Pastor/Shepherd thoughts

Recently, I was ordained into the ministry. I’ve always suspected that an ordination would come, although I never sought it for myself. Ministering is part of who I am. It’s what God designed me to do. Nothing really changed with my ordination because all I know how to do is minister, lead, and serve. It’s part of my “spiritual DNA” and there’s no escaping it for me.

Ever since the subject of my ordination became a possibility, I’ve been thinking about the job of “pastor.” First of all, a definition seems in order. We all know what a pastor is, what a pastor does…or do we?

According to dictionary.com, a pastor is (1) “a minister or priest in charge of a church”; and (2) “a person having spiritual care of a number of persons.” The origin of the word roots in Latin (pāstor)…meaning, literally, “shepherd.”

So, where do we get this concept from? Well, the concept of tending sheep is nearly as old as time itself. Genesis, chapter 4 is the first mention of it. Abel, the murdered son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd. Sheep/shepherding is mentioned numerous times throughout the remainder of Genesis. Sheep were an important business in the ancient world and remained that way for centuries.

After the time of the judges, the people of Israel demanded a shepherd from God (1 Samuel 8). They got king Saul. After Saul, came David, who spent his youth working as a shepherd, where he defended his sheep against lions and bears. David never forgot his time with his sheep and often drew parallels, most prominently in Psalm 23.

In the time of king Ahab, the Israelites are compared to sheep without a shepherd, lost, and “scattered upon the hills” of Israel. Ahab was an evil king and did more to provoke God’s wrath than any king before him, but set a standard of poor leadership, poor pastoring, that lasted generations (1 Kings 16).

The Prophet Ezekiel is highly critical of the shepherds of the people of Israel. Under these irresponsible shepherds, the people were scattered as sheep without a shepherd, but the time would come when the sheep were gathered back together in their own land (Ezekiel 34).

The first announcement of Jesus’ birth was to shepherds (Luke 2:8-20).

Jesus called Himself the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11).

But none of that answers the question of a pastor’s job responsibilities.

Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew, are among the first disciples and when Jesus called them, he “spoke their language.” When seeing them casting a net into the water, Jesus said “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18-20). Peter is a fisherman who is turned into a shepherd over 3 ½ years. I’m sure it was beyond Peter’s comprehension to see how this could occur.

Everyone in 1^st century Israel understood the job of herding sheep…and it was undesirable. Shepherds were seen as the lowest members of society. They were smelly and, when not herding sheep, worked at the public latrines. Nobody wanted to be a shepherd, but here was bold and brash Peter, becoming identified with humility and the lowest of social status.

The last chapter of John, right after the resurrection, Jesus explains Peter’s position:

“Peter, do you love me? Feed my lambs.”

“Peter, do you love me? Tend my sheep.”

“Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.”

Just 40-50 days before preaching at Pentecost, Peter is given his job description…”be a shepherd.” In the 5^th chapter of his first epistle, Peter encourages other pastors to “feed the flock.” This is where Peter ceases to be a fisherman and becomes a shepherd. Notice the difference compared to Matthew 4:18-20.

The thing about sheep is, well, we’re dumb, fat, and lazy. Sheep tend to wander away from the flock. Sheep are easily frightened. They’ll lay in their own poop to avoid having to move. If a sheep were to fall on it’s back, it cannot right itself and will die. Sheep need a LOT of tending. Sheep need to be led to good grazing and fresh water.

We’re all sheep who’ve gone astray. Even the shepherds among us are sheep. That does not, however, negate the responsibilities of being pastors or shepherds.

So, again, what are the responsibilities of a pastor? According to John 21, it’s to feed and take care of the sheep. We have cast upon our shepherds responsibilities that aren’t designed for them. It’s a pastor’s job to give us a good diet of the Word of God. The pastor’s job is to keep us healthy and disciplined. Sometimes, the crook of a shepherd’s staff is needed to get a wayward sheep’s attention.

It is NOT the primary job of a shepherd, to produce baby sheep. Healthy, well-fed sheep should have a desire, a drive, to reproduce. Instead, we expect evangelism to happen behind the pulpit. We say “that’s what he’s getting paid to do.” Part of the fault for this attitude lies with the sheep. Some of the fault lies with the shepherds for allowing it.

Today, our churches are full of timid, wimpy, co-dependent sheep who, not only cannot, but WILL not share their faith. Why do we settle for this? Why have we allowed this in our own lives, in our churches?

Healthy sheep will reproduce. Your pastor has his job, and you have yours. If you’ve never shared your faith…if you are not compelled to see others come to Christ, you may not be healthy…or you may not actually be a sheep.

Thoughts? Comments?

hospital thoughts

What she specifically said isn’t important. How it was phrased is simply between us. Her motivation is her business.

It was a statement brought on by pain, heavy medication, maybe some fear and uncertainty. There could have been some remorse mixed in. But I’m not sure that’s the point either.

In 7+ years of knowing this lady, I’ve spent more time in hospitals than I care to think about…but never as a patient. I’ve caught myself fearing whether I’d survive without her, if something should go wrong. We’ve laughed together in hospitals. We’ve cried together. We’ve held each other and cried out to God for grace and mercy in hospitals. We’ve even snuggled together in a tiny patient-bed in a hospital.

But tonight was different.

We’d had visitors all day…and their love and concern was much appreciated. But after everyone went home, and it was just us, I pulled a chair beside the bed and just held her hand. She thanked ME for taking care of HER. Then, in her own self-deprecating way, she said what she said.

If you’d heard her, you’d think she believed that she walked into the hospital as one person, and a few hours later, she was someone else.

Now, I don’t claim to be able to imagine the changes she will undergo over the next days/weeks, nor how it will affect her mentally, emotionally, or physically. I do know it won’t be easy, and that I am totally unequipped to help her.

Anyway, the point is NOT what she said, how she said it, her motivation, nor my ability to understand what’s coming.

The point was my response…and my surprise at that response; the simplicity of it, and the depth of it's truth for me.

I said, “We knew this day was coming eventually. It was inevitable. Frankly, I’m surprised we got what we got. I mean, we are so blessed! God gave us 2 beautiful daughters, who just so happen to be miracles. The odds are astronomical against them even existing…but God reached past the statistics. TWICE. Life is about changing and adapting, and that’s all we can do now. This is just life. We just go on.”

It surprised me because I rarely say the right things. I hardly ever say things the right way. I am direct and blunt and only occasionally temper my words with the proper emotion. I think I got it right this time…but it was just my heart talking to hers.

I reinforced to myself today that I don’t love my wife. Rather, I am IN LOVE with her. As I sit here pecking away on my laptop while she sleeps uncomfortably in a hospital bed, I realize how desperately I need my rib…and how incomplete I’d be without her. It’s strange to think of the times I considered having found my rib before I met Christy.

I understand even better tonight that the fairy-tales we read as children don’t translate to the real world.

Real life is yucky sometimes. Real life is hard, often. It’s made up of many messy situations, failures, apologies, and the occasional victory or success.

Earlier, when she thanked me for taking care of her, I asked her “Where else would I be?” The truth is: I don’t want to think about where I’d be without her.

Chris, I’m glad that I could say what you needed to hear tonight. I’m even-more glad that what you needed to hear was the truth, straight from my heart. Thanks for taking this crazy journey with me. I don’t want to imagine it without you.

I love you.