Looking (as I usually do) at Dion Forster's blog when firing up my trusty Dell laptop, I noticed that he was asking the question, "What do you do on a 'free' Saturday"?Free Saturday? What is that? Is it one of those obscure Greek customs that we are going to be quizzed about at candidates' screening on Monday?
I'm beginning to discover that just like the Seventh Day Adventists, Methodists also go to church on Saturdays. The only difference is, it's not for worship, but for Meetings. Council meetings, strategy meetings, disciplinary meetings (yes, sadly, we have those too), training meetings, and meetings to schedule other meetings. So far, EVERY Saturday in 2008 has had some or other meeting.
Just last week I received a 'phone call from Faith Whitby, who has kindly given up her only free Saturday to meet with the ministerial candidates to give us an idea what we can expect from those ogres and trolls we have heard about who make up the screening committees, and to put our minds and hearts at ease.
But convening a meeting with 30 people is no easy task, and so she gave us two possible dates - last Saturday, or today. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place - last Saturday was leadership training, while this Saturday was meant to be a Church Council meeting (which was cancelled due to a funeral, so we need to reschedule that one). Either way, I was going to annoy someone, so I went for last week so that I could get the rebuke for my absence over and done with.
I think it's time I started taking the advice of Nick Prinsloo, a new minister in our Circuit, who told me that one of the most important words to learn in ministry is "no".
Now looking at my diary, I see that 1 March 2008 has no entries in it, so if anyone wants to have a meeting on that day, be my guest. If they want me at it, the answer is NO! I can always blame Nick...
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