My Dear Shepherds,

Nick sat near me at a coffee shop patio and we struck up a conversation. He was a Vietnam vet who had suffered lifelong effects of Agent Orange. Despite being raised Catholic he told me he’d lost his faith for awhile in the war. I listened. He told me he’d sought counseling after retirement because he was so unsettled by it. I listened. When I told him I’d recently retired from pastoring, he asked me if I’d lost my faith when I retired. I was surprised by the question. “Oh no,” I said, “I love Jesus. The ministry wasn’t a professional duty. I love Jesus.” I wonder if anyone else had really listened to him or if he’d met anyone before who really loved Jesus. When I walked away a phrase about Jesus came to my mind, “He went around doing good.” I get to do that, I thought. All Christians can, but pastors especially.

Peter gave that summary of Jesus’ ministry when he met with Cornelius and his household. He began:

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. (Acts 10:36, 38)

Jesus’ good deeds, at least those recorded in the Gospels, were almost always miraculous. Ours don’t seem to be. They seem so ordinary that I’m reluctant to put them in the Christlike category. But looks can be deceiving. What makes our good deeds Christlike is not their miracle magnitude but the Spirit’s anointing upon us, the power of God at work through us, and the presence of God with us. We bring our few loaves and fish and Jesus does the rest. Remember: Jesus is in production; we’re in distribution.

I’m sure you’ve seen God spin the flax of some small deed to gold. The last time I visited Gwen she was so frail. It was hard for her to breathe or walk and she was sad because she had to move. After we talked a while I knelt by her side, took her hand, and prayed. When I finished she whispered plaintively, “Is there a limit to God’s grace?” An old hymn came to mind so I sang it, “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater; … And out of his infinite riches in Jesus, he giveth and giveth and giveth again.” When I finished, she rifled through some papers in the back of her Bible and, without a word, pulled out her handwritten copy of those very lyrics. In that gilded moment we both wept.

Sy was a sadsack kind of guy. I’d met him at a gas station where I got coffee on Sunday mornings. He’d come right out and tell me, “I’m a lost sheep.” I saw him fairly often. He even came to church a couple of times and then I lost track of him. Several months later I couldn’t get him off my mind so I called him. He was nearly speechless. “How did you know to call me today,” he asked. It was a desperate day for him. “The Lord kept bugging me to call you,” I said. An ordinary call in a golden moment.

Proverbs 15:23 says, “A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—and how good is a timely word!” God’s most common miracle is the divine coincidence. We bring some good deed wrapped in plain brown paper and when they unwrap it, it’s gold! That’s the alchemy of God.

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.