Images of Ministry

Why does ministry in the church so often resemble dull prose rather than sparkling poetry?<br><br>How do we handle always getting top billing and being at center stage in the drama of parish life?<br><br>What is the truth in Flannery O'Connor's observation that ministers should go about their work like experienced crooks?<br><br>Can we really carry the treasure of the gospel in the always fragile sometimes broken clay pots that are our lives?<br><br>How do we get through the night duty both literal and figurative that is inevitable in ministry?<br><br>These are among the questions Stuempfle addresses in these reflections on a series of arresting images for public ministry in the church. Among them are such fresh metaphors for ministry as poets spies stars nightwatchers and thieves. They are offered as a lens through which pastors and others in church vocations can gain a new perspective on their complex and demanding calling.<br><br><b>Herman G. Stuempfle Jr.</b> former president of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg has spent most of a lifetime reflecting on ministry. Reared in a parsonage he prepared for his own ministry at the same seminary. After more than a decade in parish ministry he returned to Gettysburg where he taught preaching served as dean and for fourteen years as its president. Among his many publications are <i>Preaching The Law And Gospel</i> a widely used textbook for homiletics and <i>Theological And Biblical Perspectives On The Laity</i>. He recently published a volume of hymn texts with GIA Publications titled <i>Your World Goes Forth</i>.