I love the statement "if you're going to bring a word from 'elsewhere,' it demands that you live 'elsewhere.'"
I know he's speaking from his own experience, but from what I've witnessed the "problem" many preachers face isn't that they lack desire for or that they've failed to properly prioritize study/preaching, but that the pressures of other ministerial responsibilities push them to the periphery. I guess it falls to the other members of the congregation to try to alleviate extra pressures to free the pastor up for these tasks...
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BD
3/25/2013 10:58:21 pm
Good point . . . does there ever come a time when a pastor must set aside certain responsibilities in order to maintain others? Especially, if others in the church are not aiding the pastor/s in the ministerial responsibilities.
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Wd
3/25/2013 11:19:36 pm
Maybe...but that's probably the whole problem: I'd imagine that it would be virtually unthinkable for a pastor to--for example--forgo a hospital visit to study for his sermon the next day. It seems to me that if church members are unwilling to assist the pastor then they are dooming both the pastor and themselves to perpetual frustration; he won't ever feel like he's accomplishing his God-given task, and they won't ever feel fed.
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BD
3/25/2013 11:49:33 pm
I'm led to ask several questions . . . What is the pastor's God-given task? What is sermon preparation? Is sermon preparation a symbiotic relationship between life in community and life in communion? What is it to be fed? Do we as sheep have a wrong conception of diet? Is it fueled by or does it fuel a wrong conception of food preparation?
Sorry for over-extending the metaphor. . .