The Busy Pastor and the Silent Sheep

From the June issue of Tidings, Immanuel's parish newsletter

There are two perceptions of the pastor that are false. The first often comes in a quip, and it hurts, even when it isn't intended to: "It must be nice only having to work one hour a week!" Yes, that would be nice. The opposite perception, though, is worse: "The pastor is so busy, I don't want to bother him with [insert problem]." Many pastors tend to give off an aura of busyness. They are aware of the perception of only working "one hour a week," and so want to make sure everyone knows how hard they have been working.

There are fundamental problems on the part of both pastor and people when the pastor considers himself, and the people see, a "busy pastor." When the pastor perceives his office (an office instituted by God) as primarily occupied with quantifiable activity (the number of visits, phone calls, emails, meetings, programs begun, money raised, members brought into the church, etc.), he loses sight of (as well as loses time for) his most important tasks. When the administration of the church's affairs became overly time-consuming for the Apostles, they had the church appoint Deacons over the business of the church in order to concentrate on the true business of the Ministry: "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). A day spent praying sounds good in the abstract, but it probably won't look good to the pastor, or people, caught up in the model of the "busy pastor." And so the pastor often ends up neglecting prayer, Scriptural meditation, and theological growth.

The other danger, though, is that the people who most need it will not avail themselves of the ministry of the Word that they should be getting from their pastor. They won't contact him precisely because they think he's too busy! "I don't want to bother him." If you have ever said that to yourself, mark this carefully: I am NEVER too busy to (a) hear your confession; (b) visit you in your home, for lunch, in the hospital, etc. in order to bring you God's Word as it applies to your situation, give you the Sacrament, and pray with you; or (c) give you spiritual counsel when you are troubled, confused, worried, etc. Don't be a silent sheep! It is the bleating ones that get attention, along with all the ringing, buzzing, dinging beeps and boops from the myriad ways that different people communicate.

Now there is only one of me, and I never manage to get done everything done. The phone calls are never all made, there's always someone to visit, the email—well, that's just a hopeless pit of despair for me. Somewhere I read, "When you die, your inbox won't be empty." I've tried to take consolation in that, but I still dream of the day that it at least doesn't fall over when I add something else to the pile. I've probably let every one of you down at some point or another by not responding right away. I'm sorry for that, and desperately want to do better.

I realize that the last two paragraphs are contradictory. The point I'm trying to make is that there are always external demands on my attention, as well as my self-imposed demands. There will always be work to do. I'm sure it's the same for you. But as your pastor, I don't want to ever be "too busy" for you. Because you matter to God, and the LORD has put me here to be your pastor. So if I've let you down, please forgive me. If I haven't answered your email, it's not personal. Please send it again, or give me a call. Because I really do want to be a good and faithful pastor to you. I might be busy, but I don't want to be a "busy pastor," and I don't want you to be silent sheep.

Your unworthy undershepherd,

+Pastor Esget