My brother Tim, a very sporadic blogger, has a nice new post up, in which he asks:
"How do I get myself to recognize the difference between being socially introverted and shy, and too timid to do the good in this world that I'm capable of doing?"
He articulates here something I struggle with frequently. I really believe that being a disciple involves being in relationship with others (that whole "love thy neighbor" thing). But I am, as Tim describes, extremely "introverted and shy." I find it a real struggle to reach out to others and take the initiative, and it takes me a long time to become really close to someone. But I often worry that my shyness gets in the way of me doing what I need to be doing.
What do you think?
1 comment:
My mom (lay person) is very outgoing and VERY into Christian hospitality. When she visits a new church, she expects the pastor to exhibit abundant hospitality, like she does when people visit her church. If the pastor is luke warm or shy in her or his greeting, my mom is left disappointed in the whole church. I would probably have the same reaction, but it's easy for me to greet people I don't know, especially as pastor.
But I think this isn't quite fair of me or my mom. So many different kinds of people make good pastors, and that includes a lot of shy people. Mom values an enthusiastic welcome, and so that's what she looks for. But I know we also value things like compassion and service, which we might find if we look beyond the person's shyness.
So while pastors have to work hard on their areas of weakness (mine is organization and detail work), congregants also need to be forgiving and accepting of the variety of people called to be pastors.
How's that for a middle-of-the-road answer? I'm such a Methodist!
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