O By The Way

One of the most awkward things I have faced in a ministry as pastor and preacher is to preach and be working through rugged terrain personally.  It is not unusual, as many of my colleagues will attest, but it is nonetheless one of most trying.  I keep recalling M. Scott Peck’s first line in his intro to his famous book, A Road Less Travelled, which read “Life is difficult.” Three simple words were never so true.  Nonetheless, this is why God allows such challenges, in order that we not speak from the sterile vacuum of a cloistered perspective.

I find myself in a set of challenges that as myself, my family and our congregation progress, we are shaping a defining moment.  Having to stand before my congregation each week, especially during this high and holy season of the church year and preach prophetically calls on all I have to bring.  It is interestingly ironic that Scripture texts I chose months ago seem to speak not only to our people, but into my circumstances.  Such are the hazards of being a preacher of the gospel. 

Recently, more than ever, I find myself wrestling personally with the truth of the Scriptures I have chosen.  A case in point is this past week.  We were celebrating Palm Sunday and I was preaching on II Corinthians 4:8-12, where Paul writes about, guess what……digging through the travails of life. He says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ^ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”  I spoke about how my impression of Paul was that he derived strength in the Holy Spirit because he could see through his present circumstances along the way.  He could deal with what was on his plate and endure whatever came his way because he had his eye on the great hope that was his in Christ.  Funny the comments I heard while greeting people at the door following the service.  There have been numerous other comments these past few days, encouraging me to listen to the sermon from this past Sunday.  Oh well!

I have an increasing sense that God is in all of this and is making me a stronger follower and a more in-tune pastor, even as I deal with missteps I may have made.  I am reminded of one of the most amazing pieces of art any preacher could ever see and appreciate.   It is a statue of Phillips Brooks outside the Trinity Church in Boston, where he was pastor in the 19th century.  Brooks was a great preacher but is also known as the composer of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  The statue shows Brooks at his pulpit with a towering figure of Christ behind him with a hand on his shoulder. 

So the work continues even in hard times and in the high calling as a pastor, I can truly say this Easter week that God is so good and I am so blessed!