Jesus saith unto her, "Feed my sheep." John 21:17
To this marriage ministry, God sends couples from all walks of life. So I may serve them, His furnace refines me.
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God has long prepared me for this task. He has always given me a diverse group of His children to nurture. And I have ministered to them since I was a very young child. I reached out and taught others what I had learned and shared any gift I had. Nurturing, feeding, disciplining, befriending, healing, and teaching others was what I believed I was supposed to do. Isn't this what practical theology is all about? Apparently, I have been practicing practical theology before I understood its meaning. And happily so, I cared for others. Little did I know why God made me want to be a loving, giving follower of the gospel. Then He placed me in an incubator (most times His furnace!) so I would hone these gifts of love. The Father molded me to fit the position He planned for me. My mother loved and raised me in faith. My godmother and grandmother trained me and nurtured my soul. These three women imparted to me a strong spirituality of presence. They each taught me to listen to and to attend to the needs of others, regardless of their particularity and otherness. My teachers taught me. My friends befriended me and nurtured my spirit. But God the Father supplied me, and molded me and led me down His path for a very specific journey in service. There is no doubt in my mind that at this time and in this place, the study and practice of practical theology is exactly where I am supposed to be; exactly where I have always been. My view of practical theology is that it is an opportunity to touch other's lives as though working in the garden alongside my Father. I strongly sense His presence when I am working with the young (or seasoned) couples. I completely depend on the Holy Spirit to lead our sessions and to stand and watch that the Lord's will be done in our pre-marital or marital sessions and weddings.
As a small child I worked in the garden alongside my grandmother. She taught me to grow flowers and plants; just as she taught me to grow and nurture my faith. Grandmother Momma Annie also taught me to nurture the faith, love, and spirituality of others. She was wise and strong and beautiful. My grandmother's spirituality of sagely wisdom that Richard R. Osmer speaks of in the text, "Practical Theology" (page 80), initiated my training in this interpretive task. Through her actions in prayer, self-education, theological practices, and her faithful practices of building churches, she taught me to make the connection between thoughtfulness and theoretical interpretation (pg. 83). Because of this connection, I can expect to operate within the grace of wise judgement. Something Osmer (pg. 84) suggests is crucial to good leadership.
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Pragmatic Task
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I and other servants like myself, must become equipped to empower God's children. Servant leadership influences others to change in ways that more fully embody the servanthood of Jesus our Christ. This transformation requires that we hold up an alternative set of possibilities for marriage, which Osmer asserts (pg. 192), may have the effect of catalyzing social transformation. We can influence the path of those in failed and failing marriages, through imparting a new understanding of their mission and by empowering them to achieve it.
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