This time the topic is trust. Very interesting that trust would be the topic for this carnival as I just talked about this with my parish council this past Sunday. Trust is extremely important in ministry. The people need to trust the priest and the priest needs to trust the people.
The pastor in the Orthodox church is unlike the pastor in the Catholic Church that he does not rule as an autocrat. It is not top down management it is collaboration. We cannot act alone we need to act together. Oh yes I run the day to day operation as such but do not have total control. My role is that of ships captain or more to the point the guy that drives the ship. I am at the helm pointing the church in the right direction but I need help raising and lowering the sails. If you try to do it all you will fail.
We are preparing to launch out into deeper waters here and I have asked them to once again trust me to guide us in the right direction. Trust is not easy. When Jesus walked toward his Apostles on the water and Peter asked him if he could as well, Jesus called him out and Peter took that first step with Trust in Our Lord. Now we all know what happened to Peter!
When Jesus called his Apostles simply with the phrase “follow me” that took enormous trust to follow someone that they did not even know. And trust does not get any easier.
Sometimes I believe we do not trust God enough and we rely on our own opinion and ideas when we should just sit back and follow God’s words. I told the Council that if they would just listen to God’s still small voice they would be able to here exactly what he wanted us to do. It is not our church I told them it belongs to God.
Who do we trust? Do we trust God? Do we have all of our faith in Him? Ask yourself these questions and listen for the answer.
Hello Father. I am Catholic, and every parish I ever belonged to had a pastoral council. I do not know how they differ between the Catholic Church, and the Orthodox Church, though. I do know that sometimes the pastor and the council don't see eye to eye, but mostly from friends who are on the council. (Not a job I would want by the way. I totally love and trust my pastor, and imagine I would rubber stamp everything he brings forth, which is so NOT the job of the council..)
I do hope your parish council and you work together well to sail toward the same destination.
Those are great questions, and we do need to stop and listen for the answers.
Thanks for posting!
Thanks for the thoughts Fr. P.M.P. While reading your post the thought came to mind, "How much does God trust us?" — He does not have to, but does He decide to? Blessings…
just listen to God's still small voice
Even harder than hearing His voice is waiting until He speaks. Yet I believe it is critical to wait for marching orders before moving.
Nicely done post. 😀
Great post.
I like Russel's question aw well… does God trust us?
He entrusts us with jobs and responsibilities but I'm not sure there can be a 'trust' relationship when you know the future!
How easy it is to forget among all the decision-making that yes, the church does belong to God. And it's hard to hear God's voice in the clamor of our own. I pray you have a joyful journey in your "deeper waters."