Preacher to Preacher

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Eugene Peterson for a visit about pastoral ministry. We talked particularly about what it takes to enjoy a long tenure in one congregation. Many things about that visit live in my memory and shape how I think about the work of a pastor. One of those memories was a casual statement Eugene made while we were talking about how a pastor ought to order his/her time.

I had just asked him how he managed to fit together all the demands of pastoral ministry. He told me he actually said “no” to many things—good things others were asking him to do, whether writing, speaking, or teaching classes. He said, “I found I needed a lot of time to be a pastor.” He wasn’t talking about time to develop programs or polish sermons. He certainly wasn’t talking about going to meetings or mowing the church lawn. He was talking about prayer, study of the Scriptures, and time enough with God to have something to say when the moment to speak arrived.

I’m now trying to learn how to be a pastor differently. No longer a local pastor, I’m learning how to pastor the pastors and help the churches without getting drowned in administrative detail. Maybe it can’t be done, but I want to see if somehow I can relearn how to receive time as a gift and not a curse.

I think an important piece of that will be to remember that as Christians we mark time differently than does the world. This season of Advent, then Christmas, then the weeks following Epiphany are a wonderful opportunity to engage the rhythms of our faith in a fresh way.

One of the great gifts pastors have in this regard is the privilege of leading, preaching, and teaching a people toward a vision of living together as a true expression of the kingdom of God. Ordering congregational life and worship by the Christian calendar helps the church to rehearse the story of God and locate its identity in something more significant than a few hundred years of national history. This is why paying attention to the Christian calendar in our preaching can make such a significant impact on our people. We are not only giving them the particular content of a sermon but also implicitly teaching where our Christian identity is founded. It also gives us time to linger with a text and not feel rushed to “move on” to the next, hottest topic.

Consider the pastoral opportunities presented in this segment of the Christian year. Advent is a season of waiting and anticipation. Christmas is a season of joy. Epiphany is a season for evangelism and mission. The Christian calendar gives us wonderful opportunities for remembrance and preparation. It helps us to come away from the normal pursuits of life and rehearse the story of our redemption. Time is indeed a gift from God that can help us accomplish our pastoral work. So may the Lord help you to take the time required in order to be a good pastor—one who refuses to allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, but rather stands and works as a living sign that our trust and hope is not in what we can produce, but in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The preaching helps and sermons for Advent this year are provided by Dr. Steve Estep. Steve recently completed a doctoral program in preaching and is serving as senior pastor of the Harrisonville, Missouri, Church of the Nazarene.

The sermons for the weeks between Epiphany and Lent are provided by Dr. Brad Estep (no relation, as far as they know). Brad is senior pastor of the Winter Haven, Florida, Church of the Nazarene. He holds a Ph.D. in homiletics from Union Theological Seminary.