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Pastorphobia: a common anxiety until…
Devotional thought of the day:
You see him walking down the hall of a hospital, a friendly smile greets you as you increase you pace walking away. You wonder who he is going to visit, and you might even hastily utter a prayer for the poor person. (if he walks into your room, you begin to panic – big time!) If you see him walking up to your where you live, you quickly inventory your life, asking “what did I do wrong now…” as you struggle to remember where you put the family Bible, so you can sweep everything off the coffee table and put the Bible in a prominent visible place. (as you open the door, you wonder – did I blow all the dust off of it!)
I have often wondered why people wait until things are deathly serious before they call their pastor. Why do they wait until there is no other hope. ( I am convinced that Obiwan Kenobi must have been a pastor!) Until the marriage is broken beyond repair (or so they think) until the grip of sin has choked the life out? Some will say that, “but pastor – you are too busy,” or “it isn’t that serious,” or my favorite, “I didn’t want you to find out I was mad at God”.
Is the issue truly fear? Sometimes – but I would beg you – never be afraid of your pastor – realize he is there to help alleviate fear, to calm distraught anxious hearts. Our calling is to remind you that the Lord is with you, that He desires to bring peace and restore that which is broken. Sometimes that includes physical healing, sometimes it means surviving the trauma, and yeah, sometimes it means preparing our families for our death, and helping them know – we know God’s coming to bring us home. (If the latter is inevitable, isn’t it better to have someone walk you there – and support you and your family through it?)
Remember – St Paul talks about Jesus giving you pastor-teachers as a blessing – to help you grow and mature, to keep you stable in your faith, to help you know the peace of God, and His presence.
I’ll close with this thought – part of the passage I am preaching on this weekend…
“50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. “ Isaiah 50:4 (ESV)
Let your pastor and priest do this very thing, let them use the word to sustain you… that then you can do the same for others.
we cry, “Lord have mercy!” and therefore Lord, help us to realize those whom through you pour out your mercy and love and peace upon us! AMEN!
The Heart of an apostolic disciple
Discussion/devotional thought of the day:
“After twenty centuries, we have to proclaim with complete conviction that the spirit of Christ has not lost its redemptive force, which alone can satisfy the desires of the human heart. Begin by feeding the truth into your own heart, which will be perpetually restless, as Saint Augustine wrote, for as long as you don’t place it entirely in God.” (escriva)
My thoughts:
Over the years, in different denominations, I have that the proclaiming fo the gospel – the sharing of Christ’s mercy and love, is the responsibility of the pastor/priest/church planter/missionary. It is they who are supposed to have the zeal, the wisdom and the knowledge that will lead the billions of people on this planet to Christ, and their preaching will be used apostolically by the Holy Spirit to cut open hearts, to cleanse the sin and repressed anger (as others sin) to bring to life and faith those who would know the promises found in Christ.
Pragmatically I have struggled with this – as some of the greatest apostolic hearts I have seen in young children – for they simply love God, trust in what is promised and tell people about that. I’ve seen it in retirement homes, as eyes barely able to see the pages of scripture and voices confined to wheelchairs share their faith with those around them. I’ve seen it in the jails, where a man in his seventies – who had heard a sermon that reminded him of God’s love – asked permission of the chaplain to share what he heard – for he was under the impression that he wasn’t allowed to, he wasn’t good enough, that God couldn’t use one like him. Given permission to share the grace he knew – but struggled to accept – he filled the chapel the next night….
Anyone who walks with Christ, who trusts in Him in this life and for the next – has a treasure that grows as it is given out – it is the richest of treasures – for it gives that which we need.
We confess that the church is one, its holy, it is catholic (in other words it is more than us, or our congregation, or our brotherhood/denomination) and it is apostolic – but that doesn’t just mean it is founded on the teachings of the apostles, It also means that we are part of the apostolate – all of us, those sent by God to be salt and light in a world that needs something to save and preserve it, to reflect His light into the darkest, slimiest, most putrid of places – lives those who sin… – and then rejoice as they are cleansed….we all pastors/priests/laypeople…. children, the elderly, the intelligent, the average, the simple – we all are sent into this world…
Lord – help us this morning – to realize who You are sending us, and give us the wisdom to reflect Your love and mercy to them… that they may be sure that they are welcome in your presence…. AMEN.
