Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross.

²  “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? ³  You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. ⁴  You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. ⁵  So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal.    Ezekiel 34:2-5 (NLT2)

Therefore, holiness involves pastoral ministry. When the substance of the liturgy becomes the substance of the soul of the pastor, then his ministry will become a pastoral anointing of the Mysteries of Christ that he is ordained to apply to souls. The liturgy is the sacramental moment of mysteries, but those mysteries are not confined to the moment. The reason we receive them in the sacraments is in order that they might come to life in us, quicken us, perfect us on our journey to our final end.

So too with Christ: although he is everywhere present, he does not permit himself to be so caught and grasped; he can easily shell himself, so that you get the shell but not the kernel. Why? Because it is one thing if God is present, and another if God is present for you. God is there for you when God adds the Word and binds himself, saying, “Here you shall find me.” Now when you have the Word, you can grasp and have God with certainty and say, “Here I have you, as you have said.”

I have had the blessing of having breakfast twice this week with other pastors.

The first time, with a Roman Catholic Priest friend and a Nazarene pastor, who I anticipate will become a friend. We are all roughly the same age, with the similar sense of the ironic and a passion to help people see Jesus. And, though we differ in our understanding of the Sacrament, there was a definite tie into to each of our ministries, as we adminster this gifft to our people, and yet long for the day when all the Body of Christ will share together in it.

Come to today, and the devotional readings, a sample of which you see above–which deal with this sacrament as well, and with how it is the responsibility of the pastor – perhaps the primary responsibility of the pastor, to ensure we are feeding out sheep, that we are getting them what they need–Jesus.

It is our ministry to point them to Jesus, where He said He would be for them. That is what they hear in the words of “for you” and where they need to be encouraged to believe them. These are just words we repeat because of their poetic nature. They are  the words of Christ, placed there as a guarantee of His presence, of His work in their lives. Not a matter of some kind of magic, but because of the promise of Christ Jesus.

It is, as the other quote says, the “mystery of Christ–applied to their souls.” and that application is what we are ordained to do. To welcome the broken, to apply the sacraments, to allow the Spirit to reveal Christ–as promised for them there in that moment.

For He has promised to meet them there, as they share in His Body and Blood, as it nourishes and strengthens their faith–again as promised. As we remember He abides in us, and we in Him. That is what this sweet, powerful, healing time is, and we need to lead them there, to Him.

That is the role of a shepherd, to bring His people there. Even if that means dragging them there some of the time. That is what it means to lead His church. To guide them to the peace of Christ, found where He meets them, and unites with them, as promised.

Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 57). Emmaus Academic.

Burnett, A. N. (1527). That These Words of Christ, “This Is My Body,” Etc., Still Stand Firm against the Fanatics. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, pp. 213–214). Fortress Press.