Faith leaders reflect on clergy care and new songs for new times

 

Given the pressures pastors are facing right now, we have an opportunity to go deeper than an annual pat on the back in October, which is Clergy Appreciation Month.

Local ministry is joyful, sacred work—but it can also be exhausting, complex and surprisingly lonely. Pastors carry hospital visits, late-night phone calls, budget headaches and community anxieties, while showing up every Sunday with a word of hope for people who are carrying burdens of their own.

Honoring pastors well starts with seeing the real person behind the call. Pastors have bad days, hard weeks, families to care for and limits just like everyone else. One of the best ways a congregation can love its pastor is simply giving them permission to be human. That means protecting their days off, insisting they take their vacations, giving them space to care for their families and remembering that rest isn't a luxury—it's how anyone stays healthy for the long haul.

It also means sharing the load. Pastors can feel like it's up to us to make our churches healthy and successful. We often treat pastoring like an endurance sport to run alone. Churches often look to the pastor to "fix" things so the church will thrive, but healthy, vital churches don't happen because one heroic leader carries the whole load. They happen when pastors and congregations genuinely look out for each other and support each other in becoming whom God is calling each to be.

Pastors can also feel tempted to tie their worth to attendance numbers, full calendars or keeping everyone happy. We need to remind our pastors—and pastors need to remind themselves—that their value in Christ has nothing to do with how busy they are or how many people are coming.

While last month was an opportunity to appreciate pastors, we need regularly to be sure the relationship between the church and the pastor is healthy and life-giving.

We can name the places of tension and friction and begin talking about what shifts and changes need to be made for the relationship to work better. We can also affirm what is life-giving about how we work together? Where are we frustrated? What would help our pastor sustain this work for the long haul? Have the conversation with your pastor and reach out if you need the neutral voice of a superintendent or other regional pastor.

Rev. Geoff Helton 
Superintendent, Inland and Seven Rivers Missional Districts
Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church

* * *

At the House of Bishops meeting recently we talked about what we see in the world today, and much of what we are seeing is change.

Throughout the world, we are experiencing rapid change due, in part, to climate change, technological advances, wars and demographic changes. These changes come to us as external forces, beyond our immediate control, and so many people feel powerless. Rapid change may cause people to feel powerless, bringing anger and resentment. Then some look for something or someone to blame. Scapegoating others is a classic way people respond to express a sense of power and control. We are seeing this taking place on the global level.

We have been here before. Our history and our scripture tell us the dangers of scapegoating others, seeing other people as enemies and the source of all our problems. Fear and hatred do not bring about good. When we allow fear and anger to lead us to exclusion, to scapegoating, to discrimination, we always end up on the wrong side of the Gospel.

Fortunately, there is another way, and it is the way of Jesus. When the world sings hate, we sing love. When the world sings revenge, we sing forgiveness. When the world sings punishment, we sing mercy. When the world sings fear, we sing faith.

There are many changes taking place in our world, and I expect that to continue, but what will we sing in response to those changes? This past year, our diocesan theme has been "Sing to the Lord a New Song." The songs we sing are new because we live in new times, but they are not new when it comes to love and forgiveness and mercy and faith.

We sing with our spiritual ancestors, our songs of hope and joy, lament and sorrow, trust and faith. We are called to sing a new song to the Lord in a world that does not know the song. We are called to let our voices ring out the story of salvation, the story of hope, the story of redemption.

As we sing a new song to the Lord let us use the words and the tunes that speak to us today and let us join our voices with our spiritual ancestors in trust and faith and love and hope so that in the midst of great changes around us, we will not give in to the fear and anger but stay firmly rooted in our faith in Christ.

Bishop Gretchen Rehberg
Episcopal Diocese of Spokane