The right place for us to begin is with careful, sustained study of the confessions of our church. Whether ordained or commissioned, we have taken vows to "sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions . . . [and to] be instructed and led by those confessions." The confessions are the church's theology. They lead us out of the narrowness of our own thinking to the wider testimony of the community of faith across time and space. If we take the confessions seriously, they will guide us into a deeper reading of the Bible in its witness to the living Lord.
Common Practice
All this may seem to be too much to ask. Who could ever be disciplined enough in prayer, Scripture reading, and theological reflection? Who could ever live up to the ideal that we have sketched here? And, in a sense, it is too much. All of us will fall short. That is why it is critically important that we have others who accompany us—especially other pastors with whom we can covenant to pray and read Scripture and think theologically on a regular, disciplined basis. We need others who will encourage us and help hold us accountable in living the faith.
Pastors sometimes forget that the great Karl Barth himself began his work as a simple country pastor. For twelve years, he was a minister in a small Swiss village in the Alps. We might wonder how this towering intellectual figure could ever connect with the farmers and village people who came to church. But apparently Barth was a very good pastor. He was a good pastor because he cared about people. He made time for them. He let them know that he was on their side. He was sensitive to their needs.
But above all Barth wanted people to know the risen, living Jesus. He got tremendously excited about every sermon that he preached. His biographer tells us that Barth would sit down to eat breakfast Sunday morning, but would be so focused on what he wanted to say in church that he could forget to eat and would literally run from his house to the pulpit.
As brilliant as Barth was, he knew that he needed a partner in ministry to help keep him rooted in his pastoral identity. He had such a friend in a pastor in a neighboring Swiss village, and every Monday Barth would get up at 4 a.m. and jog 18 miles over the mountains into the next valley to meet him for breakfast and a day of prayer, Scripture reading, and theological reflection. Even Barth needed someone to encourage him and help hold him accountable.
The challenge to us is clear. Who will our partners in ministry be? With whom will we covenant to pray, read Scripture, and reflect theologically on a regular basis—hopefully, daily—basis? How will we become more disciplined in our living the faith, both for our own sake and for the sake of the congregations that we seek to serve?
It is a difficult time to be a pastor, but there is no more important a time to be a pastor. If we can stay firm in our identity as pastors who point to Jesus Christ, we will help the church to become clearer about its true identity in him. If we stay disciplined in faith, we will make some small, but critical contribution to renewing the church in our time. And in all this, we will perhaps grow in our own joy for this privileged task to which the church has called us.
(These comments were originally made to a group of commissioned lay pastors in Redstone Presbytery, on Sept. 27, 2003.)
