Pastor’s and Presidents

I have loved being a pastor for the past nearly 40 years. It is a most fulfilling job. You are there at the big moments of peoples lives: births, deaths, marriages, good times and bad. You are responsible for teaching values and lifestyles that are positive and good for that faith community as it reaches out to the world in commitment and love. You see people at their best, touched by grace dong selfless acts of care and compassion for others. Pastors are also unique in all professions that I can think of as when you move into a community you have an instant extended family that already cares for you and wants you to be important in their lives and will care and love you immediately. You get to talk to them about the most important things in life: why are we are and what are we to do and is all of it important. And in all cases you talk about the positive contribution their lives have. You get to tell them that they are God’s beloved children and that God will love them no matter what they do, unconditionally and yet God has high expectations of them. It is a great vocation and I feel blessed in having it. Even though I’m retired, it is still my vocation.

With that said, being a pastor is a pain in the ass. Despite an education similar to doctors and lawyers everyone assumes they know how to do your job better than you do. After the honeymoon is over “roast preacher” is common faire among congregants dining tables. The members of your congregation feel free to take cheap shots at you fairly secure that you will not fire back in kind. After a bit you cease being their pastor and they want you to be the personal chaplain, there at their beck and call whenever they want, whether they let you know you’re wanted or not. And we live in a time when the pastor has less prestige than any time in our nation’s history. The only thing worse than being a pastor is being a pastor’s spouse who is expected to work for the church at no pay and to be the perfect model in all ways and things, and the pastor’s spouse has no pastor to turn to for pastoral care. You are called an expected to lead, even “do” the Christianity for them, rather than enabling them to do their Christian living. And if you don’t lead the way they think you should they’ll sneak around behind your back to try and get rid of you. One of three pastors leave their congregations under duress.

Hmmm, is their another job that comes to mind with the similar benefits and problems? Ah, Presidents and politicians in general; they just get paid better.

Now getting the job and President or a politician is far worse than getting a job as a pastor. Why anyone would want to undergo that type of scrutiny and debasement is beyond me. Oh, politicians like pastors generally have huge egos that accept that. Though in responsible denomination through background checks are run on each applicant.

Successful pastors as I define that nebulous state, are good listeners. They listen to those they are to lead so that can discover their dreams and visions (and add a few when necessary) and then find the means by which they can realize those dreams and visions. Good pastors know that they are there to primarily serve God and serve God in concert with their parishioners. And if a congregation wanders away from that common calling, they are to bring them back on track by reminding them of their basic identity. Good pastors should have pleasing personality to which the majority can relate but they should never lose their integrity in the leadership, and just be a pleaser to congregations and their members, especially those members who believe they need and deserve more attention than others. Good pastors seek to find common ground where the vast majority can respect decisions made and support them. They are to be problems solvers and teach those problem solving methods to others, always conscious of the common good. Pastors should understand and respect their office and make it possible for their congregants to do the same. Good pastors are to love their congregations and allow those congregations to love them in return.

As for presidents, it is pretty much the same work. Dreaming and capturing dreams with the people. Good Presidents are to provide leadership that respects everyone’s contributions and needs while retaining the integrity of themselves and their office. They should earn the country’s respect and act respectfully towards the citizens. Good presidents as leaders are to find common ground to accomplish the common good. They are to be problems solvers and surround themselves with experts in the fields where problems reside. They are to exhibit their love for their country and its citizens and allow the citizens to reflect that love.

When churches lose their way and there is great conflict between pastors and congregations, inevitably it is because they have lost sight of the large issues that connect them and the fighting becomes personal and degrading. Common and ground and common vision are lost is hateful rhetoric that neither listens nor contributes to solving issues.

It is my perception of the country is that we have lost common ground and common visions. The parties have grown so far apart that they lack middle ground, and they are not even seeking common ground. In my opinion the entire country has moved further to the right in the last 35 years, and that the traditional solid values of the right have been lost in ideological intolerance. I voted for and supported President Obama who I saw as a man of vision and real sense of the common good. I believe he is president in the most unfortunate of times. In seeking to become a reconciler he has given far too much without receiving quid pro quo which makes the system work.

As churches become dysfunctional they usually fire the pastor, but the problems remain and they get stuck in hiring and firing pastor after pastor and become disillusioned. Eventually this leads to the death of that congregation. Those churches are broken beyond repair.

My fears are that is now true of the country which seems to have moved from a democracy, where all people are to have equal say, to and oligarchy, or government by the few. In our case the government by the ultra rich who are not concerned with common good but in their own short term self interest. Though there are many in that group who realize that the direction of the rich while the middle class disappears and the poor increase is not good for anyone, including themselves.

I am hopeful for the country that we make find our way through our current morass. I hope that we can change the election process so the common voice is once again heard. I hope government will accept its role as the servants of the people and place and enforce safeguards that protect all of our citizens. I hope that the judiciary becomes so removed from the political arena in can be the independent voice it was intended to be following the guidelines of the constitution and applying them to the changing modern world. I hope that as citizens we come to respect each other more and those who lead us. I hope for a much better educated populace that can make intelligent choices in terms of leaders and work for the common good of all fellow members of our country.

As a Christian I have far more hope in the church as it and other religions are lead by a loving God who will intervene on our behalf.

As a citizen, I am hopeful that those religious values come to the fore once again in our society and others that the common good becomes our primary value.

With that said, I’m packing up my computer and heading south where we can bask in the warmth with family and friends.