What I love about my job

            I love being a pastor.

            I love the feeling that I am actually doing what I am meant to do, that the personal gifts and graces that God has endowed to me are being put to the best use I can to live into who God has created me to be, and that, at least in some small way, I am making a difference.

I love preaching sermons. I think anyone who knows me knows this about me. And I hope that anyone who has heard me preach can see a glimpse of my passion for this part of ministry. Much of my week is gearing up to the proclamation of the sermon on Sunday morning, then Sunday afternoon I begin on the process for the next Sunday. The 2 churches that I have served have helped me grow so much in this, and I am grateful.

            I love reading and studying the Bible. I find hope and encouragement, challenges and reprimands in these pages of Scripture. I enjoy time in God’s Word. I guess this is why I love leading small groups, (aka "Bible Studies"), where we can talk about how to apply these Scriptures in our day to day lives, and how to really live them out. Or, what we simply don't understand.

            I love visiting people in their homes. I don’t get to do this near as much as I would like, even pastoring a smaller membership rural church. Life and work get busy. But I do love sitting around a table and talking about life, family, hopes and dreams. 

            I don’t really love church meetings, but to be honest I don’t mind them all that much, unless the meeting info could have been covered in an email, that frustrates me a little, but I kind of like getting together with other ministry leaders and prayerfully seeking God’s direction and then making plans and put those plans into action.

            As I am writing this column I have the on-call pager on my desk. 

           I serve once a month as an on-call overnight chaplain at the Johnson City Medical Center hospital. I will carry the pager for about 16 hours, and respond to situations that often are dealing with end of life. Tonight I have had the pager four hours, and have had two calls. I feel like it’s going to be a long night.

            But I love this.

            I love all those other areas of being a pastor, but I love being with people at these very difficult times in their lives and in the lives of their family and loved ones. I didn’t know that I loved this until I was at the hospital (a lot) as I completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) as part of my United Methodist education. By completing a unit of CPE I could get credit that equaled 3 classes at Duke (6 hours) toward my ordination requirements. So, I was a student chaplain to get course credit.

            And somewhere in the process I loved it. Some of this was probably due in part to others I was with at the time, Jeff, Ed, Heather, and Cass, to name a few.

            Sam Wells wrote a book called A Nazareth Manifesto. In his book Wells states that the most important word in the Bible is “with”.  God is with us. We are with one another.

            In CPE we called this “the ministry of presence”, and that is, I believe, why I love this aspect of my work.

            In the hardest times in life I can be with someone. And God is with us as well. 
            And this reminds me of one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It’s in 2 Kings 6. The King of Aram has tracked down Elisha and his servant and has them surrounded and is planning to kill them. In the soft light of the early morning dawn Elisha’s servant looks outside the tent and freaks out; they are surrounded! Granted, the situation is bleak.

            But here’s what I love about this story (2 Kings 6:17):

“And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’
Then the Lord opened eyes,
and he looked and saw the hills full of horses
and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

            I believe that in these holy moments we are not just surrounded by what is trying to hurt us, but we are also surrounded with the angelic forces of God's protection and provision. Sometimes we can’t see them because we are too wrapped up in the situation, or prognosis, at hand. But the reality is that they are there. 
            With us.

            I am thankful for times to be with people to remind them that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16b).

           I love sharing this truth with people.

           I love being able to share this with my family, reagardless of what we are going through. I love them so much, and we are with one another, and we have an army with us. And so do you. 

           I love being a United Methodist, united in Christ and united with one another.

            Maybe you’re not in a hospital room at this moment in a very near time of moving from this world to the next, but I want to remind you today that you are not alone, and offer a prayer for you that God’s angels uphold and protect you, and that your eyes be opened today to the beauty and hope of God’s plan for you in Christ Jesus, who is with you. Amen.