Pointing
I remember a friend saying, some time ago, “I’m tired of the martyrdom of the clergy!” What he meant, I think, was that he was tired of hearing pastors constantly complain about how difficult their job is, and how underpaid they are, blah, blah, blah.
Me too. However…
The life of a clergy person is different, in many respects, than most “real jobs.” Some of the most obvious differences: irregular hours, living in the “fishbowl” and being a “professional Christian.” (even just typing that phrase gives me the SHIVERS (ht: Owen Meany)).
So, with all those caveats, and explanations, I want to talk about “life as clergy” for a moment — not complaining, not whining, just letting you into my world a little bit.
A couple years ago, I started to get more and more comfortable with my own insufficiencies. When I started as a young pastor, I thought that I had to have everything figured out so that whenever anyone asked me for advice, or a questions about theology and/or the Bible, I had an answer. And it was easy to keep up the facade when I was a youth pastor, and most of the questions being asked of me were coming from students, half my age & education.
But then I started meeting with more adults, and now I pastor a small congregation of adults — and here’s the reality. There are smarter people in our congregation than me. There are probably better speakers than me. There are probably people who have better marriages, are better fathers, are better with money, better at spiritual disciplines, and to top it all off, they can probably cook better than me, play the guitar better — all while working away at the great American novel! (pretty sure I can provide specific examples of each!)
And you know what? It’s okay. What I’ve been coming to understand about myself and being a pastor is this: my calling is not to be the Bible Answer Man, or to have “arrived,” so I can tell “you people to shape up, like me.”
My calling, is to point people to Jesus. To offer hope. To preach grace & peace. I can’t fix anyone. I don’t have the one piece of advice that will rock someone’s world and change them forever. I’m skeptical that anyone will be so in awe of Charlie that they choose to change their lives. And if they did…it would be for all the wrong reasons.
Pointing to Jesus.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
That takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders!
November 9th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Amen. Just point the way to Jesus. There may be people out there better at each one of those things you listed; however, God did not call them to pastor like He did you. He called them to do what they are doing. Thank you for sharing yourself.