Back to Work

I returned to the office this week and, gradually, to my usual schedule. I still won't be speaking this weekend though.  As it turned out, Tom ended up doing the entire series we are currently in (on the Old Testament) and will be wrapping up this weekend. I am very grateful to him for an outstanding job which made it possible for us to continue our message series through the summer and give me some time off. It also made it possible for me to really focus on the book, which I have been blogging about. Next weekend, by the way, we will be kicking off a new series all about the Mass, and taking a look at the changes to the Mass which will be coming as the new Roman Missal is introduced later this year. And yes, I will be speaking for the first two weeks of the series (Tom again will be speaking for the third and fourth week and then we'll be kicking off our 2011-2012 season of messages on September 10 & 11).


Anyway, I am back to work. What do I do, you might be asking (maybe you're not asking that question, but it's a good transition to what I want to talk about).  One of the things we reflect on in the book is the need to redefine what pastors and pastoral staff people do, what their jobs should be because too often it is misunderstood. And that misunderstanding can lead to conflict and division, it can also keep a parish from really growing. Here's the job description the Bible gives me:

God gave some to be apostles, 

some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, 

and some to be pastors and teachers, 

to prepare God's people for the work of ministry.

Ephesians 4. 11-12

People like to tell me what my job is all the time.  They think they know. And for a long time I let people go ahead and define it for me. Whatever they wanted me to do, whatever kinds of requests (or demands) they made, I went ahead and tried to meet them. I don't do that anymore.  And not just because if I did I would run myself into burn out (again). I don't do it because my job isn't about meeting people's expectations for what a pastor should be. It's meeting the job description God has given.  And that is all about building up a community of believers who do the work of ministry. The work of ministry isn't even my work, it is properly the responsibility of the community. My job is to get them ready to do that.

How do I do that? I lead and feed, that's the way I like to say it.  I lead by setting direction and casting vision for the parish community; making sure we're on task with mission and focused on our real purpose. Developing and investing in staff and volunteer leaders. Leadership should also come from the pulpit. Feeding is about sharing the word of God, also through preaching and the celebration of the Eucharist, God's word made flesh. 

When I concentrate on the thing I can do, and help people prepare for what they can do, we're all working for the Lord, we're all doing what he told us to do. So, it's back to work.