"Leadership in the church is not so much a matter of acquiring skills as developing a centered spirituality of presence. Ministers need to be so committed to their own spiritual journeys and the truth telling it involves, that they can learn to be centered and still in the middle of raging storms," writes Alan Jones in Sacrifice and Delight. The author, who is dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California, charts some of the occupational hazards he's faced, including struggles with perfectionism, wise stewardship of power, and burnout.
Jones commends his spiritual mentors for teaching him the value of Catholicity, passion in religion, and the challenge of continual moral growth. As a priest for 25 years, the author has always found solace and renewal in the Scriptures, Anglican tradition, prayer, holy places, sacramental ritual, and reading. He worries about ministers who can't accept their fallibility, new ideas and techniques, or the contributions of the laity to the church.
In this survival manual, Jones singles out an appreciation of sacrifice and delight as essential to the health and vitality of ministry. He concludes: "The task of the church and its ministers in the years ahead is to address the spiritual poverty and to help make a family out of strangers." The advice in this helpful volume will gird clergy in particular — and laity as well — for the mission which lies ahead.