead to allow His call in my life to guide my steps in following His example. I only pray it carries over in the ordinariness of the everyday life, in the things of which I am a part, like hiring an Office Manager. The standard He sets is the faith we claim: Now, to live it with the integrity He teaches, as well.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don