In Time Of Crisis

The New Zealand prime minister has been much in the news over the last week. She is experiencing an extraordinary crisis, and in an important sense, not a crisis within. The same may happen in ministry. Here is my own example. It was the first xenophobic agitation in South Africa, and I was in extraordinary demand for counselling and crisis intervention as pressures mounted in the lives of foreigners -- many of whom were members. Again, in an important sense, it was not a crisis within. Notice the date on a doctor's note, which proclaims BURNOUT. A week later, riots broke out across the city. OBSERVATION: I bounced back quickly, and our Church diaconate joked that I should pin the note to the vestry wall, as a warning to counselees. The moral is: if there is such crisis, be aware of what you are experiencing yourself.