Do You Have a Special Call?

I was off on a Presbyterian pastor matter called CREDO for eight days.  I am grateful for the caring ways of our denomination when it comes to pastors.  But now it is time for another blogpost and what I am going to give today is NOT related to anything I have experienced recently.  I find there are some things that it is good to talk about when they are not on the front burner.  Sometimes if we talk about it in regular ol' times, we less frequently have that matter go to the front burner!  So here we go.

I have a friend, Ron, who is pastor in Texas.  He has kind of a gravelly voice and I can still hear him telling me about a conversation in a new church that began in an unnerving way for him.  I think it was the way the man approached him and made eye contact.  But it ended up as a conversation of great blessing. 

The man said, “Pastor, do you know who I am?” 

Ron replied, “No.” 

“I am a man who will take a bullet for the pastor of this church.”

This was not blind allegiance to Ron but it was dedication to the office of pastor and Ron was grateful.  It reminded me of a friend who was in the Secret Service.  I asked him about taking a bullet for a President you may not personally like.  He said that he was caring for a human being in front of personal tastes but more importantly he was protecting the office of President, a democratic decision of the American people.

Now fast forward several years and I will give you a conversation as a pastor with a church member of my own.  Steve seemed very quiet to me.  Maybe he was shy or uncomfortable around church.  I couldn’t tell.  But the first words I remember hearing from Steve were, “I am called to help pastors.  So whatever you need, please let me know.  Is there a way I can help you today?”  He kept that up until I finally really did ask him to help me with something I really did need. 

I know that there are stories of pastors who are bulls-in-a-china-shop.  And they need love plus truth just like everyone else.  But there are also a lot of stories of pastors getting roundly criticized, of the prevailing wind not being forgiveness or respect but something grumpier.    Just like in a marriage where you can love yourself if you’ll love your partner well, so in a church.  If you love your church, love your pastor! 

There is no pastor who’s perfect.  There’s no church member who’s perfect.  I like the small group curriculum where everyone begins by asking for forgiveness because in the course of doing real life together we’re going to offend one another.  Let’s admit the difficulties we all face in doing church together and move forward. 

Paul tells us to esteem and honor church leaders.  It is a tough job being out in front and viewed by many, many others who can be armchair quarterbacks.  So let’s watch gossip.  Let’s shovel on encouragement and prayers.  Amen?   Amen.