Later this week I will provide a detailed post on a number of things from today including:
- preparing for a service
- God at work in our church
- Jubilee Centre, Zambia
- 6th February 2011 sermon
But for now I just want to briefly comment on the feedback I have received today.
I naturally best myself up, I worry about the mistakes and get concerned that I haven't lived up to expectations. This has always been true, through school, university, my professional career and now in ministry. However the stakes feel much higher in ministry because it is so important to me that I get it right, it feels like I could fail God if I go wrong. And yes, this is being tackled in supervision!
So I appreciate feedback, especially positive, because it balances out my inner feedback.
Well today I have been blown away.
The main service was amazingly encouraging and I can't count how many people came up to me to thank and congratulate. I even had one member of the congregation say that was the first sermon they've ever listened to all the way through (shush, don't tell the vicar!). People said it touched them and informed them and was real and interesting.
Then the family service, always a select and lovely bunch, shared how much they love my sermon style and how it always opens the gospel to them. It was unexpected since I preach and preside at that service all the time, and it was much appreciated.
I have a fear that my ego is basking too much in this praise (see how I beat myself up) but honestly, it means more to me than words can express and makes all the hard work oh-so-worth-it!!
4 comments:
Lovely post. Glad that you have had some positive feedback.
thanks
Emma, so glad there was a lot of positive feedback yesterday. It's not wrong to be delighted by it - it shows you are reaching at least some of the people, which is what you are training for!
When I received a great affirmation of my preaching (participation in a national award) my old vicar told me about the Curé d'Ars who used to lick the floorboards every day as a sign of humility! I wouldn't recommend you go that far :-)) just keep a sense of proportion about the praise, knowing you won't please all the people all the time.
Well done you - it is so encouraging to get this sort of feedback, and we do need to know we're not preaching into a vacuum.
What I always forget to say in these instances (and I too have been encouraged recently) is "what do you think you might do as a result", or "will what you heard change anything" and stuff like that! I've got as far as people saying they're going to go away and pray about "it" (content of sermon) but not yet heard of specific changes in people's lives, or the life of our church (mind you we're in vacancy - not a good time to promote change).
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