Burnout

New York Times (Aug. 2010): 1,500 pastors leave their ministries each month due to burnout, conflict, or moral failure. 90% work more than 50 hours a week. 75% report severe stress causing anguish, worry, bewilderment, anger, depression, fear, and alienation. 70% do not have any close friends.80% say they have insufficient time with their spouse. 50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.

Just read this article of statistics. This June is my 10th anniversary of ordained ministry. I've only wanted to quit weekly for about the last 9 years. "Should have stayed on the farm, should have listened to my old man", said Elton John.  I've thought it, too.  I've imagined other lives: other careers, other vocations, lottery jackpot winnings.Why?  Because ministry can be lonely. You can feel like you're not entertaining enough, not smart enough,not interesting enough. Unattractive, uninspiring.  You can feel unprepared, foolish, and unnecessary. When your work deals with other people's faith in God and their ability to live healthy spiritual lives, you can feel inadequate. Ministry is no ego trip. It wrecks havoc on your self-esteem, especially if that's at all tied to the approval of others. I have seen more people leave church on account of me than I have seen people come to church because of me. I have been told many times how wonderful some other pastor is.He's such a kind man or a good preacher, etc...When people ask me about the church or ministry, I struggle to know what to say. The congregation I serve is not growing.  People are dying here.  In 6 years there are half as many people here. There are fewer young, faithful  families here. Fewer older adults, fewer young children.We don't have inspiring contemporary worship or special programs for people of all ages.  We don't go on awesome mission trips.  We don't have the best VBS in North Lancaster county.  We don't have a large, dynamic staff.   So what do I say?  "Yeah, on paper I'm a big fat statistical failure.But at least I still have a job." There have been times when the way I have been treated has made me wonder why I spent so much time and money in education/training. I live everyday knowing that some people, who used to be faithful Christians here, hate me. I judge myself in these matters and wish there could be reconciliation and peace.  But they do not want peace with me.  They want me to go away.  I've wondered if I woud endure and outlast them or not. Ministry includes personal vulnerability and loss. Ive lost some things and a few people along the way.   

After all this I have to say something else:  I have been given many gifts in ordained ministry too. I have walked with families in joy, in sorrow, in worry and strife, in fear, in poverty and want, and in times of abundant blessing. I have comforted the dying and prayed with the living.  I have fed people and given people hope.  I have met some interesting characters and seen some amazing things. I have seen healing.  I have seen people come to believe in God, follow Jesus, become part of His church.  I have enjoyed opportunities to learn. I have made music for kids.  I have told stories that made people laugh and cry.  I have spent time in silence.  I have observed the church's year, enjoying the seasons of the Christian life. I have planted things. I have done these things in community,with others. I have been part of something bigger than myself.  I have had help.  God's grace, my wife's love, and my kid's joy keep me moving.

Finally, to keep a perspective is to realize that I am not at the center of it all.  The story of my life is not the main event or the most important thing.  I may burnout or fade away or something else.  But life will go on.  Because God is love and love is patient. Love endures all things, bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things. Love never ends. 

Love never ends.  

So to my colleagues out there, flaming out this week:  Thanks for your service, your devotion to the Christian life, and your endurance.  Its a marathon, not a sprint.  St. Paul wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."  Go and do likewise. Everyday.  

triumph over evil, victory over death, and the road to emmaus

I know what you all are thinking.  Some coincidence, huh?  My wife and I go away for a few days, and while we’re gone, Osama Bin Laden is found and executed.  So, to clear the air, neither Cherie nor I are members of an elite Navy SEALS team.  We were in the Adirondacks reading books and taking naps.  Some week though. From presidential birth certificates and royal weddings to the confirmed death of the most notorious man on earth. Closer to home, our brother Wayne succumbed to his four year battle with cancer.  He died fully aware, ready, and at peace.  He said goodbye to the people he loves.  On Tuesday, we will gather here for worship, to give thanks to God for Wayne’s life and to receive comfort in sorrow.  Next Sunday, we will celebrate holy baptism; welcoming new children, new life, to this congregation.  There is joy and there is sorrow.  It may seem like a circle, a perpetual pattern, a never-ending life cycle.  It may seem like biology is the one true fact of life.  We are born, we live, we die.  An old Blood, Sweat, and Tears song from the 60’s said, and when I die and when I’m gone, there’ll be one child born in this world to carry on, carry one.  But is that enough for us? Is that it? The circle of life?   It never has been.  Jews and then Christians have always questioned this seeming unending cycle, the seasons of life.  The biblical worldview rejects the circle of life.  We see the history of the world as an unfolding story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  We do not see it as a perpetual machine, from birth to death and back again.  We cannot accept death, or evil and injustice as natural parts of the created order.  We cannot believe that the living God, who breathes life into all things, is responsible for sin, disease, and violence leading to death.  What do Christians believe about evil, about death?  In light of the death of Osama Bin Laden, what do we say?  Or perhaps more importantly, in light of the resurrection of Jesus, what is our hope?