--selected
(My Pastor, Steve Jones has just resigned after fifteen years of ministry in a downtown inner-city church in Birmingham, Alabama. I wrote him this letter last week--because I appreciate what he has done all these years.)
August 1, 2014
My dear, dear Steve:
Fifteen years down the
Jericho Road ain’t bad. Remember one of our first meetings you had just come
and we had a Maundy Thursday service and we washed each other’s feet. That was
a high privilege.
You have been faithful
and worked hard in a very hard place. We both know that inner-city work may be
challenging and sheer fun some days but it is exhausting just to try to keep
the church afloat.
When we looked for a church to join that was no question
where it would be. Sunday after Sunday you stood up there with your robe on and
did it. You are a good, good preacher—and that is coming from someone who is
enormously picky. My wife who is even pickier says the same thing.
I was so sorry to hear
about your stroke. None of us like limits—I know that well. But I have heard
you have come back and that must have been hard work. So—I tip my hat to you
and Libby for hanging in there.
I heard George Buttrick
one day say that “all being said—I am proud to be a member of the club.” He was
talking about ministry. You make me proud for being a member of the club.
God bless you both. It
ain’t over till it’s over—says the theologian Yogi Bear. Gayle joins me in
wishing you both the best.
Sincerely, Roger Lovette
Easter Sunday at Southside |
--Dostoevsky
No comments:
Post a Comment