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Philippians 1:21-30
By Melissa Rudolph

"As long as I'm alive in this body, there's good work for me to do."
- Philippians 1: 22

As clergy return to our Discipler groups this month, our group will be missing several friends: some from retirement, some from appointment changes, and one from the hardest loss - death.

Our sister Charlotte Mayne, who served as the pastor of Araby UMC in Frederick, passed away July 30 after fighting cancer.

One of my favorite things about Charlotte was how she would light up as she talked about ministry and say, "I can't contain myself. I'm just so excited."

Charlotte amazed us as she continued to preach and minister through her treatments: to do everything that God called her to do was powerful medicine - not just for Charlotte, but for all of us who were blessed to know her.

I've never considered suffering a privilege. The word shows up in The Living Bible and the Modern Language versions of Philippians 1:21-30: "For you have been privileged on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him (v. 29)."

I only think of privilege in the sense that wealth or political power provide special opportunities to an elite class of people. To have privilege always sounds positive. Privileges are things we threaten to take away from our children when they misbehave.

But, Merriam-Webster puts the definition of privilege this way: "a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor..."

"Peculiar benefit:" now, that sounds more like what we expect when we read Paul. The apostle has every right to welcome death as a relief from what he has suffered. Why endure prison and other travails when the stars in his crown are waiting in glory? Forget this privilege of suffering...take me now, Lord.

Paul knew that every day that he lived on this earth was a chance to influence others toward the cause of Christ, and that witness was magnified by the fact that nothing harming him physically could thwart his ministry. "As long as I'm alive in this body, there's good work for me to do," he said.

To see Paul remain devoted to sharing the Good News gave others an example of how to endure. Charlotte's ministry in life and death is equally powerful.

In the dedication for one of his books, the Rev. Leonard Sweet writes to his son Thane. Sweet says it is his prayer that his son will always be infected with the "social disease known as a Christian perspective."

Now, who has ever said they want any sort of disease for their children? As parents we want our kids to fit in, to be successful, to achieve, to have the same privileges that we had or didn't have when we grew up.

But, the privilege we should want most is to have the kind of influence in the world that people want to follow Christ even when they see us ache. It may not be an easy life, but it is a blessed life.

We will miss our sister Charlotte, but as Paul reminds us to "live in such a way that you are a credit to the message of Christ (v. 27, The Message)" we know that she has given us an example of how to do that in sickness and in health.

Thanks be to God for that witness. It makes me so excited I can't contain myself, and to feel that about this calling is a privilege.

The Rev. Melissa Rudolph ispastor of Christ-Ballenger Creek UMC in Frederick.