From the Desk of Pastor E

Week two- the busyness continues to abound around here. Yes, the church still goes on even without its senior pastor.

While I am not preaching this week, I am charged with the task of writing the pastoral column for the bulletin. As you might imagine, I love writing so usually when I get the opportunity to do this I'm enthusiastic about having the opportunity to share words with others. However, it is Wednesday afternoon and I'm stuck with seemingly no ideas about what to say. I've been thinking about it all week and nothing seems to come to mind.

Maybe I used all my wisdom up in my sermon for last Sunday-- it was charged with all of the gusto I could muster for living into the call of God as did Jeremiah even when we feel inadequate. Maybe the demand of administrative tasks this week has taken over my creative juices. Or maybe, I can't really say what I would want to say because of the limitations of my current associate position.

But, whatever the case, the article is due tomorrow a.m. and I must find something to say! I keep getting drafts of the Binding Tie (our Sunday bulletin) on my desk only to find the pastor's page blank with just my picture on it. Makes me stressed even more to just see the picture.

Why go to all the trouble, though?

Contrary to popular belief, there is actually an established rationale to a pastoral column. There is a reason that we write (and it is not just to give you something to read during the sermon!) Communication is everything in ministry. Pastoral leaders need you to know what is on our minds, what excites us about what we see our church doing, and what encouragement we can give about challenges in the future. It's more than just giving information about upcoming events or sharing a quote from a book we like. It's heartfelt desire we share for spiritual growth to occur both in your life and ours, in the spiritual community we call home.

Pastors must write because of the power of words to form us all.

And, maybe as I think about it, I might just begin to have an idea for the column after all, thanks to this blog entry. Let the writing begin. . . .

So, if you are are church person, I ask you to read your pastor's column this week. It might just spark something new in your life. And the new is good indeed!