Ed Norman and a Ministry of Presence

CrossTalk

I forget the year.

Probably 2018.

It was Tuesday afternoon.

Or Thursday.

We’re in Dwight M. Beeson Hall. Sunlight sneaks through the windows as I settle into my seat for Pastoral Theology. Dr. Roxburgh is soon to share a vision of ministry I’m only beginning to grasp.

This vision?

A Ministry of Presence.

We tend to think that pastoring people is about solving their problems.

It’s not.

Dr. Roxburgh shares that it’s about mediating the presence of Jesus to them.

It’s about being a listening ear—believing that we’re so united with Jesus that, when we listen in love, faith, and prayer, Christ listens alongside us.

As we listen to others, our presence becomes his healing presence.

Upon learning of this, I fall in love immediately.

It just feels so….right.

But it wasn’t until 5 years later that I learned how to live it out.

This lesson would start to sink in from a man by the name of Edward Hamilton Norman.

Also known as my wife’s grandfather.

Also known as Papaw.

Last month I shared in his eulogy that Ed was many things. A husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, veteran, painter, and avid reader. But I will mostly remember him as something else.

As a storyteller.

Ed shared stories from his life the same way a kid shares their collection of cards or rocks —proudly, convinced each one is a treasure. Most stories came from his time in the military. He loved to share days monitoring the Soviet Union from Alaska or fixing electrical wiring on a base in Florida.

He also told stories of beloved dogs, always with names originating from their activities. Such as Hubcap, who made a habit of peeing on —you guessed it—hubcaps. There wasn’t a pocket of silence Papaw couldn’t fill with a story. And it was in these pockets that he taught me a valuable lesson.

Apparently it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something.

Could be hockey, the violin, debate, or comedy. Trial, error, repetition. Once, twice, ten thousand times. This is how you achieve mastery.

And this is where Ed Norman gave me his greatest gift.

Since learning of the Ministry of Presence, I have wanted to live it out. To embody it. But like anything, it takes practice.

A Ministry of Presence requires prayerful attentiveness with an openness to encounter. It requires humility to lay aside control of a conversation, your time, and presuppositions. You must encounter the person in front of you as they are, asking Jesus to come through you.

This isn’t natural nor easy.

Ed Norman taught me how to do it.

For the past 3 years, Papaw gifted me countless hours of practice. By opening himself up to me, I was able to open myself up to encounter, learning how to embody a Ministry of Presence. By inviting me into his stories, Papaw was inviting me into his life.

For what are we but the stories and experiences we carry with us? All of us hold reservoirs of joy, sorrow, heartache, and questions. Each emotion the product of a story we could tell. Yet many of us never will.

For 3 years, I learned to sit. To listen. To open myself up to the man who was opening himself up to me. My posture a prayer.

And I learned how to embody a Ministry of Presence.

To be clear, it wasn’t 10,000 hours.

I’m no master.

But I’m closer than before.

I never could’ve known that Dr. Roxburgh’s lesson would come to fruition years later by my then girlfriend’s grandfather.

Thank you, Ed.

May I share myself with others like you did with me.