The Mysterious Coexistence of Destruction and Amazing Grace
A sentence in the annual report of the Pastoral Excellence Project at the Center for Ministry at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., caught my attention, fairly leaping from the page.
“Katrina,” the report said, “has called forth new conversation as we listen more deeply for God’s voice in the mysterious coexistence of the destruction and amazing grace and as pastors on the Coast learn to sustain ministry without the resources upon which they ordinarily relied.”
“. . . the mysterious coexistence of the destruction and amazing grace. . .”
After reflecting a moment, I realized that our friends at Millsaps are right. Though it sometimes takes a hurricane to remind us, the truth is that ministry always takes place within “the mysterious coexistence of destruction and amazing grace.” Life consists of both destruction and grace, which are shrouded in inexplicable and uncontrollable mystery. Christian ministry involves engaging the destruction and the grace with courage, humility, and gratitude.
Sometimes the destruction comes in dramatic catastrophic events of nature—tornados, hurricanes, fires, floods, and pandemic diseases. Often the devastation results from governments’ and institutions’ misguided actions and policies—war, oppression, environmental pollution, widespread poverty. More frequently than we want to admit, the destruction, though less dramatic, comes from our own actions, resulting in personal or family illness, grief, and loss. Moral and ethical failure, fractured and broken relationships, careless actions and decisions, unhealthy habits and unintended acts, accidents and mishaps—these seem to be part of the human lot.
Of course, destruction’s existence has always puzzled theologians, philosophers, and preachers. Theodicy remains a critical issue. Pastors confront it regularly in the hospital room, at the graveside, in the courtroom, and in counseling sessions. “Why did this happen to me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “If only I had…” “Is this the will of God?” “Am I being punished by God?”
Perhaps we assume that if we can understand destruction then we can manage it, prevent it, or control it. Clearly, much devastation and suffering can be prevented with just and compassionate policies and actions by governments, businesses, corporations, and institutions. Healthy practices and habits by individuals, families, and communities will diminish devastation and calamity. Excellent ministry does include fostering practices and habits that call forth, support, and sustain abundant and full life.
Despite all efforts, however, our control over calamity is limited. In the end, destruction remains a mysterious reality that affects us all. But so is grace. Yes, life consists of destruction but it also consists of inexplicable beauty, mystifying goodness, unfathomable truth, and incomprehensible love. Coexisting with devastation, loss, suffering, and death are birth, triumph, jubilation, and resurrection. Divine grace—God’s presence and power to create, heal, reconcile, and transform—infuses even destruction with possibilities for new life, deep love, intense beauty, and boundless hope.
Christian ministry involves trustful acceptance of “the mysterious coexistence of destruction and abundant grace” within our own lives and the life of the world around us. Being fully present in the midst of such mysterious coexistence is embodied excellence. It is the excellence manifested in the mysterious coexistence of the devastation of the Crucifixion and the abundant grace of the Resurrection.
In the wake of Katrina, pastors on the Gulf Coast are teaching us what really sustains ministry. In the storm, some lost the normative tools for ministry, what most of us today would consider to be the most basic essentials we would need to practice ministry—buildings, books, sermon files, computers, liturgical materials, easy access to parishioners and community resources.
Over the past year, however, these pastors have discovered in the destruction that none of these—not even the buildings—were really essential to ministry.
As one said, “All I had left with which to minister was the experience and memory of God’s faithfulness, goodness, and love.”
Some of those pastors are now gathering in peer groups where they are listening more deeply for God’s voice in the mysterious coexistence of destruction and grace and finding new resources for ministry, God’s grace in one another. We will do well to listen to them as we identify marks of excellence and seek to discover what sustains it.
Kenneth L. Carder is professor of the practice of pastoral formation at Duke Divinity School and a senior fellow with Pulpit & Pew: The Duke Center for Excellence in Ministry. He was bishop of the Mississippi Area of the United Methodist Church from 2000 to 2004 and the Nashville Area of the UMC from 1992 to 2000.
