From Angst towards Kingdom Best

We can all suffer from angst. Any single day in ministry can present us with a shed-load of angst inducing items be they small or large, and worse still these accumulate day on day.

The writer to the Hebrews says we 'do not see everything subject to them' (Hebrews 2 verse 8), i.e. we do not see everything as it should be. Those of us in ministry would want to shout out 'you can say that again - what we see is trouble and obstacle here there and everywhere!'.

Thankfully the same writer bids us to look up. 'But we see Jesus' follows in verse 9. He is crowned with glory in the heavenlies, a place we are invited to. A place where God's purposes find their completion.

So this week, with our list of angst seemingly running at a seasonal high, I hit on a spiritual exercise with my most valued partner in ministry. We decided to list out each angst, and against each one we then expressed what the 'Kingdom Best' might look like relating to that scenario. Some were niggly, e.g. 'that people reply to emails in a timely fashion to enable ministry plans to be well-made', others were bigger - 'that reconciliation might be possible between such and such people'. We then methodically prayed through each one: as we looked to Jesus, risen and glorified, we voiced the Kingdom Best for each scenario, a process that helped us let go of the angst, or at least see it in a new perspective.

Somehow the next day our mountain of angst didn't seem to be quite so large!