I’ve been mulling over JD’ Walt’s comments in the seedbed Wake Up Call on YouTube 10/27/25 that if we feel burdened and joyless in Christian life, we aren’t doing it right. Even more-so, I think that applies to those in vocational ministry. In 2002, the year I started working in Christian education at my church, two friends and I started a comedy music trio to entertain at Emmaus Walks in our conference (“altar”egos seen tuning up in photo below, L to R: Cricket-tenor, Eula Lee-soprano and Maybelline-alto.) We worked walks at least 3-6 times a year from 2002-2016 or so, then we turned our scripts and pitch pipe over to some younger understudies. Eula Lee, AKA Emily Davis, did a solo act, as well, through the years in a variety of venues and eventually moved out of state after about 2017. I did an occasional solo routine for some small church women’s gatherings but I had more and more demands being made on my time as I was pursuing deacon ordination from 2008-2017 and running a 501(c)3 ministry.
I recall a particular day during my last year or two of (unsuccessful) pursuit of deacon ordination, standing in a lunch line during a day of Board of Ministry interviews. I was behind 2 elders who were chatting, seeming to do so obviously loud enough for me to hear. One said, “We want candidates for ordination who are scholarly, serious, and self-aware.” I laughed under my breath. I thought to myself, I would prefer to be thought biblical, authentic, and Christ-aware. My own pastor, a respected preacher with a long, strong conference history of successful ministry, had shown himself fully capable of acting outrageously silly in a variety of offbeat, wacky, and entertaining characterizations for VBS weeks and other church occasions!
After 2012 (the year of my commissioning) and 2016 General Conferences, the trajectory for those like myself, from similar seminary training, background, and personal theology was further and further away from the “mainline” of our denomination.
It was no surprise to me, as my BOM committee made clear during 4 successive years of ordination interviews, that it was not going to happen. The Lord, however, never allowed me to quit. I closed out the final chapter and went in a different direction, fully embracing Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:9, “persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” I secured alternate ordination, continued in Christian education and discipleship ministry, as I had been doing since 2002, and followed my home church to eventual disaffiliation.
This past weekend I was serving as an Emmaus Walk assistant spiritual director. The Lay Director had asked me to reprise Cricket (in solo), having no other entertainment options available. She reminded me that Cricket had popped up on her original walk 10 years prior on the same weekend in October! It was likely a case of them having no other options for that walk, too! 🤣So Saturday night at a sweet little Florida family campground, I resurrected Cricket. It was a bit angst-inducing for me getting her per-sona polished up and rescripted after years in “retirement.”
But she was received well. I, like Paul, have no problem with the fact that even if we are considered “crazy,” we are privileged to be considered so for the sake of Christ!
In an October 5, 2023, Southeast Church of the Nazarene in Tallmadge, Ohio, blog, Lee Salyers observed:
“We do not believe that holiness and living the holy life is about fulfilling a checklist of moral acts and deeds. Holiness is more about stepping out of the boat onto the uncertain waters of our circumstances believing in the power of Christ to provide the ability to walk – not because we have calculated the probability of being able to walk on water in and of ourselves, but because we are captivated and lost in wonder at our Lord’s instructions to come to him (see Matthew 14:22-33).
Holiness is about realizing that you have found a treasure that is priceless and more valuable than anything else this world has to offer and you gladly give all that you have and all that you are in order to possess, or better yet be possessed, by that treasure (see Matthew 13:44-46).
Jesus told a sinful person once that when a person comes into contact with the saving power of God through the holy Spirit that out of that person will flow Living Waters. Holiness is nothing more than the natural flow of life when we allow ourselves to be fully immersed and carried away in the love of God.
This natural flow of the life of God in us may cause us to appear, as it did with the apostle Paul, as a bit ‘crazy’ or ‘out of our minds’ because it goes against the current of the world’s rationale. However, holiness (being fully immersed in His presence) is the exact place where we were met and created to dwell.
In the light of the Apostle Paul’s life and teachings, it becomes evident that he was not crazy but rather, he was onto something profound. Paul’s emphasis on weakness as a conduit for God’s power, as seen in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, is a powerful reminder that our strength lies not in our own abilities but in our reliance on God. Despite society’s norm of showcasing strengths, Paul made a radical shift, celebrating his weaknesses because through them God’s power was manifested. Similarly, our pursuit of holiness may seem counter-cultural or even ‘crazy’ to some, but it is in this very pursuit that we experience God’s transformative power in our lives.”
2 Corinthians 5:13-15 “If we have lost our minds, as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” CBB 10/27/25)