How to Have a Ministry of Interruptions

The month of December can be very busy.

There’s so much to be done before Christmas Day arrives in many Christian households, that a frenetic tone takes the place of Mary’s long-ago anticipation of her first child’s birth.

We can read articles about taking the stress out of Christmas and try.

We can set up our Advent wreaths and sometimes even remember to light the candles on Sunday.

Hiding presents, singing Christmas carols, and filling in all the squares on our calendars often makes us sigh.

And then there’s the problem of unexpected interruptions.

Who has time to really sit down and listen to what someone wants to tell us?

Especially if they’re demanding our attention?

What if we turn the prism of our expectations and look at interruptions from a different angle?

Is it possible amid the chaos of December, that those interruptions could be our most important ministry of the season?

Mary’s example

A young woman going about her business in Nazareth one year met an angel—by unawares.

The Angel Gabriel brought with him the biggest interruption in the history of the world.

An unmarried woman would conceive a child without any physical help.

Nine months later, the Savior of the world would arrive.

Despite being greatly troubled, she listened and asked a few questions.

What if Mary had brushed off that angelic interruption?

The time she took changed her life, and ours, forever.

Interruption as Ministry

Especially when our to-do list stretches longer than our arm, we rarely think of interruptions as opportunities to minister to someone else.

But aren’t they?

In Hebrews 13: 2, we’re reminded:

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”  (NIV)

This was the case for Abram out in the desert. While taking the time to meet with and listen to three strangers interrupting his life, he learned he would become a father the following year.

What might we learn if we took the time to welcome an interruption rather than reject it?

Biddy Chambers did just that as she compiled her husband’s words into the bestselling devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

A busy woman, she ran a boarding house for four Oxford students for ten years following Oswald Chambers’ World War I death. Whenever she had the opportunity, Biddy went to the basement to a makeshift office. There, she reread all the notes she’d taken from her husband’s lectures and eventually edited them into 366 daily readings.

It took her three years because every time the doorbell rang, she climbed the stairs, greeted the visitor, and brewed tea.

Despite the literary work calling, Biddy took time to listen to her visitors’ needs and to pray for them.

Her daughter said those conversations over tea were more important to Biddy than the books she compiled.

 

I like to call those conversations Biddy’s “ministry of interruption.”

What About the Children?

With all the activities, Christmas is an exciting time for children. Thrilled with expectations, they often demand attention.

Consider the children in Matthew 19:13-14 when the busy disciples tried to brush off parents bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing.

Jesus did not see the request as an interruption. He took the time to place his hands on the children—paying attention to them—and prayed.

Once he finished, the families went on their way and the “ministry” continued as the disciples preferred.

Interrupting children often simply need attention for a few minutes.

 

Stopping, looking them in the eye, and genuinely hearing what they say often can pacify their demand for attention.

In this busy day and age, spending a few moments just focusing on another person can calm a situation. If our “interruptions” know they’ve been heard and acknowledged, they’ll often settle down and we can return to our original plans.

When I remembered we’d only have twelve Christmas seasons with all four of our children at home, I handled their interruptions better!

How to Trust God with Interruptions

The issue frequently is time.

Where can we carve out time to be interrupted?

Or, at least, to be graceful when we’re interrupted?

It worked better for me when I expected to be interrupted and thus left “margin” time in my schedule.

 

Like Biddy Chambers, in my morning prayers I petition God like this:

“I give you this day, Lord, and ask that you make me sensitive to the needs of the people who cross my path. Allow me to listen and to be full of grace. Help me to set aside my own schedule to meet the needs of those you put before me.”

If I go through the day with an expectation that God directs my steps, I can trust Him to provide the time necessary to complete his tasks.

When my stomach roils at yet another interruption, I’m reminded of a passage from Isaiah 26:3:

 

God “will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Can I trust God is in the midst of the interruptions?

How can I not?

Especially when I remember interruptions often are just another name for ministry.

A blessed Advent to you all!

Michelle Ule is the biographer of Mrs. Oswald Chambers: The Woman Behind the World’s Bestselling Devotional. Her most recent novel, A Poppy in Remembrance, a coming-of-age story featuring Biddy Chambers as a character, released in November. You can learn more at MichelleUle.com.

Photograph © Greg Weaver, used with permission