Everyday Ministry

One facet of my journey in UU has been reclaiming words such as “religion,” “God,” “church,” and “worship” on my own terms, without the negative connotations from my youth and young adulthood. “Ministry” is another word I have reclaimed, because I have realized that it describes much more than the work of professional ministers. Anyone can practice ministry by taking the time to share her stories, giving heartfelt advice, or just by living his values.

During the past few months, I have come to view this weblog as a ministry. My original intent was to keep a sort of “online journal,” so I could keep my friends and family informed about what I was doing and experiencing. Before long, however, I realized that it might get boring, and that it would be much more meaningful for me to share the WAY I’m living my life, focusing more on what I am thinking and feeling and learning than just the day-to-day routine of my mundane existence. Looking back on everything I’ve written so far, I think I have created a picture not just of WHAT I have experienced during this deployment, but also of HOW I have experienced it. I also think this deeper sharing has been more meaningful for my readers than a dry recitation of my daily activities.

I first began thinking of writing as a ministry when a friend in California wrote me about my post “Fear,” saying

…this morning, when I was effectively immobilized by that fear of uncertainty,
was your very welcome "sermon" coming from a place of more dire threats than I'm
facing. I've already done a couple of simple but scary things I needed to do but
thought I probably wouldn't this morning. So, you are doing effective ministry
at a great distance and it is appreciated…

In the following months, I received similar comments about several of my other posts, usually from other UUs with whom my thoughts and philosophies resonated. To borrow a word from UU minister and poet Ric Masten, I developed a growing “cybergation.”

After posting “Who’s New in Kalsu” last weekend, I began receiving e-mails from an unexpected group: friends and families of Mississippi National Guardsmen who are either here or on their way here. It seems that other than my writing, there is very little information about FOB Kalsu available on the web. I have corresponded with a woman whose twin sons had to leave their studies for a year in the desert, a man whose brother is on his way here as a captain of artillery, a woman who finds she must deal with her own fear during her fiancé’s absence, and an expectant mother whose husband will be in Iraq when she gives birth to their first child.

All of these people have one thing in common: they want to know more about what their loved ones will be experiencing here at Kalsu. I am truly honored to be able to provide them with at least a glimpse, from my very narrow perspective, of life here in this tiny corner of Iraq. I hope that my words and images give them comfort as they are able to put a mental picture to what their husbands, brothers, fiancés, and friends are experiencing.

To paraphrase two of my favorite UU ministers, the only real requirement for ministry is to live an authentic life. For that ministry to truly be effective, it is also necessary to share that life with others. The foundation of my ministry is the theoretically simple, yet practically challenging, practice of living my life in congruence with my values. Finding the courage and faith to intentionally and mindfully open my life, telling my story with its ups and downs, being vulnerable and human, makes it whole. Mine is a ministry of words, enriching my life and hopefully in some way touching everyone who shares it.