I've been reading a book from Willimon and Hauerwas Called,
Resident Alien's, Life in the Christian Colony, A Provocative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People Who Know that Something is Wrong.


The Title Is a mouthful, I know. There is a lot to chew on inside as well. I'm in the scanning phase, haven't had much time to do anything like read a whole book lately, but this one is going to get read.

Listen to this if you've got another moment.

A pastor finds the guts to speak the truth because he or she has found this biblical basic for pastoral care: Jesus Christ, "In whom we have boldness and confidence."Lacking such confidence, pastors become fearful creatures. After all, pastors have a front row seat to observe the lies which people live, the shallowness, the quiet desperation, or raging anger by which people react to a life without significance. Self-protection makes cowards of us all.

We believe that pastoral fear can be overcome because the people Jesus calls to be the church, for all their infidelity, are still capable of hearing the truth. A ministry built on fear of the people can never be a happy one. Undoubtedly, people come to church for a host of wrong reasons. But the pastor is able to help them find the words to acknowledge, sometimes to their own surprise, that they are here because God has willed them to be here, despite all their wrong reasons. People may come to church to get their marriages fixed, or for help in raising chaste, obedient children, or simply to be with a few relatively nice people rather than to be alone. The pastor is essential in helping us cut through our wrong reasons for being at church and helping us to see that God is a relentless, utterly unscrupulous, infinitely resourceful god who is determined to have us, good reason or bad. And that is why we rejoice: that is why we call our meal "eucharist."

There was a time in my life when I was quite fearless. Ironically, this was before I encountered God in a dramatic way. Then I met God's people. And I began to know fear from a very different place than you would expect. I recognize it today and like a crosswind I can often compensate for it, but this fear can overwhelm you if you are not aware of it. It is the fear of failure and ridicule and disrespect and belittlement and disempowerment as you pastor your flock and lead them into a deeper relationship with God. In many ways, it is the story of Jeremiah the Shepherd Prophet. His flock gave him no support, in fact the leaders of Jerusalem hated him and wished him neutralized or dead. Needless to say, he and God spoke about this often. And it wasn't always pretty. But one thing shines through, Jeremiah was not a coward. He had fears but he was not fearful.

Today the pastor has much to be afraid about but not to live fearfully. I listened to an administrator the other day tell me about a pastor who was assaulted by someone in their church, a member in fact. And I just saw a story of a teacher stabbed to death by a student who did not like the teachers decision to place him in a certain grade or class. Hopefully you never see those extremes in your church, but the seeds are there. The question is will the Gospel, preached by you, arrive in time and sufficient quanity/quality in order to spark a reformation in God's people? If it does, it will be because you left your fears with God.

The authors encourage us to rise above such fears by staying focused on the power of the Gospel. When we can do nothing else but preach the Gospel, our fears will be brought into perspective and overcome. If you examine your fears, you may find you have many. That is nothing to be ashamed of. Moses was terrified to speak to a powerful monarch. He was a wise old man at the time. What am I, what are you? We are young and less experienced and not as well groomed as he was for the task. But like Moses, we too can say, "Let My People God." We can speak on God's behalf,in fact we must. If we don't, who will? Don't be afraid pastor, not for long at least, The God who called you has your back. You may be a Resident Alien in a foreign place and wonder what is around the next bend, but God has already gone before you and you need not worry about what lays ahead. If you wish to worry, worry about staying close to Him.