I Don’t Know How To Do This!

Many clergy these last few years have said to me, “I don’t know how to do this!” “This” means ministry in the new context we all face. Even before covid, pastors I knew retired because they didn’t want to retool. It’s even tougher to figure it all out now.

It’s hard feeling like you are in over your head. I never learned how to dance. In the churches of my youth, dancing was suspect. One church even had a special alternative youth event the night of the prom to encourage kids to skip it. If I ended up in a situation where people were dancing like a party or a wedding, I felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Yet my dad was a great dancer. In junior high, the older sister of one of his friends taught them both to dance. Unsurprisingly, he was popular with the girls! He told of dancing at the Palladium in L.A. in the 1940s on Sundays from noon to midnight. A friend asked recently if I ever saw him dance. Only when he swung my (reluctant) mom around the kitchen.

Recently, I did dance! I took part in a “Broadway night” fundraiser for the music program at the church I’ve been attending. The show included one of my guilty pleasures, Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” I had to quell “I don’t know how to do this!” thoughts. I tried to channel my dad. I did all right, and I had a great time.

In ministry today, you can’t simply follow choreographed steps. The “dance” has to fit you and your ministry context. I wonder if it’s possible to have a little fun with it. The Dancing Queen was “having the time of her life.” That may not be how it feels in ministry today. But could you have a good time at least some days?

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