September 2001 Call to Action News

Hope in Ministry

by Anthony Padovano

If you believe in the word of God, you don't fail.
You dance a little, cry a little, sing, a new song unto the Lord -
       share a word, hug a friend, dream at night, break bread, take new wine
       careful to throw out the old wineskins and you don't fail.
You may have only five loaves and a few fish
       and it seems so little when there is so much to be done.
You may have only six jars of water
       and no one is very happy with you or with that.
You may only have a mustard seed or a manger.
The only way out may be Egypt.
You may have only three years to do it all in.
You might not even have a boat of your own.
You may have only a few stories - no title, no degree,
       no Temple to back you up or to support you.
You may have only the road to Jerusalem and it goes uneasily through Samaria.
You may only have bread and a cup of wine on the night before it's all over.
You may have only a few friends and they're all asleep.
You may not have the right words to get yourself off the charge -
       and so you forgive them for not knowing what else to do with you.
You may not even have a father in the darkness of Calvary
       and wish your mother weren't there.
You may only have one apostle left at the cross and hardly any disciples.
Sometimes all you've got are your wounds and the last shred of hope.
But if the Word of God is in you - you win -
       not for your sake alone but for everyone.
If the Word of God is with us, nothing is lost, not even a coin,
       certainly not a sheep that wants to be rescued
       or a minister who seeks to be a shepherd.
Nothing is lost
       not even Peter who denies Christ
       or the Pharisee who comes to him only at night.
Nothing is lost.
Once the Church had only the Word of God, nothing else,
       and it proclaimed its message without power or legal sanction
       in Jerusalem, Athens and Rome.
Astonishingly, it prevailed - with the word of God alone.
       This is not rhetoric - it is history.
We have the Word of God.
Why do we keep thinking we need anything else?

© 1999 by Anthony T. Padovano. Used with permission.

Padovano read this meditation to close his keynote address at CTA New England's Spring conference Apr. 21 in Worcester, Mass. Many CTA members asked that it be reprinted.