"Bill, you have a way of making people feel like..."

I gave up pastoral ministry long enough ago, and, today, I've been living in the the world intimately enough, and long enough, to image how that sentence might have ended.


A few weeks ago, I was managing a particularly stressful shift at the supermarket and I approached two of the millennials working with me to tell one of them what I needed her to do.

I told her in the way I typically speak to the millennials.

Then, over my shoulder, the other one said those words: "Bill, you just have a way of making people feel like,..." and, my brain was already completing the sentence in the way it often would be completed out here beyond the walls of a church building, with the S word, "$hi..," i.e., "Bill, you just have a way of making people feel like $hi.."


To review: I gave up the life of a parish priest, i.e., a provider of religious products and services to be consumed by a passive laity, years ago in order to live in the world as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. I took a job working in a grocery store.

From time to time, on the job, I talk about what I believe. But, my constant goal is to live what I believe, according to what Paul, in Galatians 6:2, calls, "the law of Christ."

And, trust me, I don't live flawlessly under the authority of the Law of Christ. Often, I leave the job at the end of my day, hanging my head.

And, so, it's important to me, from time to time, to know, well, how a coworker would finish the sentence: Bill has a way of making people feel like...

Happily, my coworker didn't end the sentence, "...$hi.."

What she said was, "...like they're on top of the world."

I was humbled and stunned. And, in the brief moment we had as we both moved on, I thanked her and told her I was surprised by her compliment.

But, the significance of her words continue to swim in my mind.


My goal, as an ambassador of the Kingdom, is not to have people I meet feel like they're on top of the world. My goal is to be a faithful subject living under the lordship of Jesus.

Yet, certainly, living as a subject of the Kingdom means to "love your neighbor as yourself." And, if you obey that part of the so-called Great Command, I imagine that, when you do it, you have a way of making people feel like they're on top of the world.


So, I'll take that...as one person's affirmation that I'm succeeding to some degree in my ambassadorial role.

I'll certainly take that over the increasing isolation I felt as a provider of religious products and services to a passive...and not always appreciative, laity.

The job I do at the store, that makes my ministry as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God possible, is a humble and humbling job. It can feel thankless.

I'll hold on to that, "on top of the world" moment in discouraging moments for a long time.