On My Mind: Seasons of Love

I began my ministry at Peoples Church on October 15, 2019. It was a Tuesday. I remember because my first task was to lead a staff meeting for a room full of strangers. It seems like just yesterday, but it was five years ago. (!!) Two million, six hundred and twenty-eight thousand minutes ago, to be precise. 

The 1996 Broadway musical Rent features the song “Seasons of Love.” This beautiful ballad asks the question; how do you measure a year?  

In daylights, in sunsets, 

In midnights, in cups of coffee? 

In inches, in miles,

In laughter, in strife? 

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, 

How do you measure a year in the life?

In ministry, a year is measured in different terms. You can count the number of worship services (93, including early services and holidays) or weddings (three this year). You can tally up the number of memorial services (14 in 2023) but that number is meaningless without the names. I suppose I could add up the number of committee, ministry and board meetings I attend in a year, but I’m afraid that number would fill me with despair. 

If I wanted to quantify the last five years at The Peoples Church, I could do it in Covid shots (six and counting) or weeks the church was closed (18). It might be more fun to count the number of new members (72 to date) or the number of children who ran to the front of the church last Sunday (no idea – they were too jumpy to count). I could count staff transitions (12), YouTube subscribers (701!), or Sunday attendance (375 last week). How do you measure a ministry?

In visits to shut-ins? In bags of groceries for the hungry? In trips to the hospital?

In desperate prayers for healing? In tears of laughter? In heartfelt apologies?

In the flicker of candles on Christmas Eve? In the darkness of Good Friday?

In words? In actions? In prayers? In silence?

Try as I might, I cannot quantify the last five years or provide you with the data that shows my ministry is trending in the right direction. I don’t know if it is. I only know that it has been a privilege to be your pastor and serve alongside you.   

The song “Seasons of Love” concludes that the only way to measure a life is in love -  seasons of love. Maybe that’s the way to measure a ministry too, because, in the end, as Paul tells us, love is all that matters. 

Here’s to the next five years!

             -Rev. Dr. Shawnthea Monroe