pat loughery

I’m deeply enjoying the time I get to spend cataloging my books for my LibraryThing account (seriously, if you’re a book nut like most of us out on the blogosphere seem to be, go try it out. Free for up to 200 books, and extremely cheap for a lifetime membership).

Part of the fun is in discovering old treasures and remembering their impact on me. Consider this extended quote from “Jesus the Pastor” by John Frye:

Feeling compassion for people saved Jesus from the devastating turmoil that many pastors easily fall into: anger, resignation, boredom, condescension, and burnout.

I have heard too many angry men and women passing themselves off as pastors. Anger, one of the seven deadly sins, creates enemies and then tries to destroy them, but “the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Tim 2:24). Resentful anger emerges and builds in those pastors who realize over time that what they accepted as a mighty calling has turned out to be, at times, a dull, irritating job, a job that is often thankless and underpaid. ‘If there is anything that makes ministry look grim and dull, it is this dark, insidious anger in the servants of Christ’ (quoting Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Christ)

[…] Anger leads pastors to resign, either literally or emotionally.

Some pastors outright quit, forsaking their calling; others quit, too, but stay in the pastorate, faking their calling. Far from the hearts of pastors like these is any semblance of compassion. […]

(referencing Eugene Peterson, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work): Empowered by the compassion of Christ, a pastor is on the prowl to discover how each individual in his or her charge is part of and actually perpetuates Gods’ fascinating story of exhilarating grace. Every detail of their lives can be a clue left by the unseen and passionate Lover of their souls. Pastors are detectives searching for the fingerprints of God on peoples’ lives.