Can You Keep A Secret?

It happened years ago, when I was still in college. Our church had just gone through a pastoral transition and I, along with just about everybody else, was excited about the ministry of our new pastor. The church seemed fuller and the atmosphere more up beat.

One night someone close to that new pastor dropped by my dorm room and the conversation came around to what was going on at my home church. I sang the praises of my new pastor, but I did mention one negative. This was during the time of my life when I was beginning to understand the role of preaching and I had become convinced that expository preaching was the way to go. It was certainly what I was going to try to do whenever I got into the ministry. I said something like, "I will tell you a something, if you promise not to share it with the pastor. I wish he was more of an expositor." The conversation took a turn away from things ministerial and I would have forgotten it expect for what happened two weeks later on a Sunday morning. I was eagerly preparing to write down the outline of the Sunday morning message when the pastor said something like, "I don't know if any of you will want to write this down, since it certainly is not expository!" Since I was, to the best of my knowledge, the only person in the habit of writing down the outlines I took the pastor's remark personally. The only conclusion I could come to was that my dorm room conversation had been relayed to the pastor.

Now, what did I learn from all of this? First, I saw that even men that I looked up to could lash out at what they took as an affront. If his goal was to put me in my place, I suppose he accomplished it. I do know that I never wrote down another thing he said. I also have tried to be bigger than to scope someone in from the pulpit. Second, I learned that if you want to keep a secret, don't tell it. Maybe it was a touch of homiletical snobbery for me to wish my pastor was more of an expositor. I could have kept that to myself and no one would be the wiser. Still, I was asked very directly about it and I thought what I was saying was in confidence. Finally, if you are going to take someone into your confidence, be reasonably sure that you can trust them. It is a hurtful thing to realize that someone you thought of as a friend just can't wait to relay your remarks. I suppose all of this is just part of growing up. I know I am more cautious in what talk about and who I talk about it with as a result of this encounter.

My first thought was that I had inadvertently hurt this man's feelings. Then something else took over, how petty was it for him to shoot at me from the pulpit of my home church? What's more, our mutual acquaintance had betrayed a trust.

Bonhoeffer

I have just finished reading the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a book which really changed my thinking. Like many evangelicals I had a vague understanding of Bonhoeffer as a German theologian who wrote a couple of well received books and then died at the hand of the Nazis in the closing weeks of Word War II. This book pulled back the curtain so that I could see the historical context of this scholars life and come to better appreciate the struggles which he faced. What's more, I came to appreciate a different approach to the Christian faith than my own.

One of the phrases which Bonhoeffer was famous for was "religionless Christianity." Now some took this to mean that faith in God was entirely a personal matter, or that it was something that only had meaning in the "existential now." In fact, the "God is Dead" theologians actually championed the use of this phrase "religionless Christianity." After reading this book I am more convinced that what the martyred theologian meant was that we need a faith that is more than just tradition, that we have to understand it is not just a set of rules for conduct. I am afraid that this has been the culture that I have grown up in and typically accepted without question. It seems to me that Brother Dietrich is speaking of something far deeper, indeed the sort of faith that could lead him to be involved in a plot to kill Hitler and to do so with a clear conscience.

I suppose at the core of all of this is his emphasis on the will of God. He was utterly convinced it was God's will to do everything he could to end the reign of the Nazis. Some German Christians abhorred what the government was doing just as much but could not bring themselves to oppose it, thinking it was their Christian duty to be obedient. Seeing how a man trained in ethics could come to the conclusion that he did makes for fascinating and thought provoking reading.

Pastor Appreciation

We have just been through October which someone designated "Pastor Appreciation Month." I have to say that I felt a keen sense of appreciation this year in an unexpected manner. As much as I try to get across to people that I am more than a preacher, it seems that preaching is the one thing I do which the majority of folks cannot. To say it another way, I will always prefer to be called "Pastor Corn," but understand when church folks call me "Preacher."

Add to that the fact that I very seldom preach anywhere but my own pulpit. I don't know why, but I have never been much in demand as a revival or homecoming speaker. In a weeks time I had opportunity to speak in chapel at FWBBC and to the Cumberland Association. In the first of these I was filling in for Matt Pinson and in the second for Dr. Pic. Both messages were well received and I have gotten quite a few compliments on them.

I got to thinking about this late one Sunday night, just before falling asleep. Is it just possible that the Lord orchestrated these two speaking engagements to say to me, "Randy you have something to say. I appreciate you." That may be a humble way of being egotistical, but it is what I have come to believe. As I said at the outset of this post, I have felt a keen sense of appreciation during this "Pastor Appreciation Month." Now you know why.

Bad News

It has happened again. An acquaintance in the ministry has been forced into resignation. I really don't know the particulars of this case, and I don't really want to, I'm just saddened by this all too common turn of events.

Why does this happen? How can something that starts out so positive and with all parties claiming they have made it a matter of earnest prayer, end in a power struggle? I think there is enough blame for everyone in such matters. That being said, what are the common problems that might be addressed and thus avoided?

First, I think that most churches don't know what they need when it comes to looking for a pastor. If you do a survey of the congregation and took seriously all the suggestions made you would end up with something of a cross between Billy Graham and Spiderman, with a little bit of Joel Osteen thrown in for good measure! Maybe this could be the time for an interim pastor who could observe the strengths and weaknesses of the church and then make some suggestions. Most church folks are too close to the problem or are just blind to what an outsider would see as a glaring need.

Second, I think potential pastors ought to be a bit more realistic. Let's face it, most pastoral types, especially young ones, are optimists. That can be a very good thing, but when you are told that the last three pastors of a church you are considering were fired it may be the better part of valor not to send in a resume.

All of this being said, I am sure there will continue to be more pastoral mismatches in the future. My prayer is that neither the churches, nor the dismissed pastors, will be damaged beyond repair in the process.

Yesterday's News

Recently, I was in the process of refiling a number of articles from my old filing system into my new one. This resulted in reading perhaps half a dozen articles from Christian magazines published in 1994. I don't know if you have ever had this experience or not, but it is interesting to read something, written as breaking news, years after its publication. You have historical perspective and, if it is a field you have a good bit of knowledge about, you may know how things turned out. This same sort of thing can happen with books. While I was a seminary student I once came across a book that had an intriguing title, Millennial Studies. When I opened the volume I found an even more interesting subtitle, "Is Kaiser Wilhelm the Antichrist?" I suppose we know now that he wasn't.

Now, I suppose that one lesson to draw from this is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions, forecasting the darkest of all possible outcomes. Still, one of the purposes of articles and books are to alert us to possibilities. We might say that burden is on the writers, but in our information age there must also be a responsibility for the reader. There are some folks who figure that if it is in print, it must be true. We can't be that trusting, but neither do we want to become cynics. We must be discerning about what we read. I will generally look to see who the author is first and then if I'm unfamiliar with his or her work, I will look to see the publisher. When you come to something posted on the internet then all bets are off. I usually look at information from the web with a jaundiced eye. Does that mean I reject it out of hand? No, it might be accurate, it just needs some sort of verification.

I love to read. Wether it is a magazine or journal article, a book, or something on the web, I think that this is a wonderful time to be alive and swimming in the sea of information. I would just say that we need to be discriminating about what we consider a "float" in that ocean. Remember, not everything will stand the test to time.

Committee Meetings

I remember reading years ago that the great preacher G. Campbell Morgan detested church committee meetings. If I recall correctly his comment was they were endless discussions of who could and couldn't have a key to the back door of the church! Well, I don't detest church committee meetings, but I do long for the day when they can operate on an agenda, take less than an hour, and be scheduled some time other than right after I have preached.

How do you accomplish that? Well, I suppose I could come up with the agenda myself and then push through the items limiting the amount of time on each. I could just say when we will have the meeting and do it when I am at my best. The problem with all of this is that I don't really think I have the right to impose the agenda with a pre-designed outcome in view. Why should someone spend their time coming to a meeting if all the decisions have been made before hand? And when it come to me picking the time, people simply will not bend their schedules to my will. In other words, if I want people to come I'm going to have to work with the majority and resign myself to being the most flexible person in the group.

So, does it sound to you like I'm a pastoral wimp? I can see how some of my "pastoral authority" friends might see it that way. I am simply trying to recognize the value of everyone on each of those committees. I do believe there is greater strength in consensus than dictatorship. I suppose you could say that I am trying to have long view of this issue. I just wish we could do it a bit more efficiently.

"I Read Your Blog"

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. I fellow pastor actually said to me, "I read your blog." What's more, he seemed to like what he had read. My first thought was, "now isn't that nice?" My second thought was, "Is there anything in there that might be a bit too revealing?" Ok, I know that second question makes me sound a bit paranoid, but I have heard of more than one person who seemed to think of their blog as a private journal instead of what it really is, a public forum.

I have thought off and on about that encounter for a couple of days now and it has reminded me about why I post a blog. I see this as a way to let a few people in on my somewhat private thoughts. There just isn't enough time to say these sorts of things from the pulpit, and besides that, not all are or will be proper pulpit fare. What's more the audience for this blog are a select group. You see, you really have to want to know what I'm thinking to take the time to look it up. Let's face it, a number of folks in the typical Sunday morning crowd are not all that curious about what the pastor thinks. They want to hear a good Bible message, sing some songs, put in their check, and briefly fellowship with a few friends. Who would want to add to that list, the exploration of the pastor's psyche? Only the few who really see their relationship with that pastor as a two way street. It is not just a matter of what he can do for them, or for the church, but perhaps what they can do for him that would make all of them a more effective team.

So, for the few, I say thank you and I hope that this little window will allow you to see me, and what I am about, a bit more clearly.