IT IS A QUESTION
I’ve often been asked by young and old alike. So I’ll try to answer the question as best I can, speaking not so much of a pastor’s skills, but a pastor’s heart.
It’s like being known and unknown. Revered one day, resented the next. It’s like being trusted, loved, questioned, courted and second-guessed all at once. It is the highest of responsibilities. It is dealing with clamor and quiet, power and helplessness, drama and doldrums, inspiration and exasperation, the seen and the unseen.
It’s being a pastor.
TO US PEOPLE ARE MORE
than church members—the “faithful”—the congregation. They are our family, our friends. They heed the warning, the searching, the heartening cheer of the shepherd. They are scattered along many different places on the pathway of life. It’s important to find them when they are lost, to be able to say to them, “This is the way, let’s walk in it together.”
Every 168 hours it is time to stand again to speak for God. The rhythm of the week provides for the systematic presentation of the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But the listeners are different. So is the speaker. He/she is reaching two ways. . . tying mortal with immortal. . . mankind with Jesus.
For pastors a smartphone is the “beloved enemy.” Without it, church leadership in this modern age would be impossible. It is the great interrupter. The instrument of discontent. But it is also the nerve center through which crucial signals often flow to the arms and legs of the Body of Christ.
AND PASTORS DO WONDER
“For better or for worse. . .” does this couple really understand the commitment they are making?
“I now baptize you. . .” does this candidate truly comprehend what it means to be buried with Christ?
“The bread and the cup represents. . .” it’s so simple, yet so complex. The best of Man. The worst of men. Do they really grasp the awesomeness of your Gift?
THEN COMES GRADUATION DAY
for a loved one. A child. An elderly saint. He/she has moved beyond reach. A lover, a family and friends are left to come to terms with the move. Earth’s cords are broken now. What was dreaded is here now. There is no turning back now. Help is needed in letting go of the final precious cords. To move forward, to heal. This loss will take time. Lots of it. A gentle hug is needed now. More will be needed later. The sun will rise again tomorrow. So will those who are left behind.
Setbacks and victories. Sorrows and joys. Broken lives need repairing. Broken homes need restoring. Broken hearts need renewing. All in the name of the One True God who’s steadfast love endures forever.
What a challenge! What a privilege! What an awesome, humbling, noble calling. . . is the “gift” of being a pastor.
Thank you,Ward. You have stimulated my own reflections about the role I have had as pastor. Some thoughts that come to me: To be a pastor is to be thought of – more highly than I deserve, as having more answers than I have ever possessed, as being closer to God than I have ever been or can imagine being, as possessing wisdom beyond that of most people, as being available around the clock to meet the needs of others. On the flip side, to be a pastor is in the minds of some to believe all those things about himself or herself. That is to say that some think that pastors have too high an opinion of themselves and are pious and self-righteous. (I have met a few for whom that seems possible.)
There are also those who put pastors on a pedestal. These people often apologize for their own humanness in the pastor’s presence.
Enough for now. I’m glad Norm and Bobbe got us together. I look forward to talking – and reading – more.