Connie's Column: What do ministers do?
By Reverend Connie Grant
Interim Lead Minister
As you prepare to call a settled Lead Minister, I offer my thoughts, written for a multigenerational audience on the ordination of a colleague, about what ministers do.
A minister
- helps people live in ways that are true to their own spirits and true to the spirit of life.
- tells stories and helps people figure out what they mean.
- listens to other people’s stories and helps them figure out what those mean, too.
- shows up to be with people when they are sad or afraid, so they know they are not alone.
- marks special times in people’s lives, like birth, death, or marriage.
- encourages people to share their best with others.
- helps people find possibilities, and meaning, and hope in their lives.
- represents a religious community and helps people belong, and participate, and represent that religious community, too.
- devotes a life to these ways of ministry and to helping other people minister to each other.
In faith and hope,
Connie
Rev. Connie Grant
Interim Lead Ministergrant@uubloomington.org