“There is a difference between knowing the path . . . and walking the path!”- Morpheus (The Matrix)

Walking the Path “There is a difference between knowing the path . . . and walking the path!”- Morpheus (The Matrix) As we begin the next phase of our mission of development to destiny in order to leave a legacy of hope for the glory of God; I am on a mission to clear a path enjoying the grace, extending the glory and establishing the throne for those who wish to walk out their calling without compromise. The key to great results on the path to any mission is passion plus purpose. Start by asking yourself, “Why do you do what you do?” Find the meaning and make the connection between the work you choose to bite off, and how it lights up your life and then walk that path to doing great or purposeful things. Though I didn’t always know I was a pastor, and for a time resisted the whole idea, I always liked writing – communicating, shaping something passionately was something I seemed to always be somewhat good at. It took me awhile to realize I was a pastor and could faithfully write to communicate my vocation as a pastor with passion and purpose. Nowhere was I impressed with what would ultimately capture my imagination and establish my identity for the rest of my life. I really felt for some time that this was not what I wanted for me. However, when I did accept ministry finally, the most important thing for me was finding out how to do it right. I didn’t know how to be a pastor. I didn’t see anyone around that looked like one I might even want to be like. So my study, which led to my writing, became a self-education. Writing itself is a hermeneutical process – in other words you are learning, discovering, shadowing parts that you hadn’t noticed before. I think writing shaped my ministerial philosophy and saved my pastoral life. Biblical hermeneutics is perhaps summarized best by 2 Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Biblical hermeneutics is the science of knowing how to properly interpret the various types of literature found in the Bible. I think if I had not taken the path of passion for writing, I would have been swept along into the generic and consumer kind of world, of marketing ministry, or the need for personal impersonation, becoming something I’m not instead of doing the work of ministry or walking the path of passion and not just knowing about it; I would not be here doing this today. This also provided me a way to take the Bible seriously as a lifetime vocation, not just a personal devotion. There are no pastors in the Bible! A pastor, the way we understand it, has really developed in a different kind of a cultural setting. As I looked to the bible I was also committed to the fact that the Bible was our text, so I went to Scripture to find out what was going on to make sense out of what I was not seeing or experiencing in real time from those pastors I was encountering. I was looking at the life of a pastor that was formed and shaped by the biblical revelation. The bible doesn’t give you a job description it gives you a character reference. So there has to be something different. There has to be a way of living in this boundary on the path between Christ, culture and community of faith and the community of the not yet visited. It helps to form a structure for knowing the path and being able to walk it as well. I discovered in my study that there are five major festivals of the Jews. These were required festivals, worship services or sacred gatherings. At some point during these festivals someone would get up and read; they picked five little books to define the path like David picked up five smooth stones to defeat the Giant obstacle before him. At these big festivals, preaching festivals, proclamation festivals, somebody stands up as a pastor, preacher and protector of the faith and reads The Song of Songs or Solomon, Ruth and Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther. This is what pastors do as we stand in the middle of these great traditions and make great proclamations within the charismatic centers of our vocations and proclaim, pastor and protect the faith. We say, “This is the way we do it.” Grace and peace J. Faraja Kafela