FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ABP) — To be healthy, ministers should plan their leisure time like they do other aspects of their ministry, said former Southern Baptist Convention president Jim Henry.
Jesus practiced the ministry of leisure, said Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla. While leisure time must be earned, he said, learning to get away refreshes people to do their job better when they return.
Henry spoke to the Association of State Baptist Papers, the organization of official state convention newsjournals, during the group's annual meeting at a Fort Lauderdale beach resort. Basing his comments on Jesus' “feeding of the 5,000” in Mark 6, Henry talked about “living beyond your circumstances.”
Jesus knew his disciples were tired and needed a break, Henry said, and he “is aware of our circumstances.” We get tired and need to come apart, especially as we get older, and learn to enter a “ministry of leisure,” he said.
“Nobody in seminary ever taught me, and no pastor ever mentored me,” to take time away, Henry said. His wife finally persuaded him that it is important. Henry said he “hit the wall” in 1983, due to excessive job demands, and recognized the need for a sabbatical.
It took a month just to wind down and relax, he said. Finally, a day came when he sat on the porch of a mountain cabin and spent an entire afternoon watching ants disassemble a wasp's carcass. “I realized I had never taken the time to watch God at work,” he said.
Henry now tells younger staff members to plan their leisure just like they plan anything else.
When thousands of people sought Jesus, he realized they were hungry, Henry said. “Jesus cares about our circumstances” and wants to help us, he said. But Jesus also puts us in circumstances in which we need to help ourselves, Henry continued. The disciples thought there was no way to feed the crowds. But Jesus used the opportunity as an object lesson to teach the disciples that, just as God fed the Israelites in the wilderness, he can provide nourishment in the present.
Jesus often works through other people, Henry said, such as the little boy who contributed the loaves and fish. “There will be times when God will use other people in our circumstance to assist us in it and through it,” he said. The help may come from unexpected places or people, he added, but that's a part of God's serendipity.
“If it matters to you, it matters to him,” Henry said.