Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Never Waste Your People's Time - WIWILIS#1

 I remember back in my early days of blogging and social media communication that an older pastor lamented that anyone who hadn't been in the parish 10 years really shouldn't talk.  As I had been out 7 or 8 at this time, and we agreed, I was sure he wasn't talking about me.  Maybe he was.  But at any rate, many of the last few years have been relatively quiet from me in terms of this blog, or even social media discussions.  I guess I tired of the debates, got busier with family and parish.  Or maybe it was just a bit of wisdom kicking.

What it says about that wisdom that I thought to sit down this morning and type here, wandering and meandering (maybe listening to Mike Rowe's excellent podcast has some unintended and perhaps less than ideal consequences), I'm not to say.  I am just getting over Covid, perhaps I need to write to get my juices flowing and overcome some lingering fatigue.  Or perhaps it is that I am hoping to have two new Seminarians sent to my circuit, and so I am pondering all the things I worry they might end up doing.

At any rate, I decided I would embark upon a list, a written journey of ideas entitled:

What I Wish I Learned in Seminary

I learned many things in Seminary.  I am utterly grateful for the well rounded theological education I got at Fort Wayne.  But even our standard Seminary program knows that you cannot be prepared for life in the parish just by class time - it's why we include vicarage, a year of time in the parish to help round things out.  I frequently remember things taught to me by Rev. Stewart Crown, my vicarage supervisor.  Not everyone gets as excellent a supervisor as I did, though.  So, I am going to write a bit in the days and weeks to come, as I both have time and as ideas come to me.  And so now I begin.

Lesson 1 - NEVER WASTE YOUR PEOPLE'S TIME

At the Seminary we spend a lot of time in the art of handling worship.  We have classes on conducting the liturgy, several classes on preaching.  We have classes on education and counseling.  And there's an issue that seemed to be danced around but never said bluntly.

Don't waste people's time.

Dr. Scaer would sort of get to this by repeatedly admonishing us, "GET TO THE POINT," but that was always in the context of our own answers or questions.  I think many people thought that was just his gruff demeanor.  But there was a truth behind it that is vitally important.  If you have the gumption to think that you are sent by God to get up and talk in front of people or lead divine worship, there's a chance you might be a bit too in love with the sound of your own voice.  You might... like the worship service or the idea of preaching and teaching, and you might thus be easily entertained and delighted by everything that goes on.

Your people probably aren't.  Your simple existence, your "ministry of presence" isn't as grand as you think.  Don't waste peoples' time.

Consider - if my goal and point here was really to convey and teach people an important lesson (don't waste people's time), my meandering introduction, three full paragraphs, do nothing for that.  They could have been in a separate post.  They didn't get to the point... and I'm certain that a percentage of people tuned out, stopped reading, went somewhere else.  That's okay here in this blog - it's me messing around for my own benefit and for the amusement of the bored, idle, and those wanting to show some signs of being "busy" in theology.  It's not the Gospel.  It's not the Divine Service.  It's not the brief sliver of time a week that people perhaps, maybe, have set aside to receive the gifts of God.

Don't waste their time.  Don't be slow in giving the gifts.  Don't turn worship into the Pastor show - give the gifts and get out of the way.

Pastimes are fine to have.  I love baseball in the summer.  I love sports radio, having it on in the background while I'm driving.  Or podcasts - lovely things.  But when you are preaching or teaching, that's not a pass-the-time sort of thing - it is a time to give the gifts of God.  Give them.  Get to the point; the point is Christ Jesus Crucified for you.

You can be solemn and respectful without being ponderously slow.
You can explain ideas in depth without being pedantic.
You can maybe hit that additional point in a different sermon or the next class.

Besides, it's much better for people to leave service or study thinking, "It's a shame we didn't get a little more" than to have them thinking, "Thank God that's over with."  We are to encourage people in the joyous reception of God's gifts; not turn them into chores.

Try it.  Make your sermon this week a bit shorter... edit it, and cut out just 50 words here and there.  Add just a touch of pep to your step around the chancel.  Get the liturgy done a minute quicker - see how it flows.  The beauty, the solemnity is still there... what gets cut is the fat and dross (what gets cut is us as pastors being too self important).

When people are giving their time to God, don't waste their time for them.

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