THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9512290112
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
ONCE IN A while I write for other sections of this newspaper. Recently I worked with several other reporters on a New Year's story, for Chesapeake's Clipper section, asking citizens to give predictions for 1996.
I was asked to call someone from the religious community and randomly selected Chesapeake First Church of the Nazarene on Cedar Road. The minister there, Fred Bates, answered the phone. I told him what I needed and he gave me several quotes I could use.
He also gave me inspiration for this column and a New Year's resolution.
Bates predicted hard times for the church as it struggles to meet other-than-spiritual needs. He also said people don't just want to hear about love, they want a church that proves its love for them.
``They say, `I want you to accept me as I am, and I might have some really off-the-wall notions about God, but will you listen to me? I want someone to listen to me!' ''
The Nazarene preacher is right. More than a handout, more than a homily, people just want to be heard. I know this from the many long, hand-written letters I get from people who end with: ``Please don't print this. I just wanted to let somebody know how I feel.''
All this has gotten me to thinking about this column. So often readers call this my ministry. I've dismissed that notion and made light of the idea. Part of my problem is that the very word ``ministry'' connotes something heavy-duty, something really big. The word ``ministry'' brings to mind training, seminary, ordination, sacred vows. Serious stuff like that.
Serious stuff that I definitely lack. My background is in journalism, not religion. I have no seminary training or degree. And though I probably read about religion a good deal more than the average layperson, I am just that: a layperson. Me, a minister? No way.
In a few words, however, Pastor Bates made me realize something I've preached here dozens of times: ``ministry'' simply means how a human serves God. We are all ministers and we each have a ministry.
So, am I saying that writing this column each week is a ministry? No. It's not what I write that makes this a ministry. The ministry is in the listening. Listening to your Reader Response calls, letters and notes. The ministry is also in how I respond to those Reader Responses.
This is where my New Year's resolution comes in. I have always been lax at returning calls and letters. I often procrastinate and end up forgetting. My New Year's resolution is to be better about responding to your responses. Granted, not everyone needs or even wants a call-back or a return note. But many do. And that is how this column is a ministry. Like the good Nazarene preacher said, folks just want someone to listen to them.
They also want someone to tell them they've been heard.
MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send e-mail to bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline is Tuesday
before publication. You must include name, city and phone number.
by CNB