1. Preaching is a lot of work.
I should hope so! Like many jobs, preaching is something that
has more hours of preparation than presentation. Consider teachers, musicians, cooks, lawyers,
just to name a few.
2. Preaching is stressful. If you mess
up in your job, your boss
might get upset with you. If we mess
up…God is upset with us. I’d rather get the stink eye from your boss than mine
any day. This
theology totally offends me. If God is a
preacher’s boss, wouldn’t you rather have the all-gracious Lord as your critic
than some human being who could yell at you, embarrass you or fire you?
3. Preaching has a lot of moving parts.
We feel the weight of preaching the
Scriptures faithfully, in an engaging way, every time. We have to balance
humor, theology, and application, making sure to pepper in just the right
number of illustrations, but not too many so that people remember the
illustration and not the Truth. That’s a lot to balance on a small stage. Whining, pure and
simple! See #1.
4. We don’t always have it all figured out. If the people you are
preaching to think that you know everything, then there is something screwy
going on. Even children should be
invited to understand that the pastor is a fellow traveler on the journey of
faith.
5. We get worn out, too.
Delivering a sermon is physically,
emotionally, and spiritually draining. Expect that we’ll be pretty zapped
afterwards. Again
with the whining. After you take your
nap, rethink this one.
6. If you tell us some important detail on a
Sunday morning, we’ll probably forget it.
For some people, Sunday morning is the only opportunity they have to
talk to the Pastor. The fact that it is
an “important detail” means that as pastors we need to try harder not to
forget. Carry some post-it notes and a
pencil in your pocket. Or text
yourself. Put the burden on you, not
them.
7. Preaching is a gift, but it doesn’t always
feel that way.
Some jobs always feel like
work- never feel like vocation.
8. Criticisms need to wait.
Seriously, if you have a bone to pick,
call us on Tuesday. We’ll be in a much better spot to handle criticism then,
than on your way out the door on Sunday.
There is
a lot of ego involved in this one! You
are telling someone to complain when it is more convenient and less embarrassing
for you. You are not inviting them into
a more thoughtful conversation, just a time that is more expedient for you.
9. We see you texting.
Don’t act like you’ve listened to our
sermon…we know better. Again, check your ego!
Stop being so sanctimonious. What
were you thinking about when you should have been focusing on the liturgy or
the lessons? Personally, I am guilty of
thinking through grocery shopping and all kinds of mundane stuff while standing
at the altar.
10. We have to do it all again next week.
Tell it to the dairy farmer,
trash collector, factory worker, retail clerk – and see what they have to say
about repetitive work.
6 comments:
much truth here...though I respectfully disagree with you on number 6. if it is important, the person who believes it to be so needs to find a way to communicate it in a way that conveys that importance--an email, a phone call, a drop-in. Telling me as you pass through the door 30 seconds before worship begins is not okay, and (probably incorrectly) communicates that this is a passing thought, not an important issue. I would never tell a church member something important when I casually run into them when they're in the midst of the lunch rush or tax season or as I drop off a kid for school (we have a lot of teachers/principals and accountants, obv!). If they expect me to remember, I expect them to tell me in a way that communicates that I need to remember.
Very helpful, and truthful, and I thank you! I agree with Teri -- I used to say to the "while you're here at the church door" announcements, requests, "oh by the way" etc. -- I WOULD listen -- but then I'd say, "one more tiny thing: when you get home would you either phone the church and just leave name, number and one word on the answering-machine? Or send me an email of about that length? Cuz my brain isn't a tabula rasa, it's an Etch-a-Sketch, one shake and it's GONE -- and I don't want this to be GONE".
People took that in good part.
I haven't seen the original post, and I am in complete agreement on all points except #6.
5 minutes before worship is not the time to tell me anything. My mind is stayed on Jesus, not the newsletter or even the announcements upcoming in 7 minutes. Having been berated, bullied and even having had to break up a fight *in the chancel* right before worship (the last one not in my current church, thankfully), I continue to struggle with how to protect that space right before the service so that I can be focused on presenting what I have worked all week to prepare, not for my ego but to open the gospel of Jesus Christ. If it's about an announcement, I ask the person to raise a hand or remind me. I know I will not retain it. If it's a personal matter, I invite them to give me a call (my cell number is on the answering machine, so they can literally call me anytime and have a good chance of reaching me). If it's a crisis, I do my best to be sympathetic for the short haul. If it's a complaint, well, that's the hardest. I try not to get engaged because I know how hard it will be to do the part of my job they called me to do if I go down the rabbit hole at 9:28.
Does that really sound like whining? I find the people who do this the most are the ones who *do* see me often, including outside of Sunday morning. They have less of a sense of a boundary than the people who come to church only for worship.
Yes, like CR, I take that inability to remember on myself, good-naturedly.
In agreement with you, that is. I hope that was clear.
In my current non-parish job I also ask people to email me when I don't have a moleskine notebook in my pocket. The thing is, I don't disagree with my own number 6, I just don't want people to think I'm too busy to hear something important. And some days, it's the little "I don't want to bother you" things that are really important. Bottom line- it's tricky.
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