Folks ask me some of the strangest questions. Some are exciting and make me think deeply about the heart of God or human interaction. Some questions are honest inquiries into why the church does certain things – like lent or why are the communion elements covered with the little white towel? Some questions are great to wrestle with and others make my soul ache. One person asked me if their son who had committed suicide was going to hell. Another asked me if I thought having plastic surgery was going to make God mad. Another asked me if God would be okay if they cheated on their spouse. Weird questions.
For the longest time, my favorite question came from a confirmation student. “Jim, what do you do all day long?” This young 12 year old had just realized that I got paid to be with their class that night. “Do you just come in and hang out with us, and get paid for it?” It was a great moment. There was so much joy at the thought that maybe they could grow up and get a job playing games and thinking of “cool” things to say to church people. We had a good laugh together as I shared with this student and a couple others who had decided to listen in on our conversation.
Recently on facebook there has been a series of photos showing up listing out the various careers that people have – what they think they do, what their parents think they do, what their friends think they do, what they actually do, etc. Some of them are really funny. As a pastor, a lot of folks think that I work one day a week and play the rest of the time (‘hey Jim, you only work one day a week, so better make that count – hahaha”). At one point there were so many of these things floating on facebook that it was getting annoying to log on and get updates. Regardless, the pictures and the question that the young confirmation student asked me, have bubbling in my mind for some time.
After I finished chucking at the confirmands question, I said that playing games and hanging out all day would be an awesome job, but I did a little bit more than that. So he said, “So, do you like go into your office and pray all day?” I laughed again. I told him that I read a lot, and I talk with people about what’s going on in their lives. I told him that I spend a lot of time asking and answering peoples questions and talking online with folks. I told him that I plan services and retreats and do my very best to help develop opportunities and experiences that will help people meet Jesus and know how much we are loved by this amazing God of ours. I told him that I write a weekly blog and update websites and go to meetings with other church folks to talk about how we can be a stronger church. I said I try to get out of the office and meet people in coffee shops or other spots and hear what’s going on in their lives. We talked for about 10 additional minutes and he said, “oh, that sounds like a lot more than I thought, I’m good” and off he went.
As I thought about his question(s), I realized a couple things, first, he had a good idea of what I thought being a pastor was going to be like. I thought that I was going to be able to think up cool games for my youth group or think of awesomely fun things for us to do. I thought I was going to be able to go and hang out with my people during the day all the time. I thought I was going to just whip out cool bible stories and immediately have people ooh and awww over the great things that were coming out of my mouth. I thought I was going to be able to pray for people all day long and lead folks to Jesus just by walking into the room. I thought all that, at one point.
I also realized that his ideas maybe closer to the ideal of what I should be doing. All those things that I had thought were part of a pastors job were things that he thought were part of a pastors job. What if he’s right and I’m, or at least a lot of what I end up doing, aren’t right? What if I spent more time in prayer than trying to program God into things? What if I chose to spend time listening for God’s joy so that when I do share or preach or just sit with someone that they are filled with God’s joy?
I’ve been reading up and studying for a prayer retreat that I will be facilitating later this month and as I’ve read and gotten all creative, I also been forced to actually pray into what I’m doing. It’s a great feeling to have that kind of intentionality about what’s in front of me. It’s great to be able to find that kind of focus and it would be stupid to not spend any time praying before talking and sharing about prayer. As I’ve been spending time thinking about this retreat, the gift of that student’s question – do you pray all day long? – has served as a great reminder. It’s helped to level the distractions and the white noise. It’s helped to focus and allow God to have some say into my planning.
You know, I wish that confirmation student knew what a gift they had given to me. I also wish I had told him that his question was really good for me to think about. It’s a good one for all of us. You don’t have to be a pastor to realize that life is loud and noisy and demanding. You can work in any environment and question what it is you actually do. But you can also work in any vocation and spend a good bit of your time in prayer – praying for those you encounter, for the work that is in front of you, for the boss who doesn’t have a clue, for the co-worker who’s struggling, for the presentation you have to give or the checklist you have to have finished by the end of the day. I wonder what would happen if more of us took an extra minute each hour and prayed that God would be in our work? I wonder what focus, what intention, what progress could be made?
The second thing that confirmand reminded me is that though my job is very different from what I expected it to be, I really love it. Sure there are days when I want to run away and join a circus, but I love getting to do what I do. I hope you have that same feeling and if you do, maybe it’s good we remember that truth. If you don’t have that feeling – if you HATE what you’re doing, I pray that you’ll see the ministry that is before you instead of the job you have to do. I pray that you’ll sense God’s calling on your life – a calling that may take you elsewhere at some point, but that for now has you exactly where you are needed to be.
Grace and Peace friend, and go do what you do…