Pastor

I miss being a pastor. 

What I miss the most, honestly, are the church kids.  I loved it when they hugged me goodbye after worship or when I’d hear a little voice yell , “Pastor Jan! Pastor Jan” in the grocery store.  Or when one of them would ask me a heartfelt question.  I especially liked the ones who no longer liked church.

Our new neighbors in Chicagoland include a family with four children ages 3-11. Their parents have tried to get them to call me “Pastor Jan” but they don’t really call me anything.  My husband is Pastor _ but that makes sense because he is indeed a local parish pastor.  But I’ve been unemployed and feeling like nobody’s pastor.  Until now.

I start a new position (see previous post) and with it comes the clear opportunity to be a pastor to pastors and seminarians and congregations – in a sense – while we try to be the church together.  I’m struck by the wisdom of Eugene Peterson whose memoir all church people should read. 

Some of it speaks of another time when certain devout women felt deeply called to be The Pastor’s Wife and when pastors went door to door inviting people to come to worship.  But much of it is a reminder about what pastors are called to do and be even/especially in the 21st Century Church:

The Pastor’s role is more relationship than functional (which begs the question: can we afford to pay someone to have this special relationship with congregations?)

The Pastor is not a religious “bureaucrat in the time management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths” (although we spend a lot of time managing time and cataloguing)

The Pastor is not a purveyor of religious goods and services (although a bride once explained to me that – whether I liked it or not – I was one of the vendors at her wedding just like the florist, the organist, and the caterer.  Ouch.)

The Pastor is the one who pays attention to what God is doing and trains others to pay attention.  The Pastor is a witness to the Spirit’s movement and God’s grace.  Others have shared these insights before, but I like the way Peterson puts it.  What I like best in terms of the role of the pastor – my mantra when I denigrate my role to “the fixer” – is from Ephesians 4:  we are called to equips the saints for ministry. 

There is a lot of equipping to do. 

It’s not about Getting Things Done – although the world rewards us for building new education wings and refurbishing the pipe organ.  It’s not about Making Things Happen – although the world rewards us when are rainmakers.  It’s not about making the church Attractive as if we only need to be a pretty/tidy/clean/orderly organization to make God happy.

I can’t wait to be a pastor again, although nobody – not even the neighbor kids – will be calling me Pastor Jan.  That’s okay too.

Photo shows my last day as a parish pastor.  Next I get to be a Presbytery pastor although my job description calls me the IAEPM.