President’s Role Combines Privilege and Burden

As privilege I recently represented our church at the British Methodist Conference and next month I will be present in Fiji. As privilege I brought over twenty people into membership in Waitakere and attended the opening of the Wesley Community Centre at Hastings. Burdens include being away from home for 39 out of 43 days in June/July, dealing with church crises and responding to many emails and demands on my time and energy.

I am not looking for sympathy! This mixture of privilege and burden is common to all presbyters and deacons. We are privileged to accompany a grieving family or a couple preparing for marriage and are given opportunities to share our understanding of God through acts of worship and service. Then again we face the burden of creating weekly meaningful worship and responding to administration from church and state.

This same mixture is even experienced by church members and indeed every human when you think about it, though those privileges and burdens vary enormously.

It might seem better to have all privilege and no burden but that leads ultimately to arrogance and corruption. Conversely it could seem terrible to have all burden and no privilege, leading to despair and disillusion.

These are not two sides of the same coin but every privilege is in fact a burden and every burden a privilege. So the privilege of speaking twice at the British Methodist Conference, as well as sharing a reading at an ordination service, was also a burden. The burden of dealing with church crises is in fact a privilege to be involved in some deep stuff.

When our burdens seem too heavy to bear - like a terminal illness or the grief following a partner’s death - there are two pieces of good news: [1] Jesus too faced the burden of the cross which was also the privilege of carrying this burden for us; [2] Jesus will help us carry those burdens, Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”

Thanks be to God who rejoices in our privileges and upholds us in our burdens so that whether we are ‘mere’ members, clergy or even the President, we can continue in our faithful calling for God.