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TWIN CITIES PRESBY TERY
PRESENTATION #3

THE POWER OF THE PREACHER

March 4, 1986

John M. Buchanan
Pastor
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

The Doing of the Pastor

Role and Function

il. Fhe Power of the Pastor

Vision and Leadership

Iti. A Concluding Theological Reflection on Power

(Stotts)

Begin with a series of ideas on the
1. Role and Function of the clergyperson, the "Doing" of

the Pastor.

The format will be to share several ideas | have found helpful
in my ministry; their respective sources; and something of the
actual practices which have grown out of these ideas, | claim
no originality. In fact, | suspect you may have heard all of

this before.

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Idea number one | have called, Learning to live in the present...

Its source is a little book under the title Minister on the Spot.

It was written 14 years ago - providentially when | needed to
learn about living in the present. | its author is James Dittes
el

who was then, and still may be, Director of Graduate Studies,

‘tee ar

Department of Religious Studies, and Professor, Psychology
‘SET

of Religion at Yale, and Editor of the Journal for the Scientific
Fe eee aaceeell

Study of Religion. [Dittes helped me a great deal in a way which
Fal

serves as a constan ul motif for me, particularly when
the going gets touch.

Dittes took the story of the man who had been reposing
[eel

on the portico of the Pool of Bethzatha for 38 years in John 5,
and suggested that he was a fair representation of a lot of clergy.
The man, Dittes_had the audacity tg suggest, really didn't want
to be healed, actually healed in the present.| Without pressing
pasion: <abicarnninmanccovinani nae

the metaphor too hard, may | suggest that there is something

intrinsic about our humanity which is stimulated by the eschatalogical

i aata ceerieniniatidinie ea tinlaeemmnaienl

twist to our faith, the result of which is that many of us have

trouble with the present tense...

Dittes helped me to s ething atthe age-otateormse
s ped me to see som g
for which | am everlastingly grateful;{namely that | had concluded

Gena ietepa ete arr

that the Kingdom of God wasn't going to come in my parish.

Obviously, what | had going wasn't going to make it. {ut -

with a little assist from the Vocatiorgg Agency, | might move,

ls mamiddisimiasiniienaind baleen eae ate aeneneal eit,

and then along with a few more dollars, bigger house, | would
a ne aramnmaeran

have the ecclesiastical resources to open the gates to the eschaton.

The theme is played out in a myriad of variations. \ "lf only |

_——

had better youth advisors the Senior High program would succeed.
fn —a

if only my Session members were as supportive as the Session
at omereeenrcmy

of Tome» Dick, or Jane's church. \it only my people could care.”
Da nial | errr ree erihaerannrri

Many, if not most of us, | concluded, have heavily invested in
ee

the future's ability to bring us joy, a sense of satisfaction, completeness,

or even salvation.
—_—

Dittes helped me finally to understand that those voices
in thefbible which come with such stark clarity: \ to Moses ~ Elijah -

Isaiah - Peter - Paul, were in all probability not very clear at
Oe array

— - _—

all at the time; [that the only certainty and clarity we may ever

have is in [goking backward to describe events, or looking forward

Denn er oy

with hope. |The moment - the present - will probably be murky,

— ee
unclear, ambiguous.
a “—
That was, and | believe it, good news. || found it liberating.
# pigeniee

1 found that | took a lot less seriously the marvelous success

stories | kept hearing about what someone else was doing and
el

looked with new interest at my situation.

ete

And as person - most of all - as person | was helped to
see that it is part of my humanity which needed saving, this
propensity to live so much for the future that the present moment

nara beer cnein

is meaningful only insofar as it provides for, builds a better
red i]

tomorrow. \ That's a lousy way to ee not_a good way to
_ iia

oe _ —"
be married - or to parent - or to plan_ one's life or to structure

leisure time activities.

~— |dea number two is that The Ministry as Profession Is Macerating -

—

more so, | have concluded than the profession of anyone else

I know. \This idea came from one of the most stimulating persons =
certainly one of the most eloquent | have been privileged to know:
Professor Joseph Sittler, University of chicago.

(“re macerate" is to "chop up into small pieces, "| a grim
na

but altogether accurate metaphor. \ The size or location of the

ananassae OE

ee

parish doesn't matter j{in fact there is a sense in which the smaller
ET Tre ee TC See

the congregation, the more macerated the minister.\ Our profession,

semen

alone so far as | know, demands that we be mystic, scholar,
ie eT Rare

business person \ counselor, manager, personnel director - all

AR eT

before lunchtime. | And then comforter, grief therapist, conflict

_ POT

resolveer, theologian, cheerleader, coach, song leader, and

_ oneaealll —
cook. \r is not an unusual day when you 4a! do all of that.

ill

| confess | love it.| The counterpoint turns me on. | To go from

ee

4

¢.
Sekhoedhagar's Funeral Home to the OB ward within the hour is

eae

a great, great privilege and a deep joy. (put it is exhausting.

And there is a real sense in which it is not possible certainly

to do all of eet lies and well and satisfactorily.
ra
Sittler porte that In the classroom — and | can testify to

P emnnamnsiieh Samia
—

the great distance between the rarified atmosphere of the Divinity
CE LLL ea amieiietaemainl

aie

School at Chicago and the basement of a small church in a small

Northern Indiana town + "the student comes to know that the
| aa nae en

‘basileia tou theoy! is a phrase of enormous scane anc-depth,
rpms eR — |

that its study ought to persist throughout life. | And thew the
ee “ee

professor, visits the graduate on the job and sees the lines of
—— ee —

old books on the shelves. | Filed on top of. these will be momentos
cian foil

of present concerns: |: roll of blueprints; fe file of negotiations
Sree an nl

between the parish, the bank and the Board of Missions) samples
— aa a eee om

of aspalt tile; and a plumbers estimate." [p. 58!
alah ieetnennteninaaese

———

The result: numbing, exhausting, life-denying maceration

oer,

and a strong sense of vocational guilt.

What to do? | understand it, then decide which of these
a Leeemannmemmamtoee cata —

rolls define your own sense of call;} get a Personne! Committee

—

working in your church; get your people involved in clarifying

what you should be doing with your time.

The third idea is that there is Rent to Be Paid in ministry.

That idiom ,.#feeaaeese, is the brainchild of James D. Glasse,

former President of Lancaster Theological Seminary, Presbyterian

Pastor, in hig“ book, Putting It Together in the Parish.

Glasse simply said what most of us discover in time, namely that
“ Fa ae

a,

"most parishes want three things of their pastor | If he/she
meets these minimal requirements he/she is free to do almost

ae

anything he/she wants to do. | Once the rents paid, he/she

——, inner,

can march for peace, fly a plane} devote self to youth of the

community, paint pictures, play golf - almost anything."
Carnie . rite

[p- 54-55] But first - three things:

CD Preaching and worship: a service to which they are
not ashamed to bring their friends.

(,) Teaching and Pastoral Care {not cut rate psychotherapy):
what they want to know is that their pastor cares
for them and will be available when they need him/her.

CE Aorganization and Administration: a balanced budget,

a building in reasonable repair and an organization
that works.

Glass i$ convinced that pastors who deliver will be free ~ and
rman
that paying this rent is not a full time job.

We spend a lot of time complaining about the rent.\ The

Se ead rig

bottom line is that it isn't going to go away - or change much.

rr

Idea four is that Administration {s Not the Dark Side of

our calling, the boring, tedious routines which are the bane

eat

of our creativity || Administrations\ ad ~ minister. / 1 was the

——

late Jack Meister, First Church, Fort Wayne, who became head

Fe asaaenenanmiend

of the Council on Theological Education, who taught that one.

lt is ministry to enable XPtre
eel,

F the church {fo stand up,
to grow, to walk. | Acministyation is how you and | help our churches

do what they want to do.{C»pon't put it down and don't, for

ten sy care eee

em ee

Christ's sake, literally ~- ignore it") Meister used to say. {If

you believe in incarnation, if you mean it when you say 4] believe
Dre eal

in the holy catholic church" }there is nothing more important

Peed ad

than your administration.| Do it with your best intelligence,
Pe ill 7 abated

be prepared for it, improve your skills, give it prime time.

Sareea

Idea five: What Are You Doing Here on Saturday Morning?

This is my favorite, the one | treasure most. \ The situation was
Wits pnquasnrnsrntnte atime amal

this{ newly ordained, serving a small church in a small Indiana.

betaine) hd ee eT ty en

town, full of Inland steelworkers, a few truck farmers, and a

aaa eli Latah | naib et

teacher or two; | decided that it was important to work harder

Ai caliper ally
than anyone else in signt\ I'd let them know that being a preacher
Den eleeeeeminimiiiall opine hina a
is hard going. [re was a Saturday morning, early. (i was.hehind
F nencanaanianil LE

my desk.| Into the study came the husband of the treasurer
wet ee,

to bring me ny check and some muskmelons and a dozen eggs,
ee PALE Ri ee

Mike Paddock, grizzled, tough foreman in the mit. "What the
an Lae are

Deere ieialaalaae

a

hell you doin' here on Saturday morning?™he asked. [Vou oyght

to be home with your family — like everybody else."\WBut, Mr.
your jamily

eee tthe

Paddock J | protested, q need to be here, available, and on

the job when my people are here." \"Baloney!" he said. "People

eee

don't wanna see you today \ They wanna go to the store, get

ee

a haircut, watch the game. | Ge home. (They't! see you tomorrow."

f can count on one hand the Lon 9 Carn, since
that one, with the exception of weddings, course, and, ironically,

pOauen

last Saturday whén ! wrote this. \-. ys See.
1d Wigs OWE Voss eke" ee
Thanks to Mike | have, to the best of my abilry, not asked

adnate tenant ee

acaneaeeth Ps ire

my family to share my ministry. I was saved from a Jot of nonsense

because neither Sue nor | knew the first thing about the ministry

nor really very much abgut the church. [The University of Chicago,

needless to say, was not aware of either - to my knowledge.

MCFEA

tI . os '
So we dicn't know about expectations for minister's spouses,

) —-

aa, didn'
cks L. e minzte it waS part of

anybody36 expectations of

(