Ministry Mentors
10/21/11

As | approach my retirement from active

ministry ' find myself overwhelmed with
gratitude for the blessing of it it, privately
reminiscin alota about (g points and difficult
experiences the weekly rhythm of sermon
prepeatin| my meetings, hospital calls,
building in mentum fo Sunday, when

everybody else is having a weekerid and you
and | are more or less laying it al it allon the line) fev

esve 7)
and the gently. rhythm of the church year with pan
its reminder of the profound differences tt

between this vocation and Gnvhody elsei in the

And | am thinking a lot about my mentors;

seasoned, mature clergy pe ersor$who took ok time

to be a friend Ato talk things ovel, to share ¢ ire deep
W

concerns t and those mentors, in fact wouldn’t

have known me from Adam, but who I chose as
ma ee

my mentorfand watched from afar at how they

didit. ~ 7 7

All of which is a way of saying hoy much |
appreciate what Ministry Mentors is and
aspires to do. nd | am grateful for Don

: fager bor, a creative and devoted ministry to
all of us and to the whole church.

me

When | am able | try to be around a radio
dN,

at 5 pm on Saturday to catch Garrison Keillor’s

Prairie Home Companion on NPR, particularly

his priceless monologues about life in Lake
Wobegon, ‘his mythical small town in Northern
Minnesota, |\Many of onsiague{ we

regularly make me laugh out loud,/are about

religion and the churches of Lake Wobegon.
There is a collection of them published by
Augsburg, Life Among the Lutherans, In the
introduction he says that, a@@gjayh he grew up

ey

large people Wito tage too much of Christmas

and took much too much pride in their

dav. choirs,|more like a social Tr ipct new
the Elks then a gathering of the devout... He

has come to appreciate Lutherans, hgssays, “...
people who do their best to be good_and walk

straight in the world, they gather to give alms to
the poor and sing ‘Lift Every Voice and sing till

A

earth and heaven Ging, so that tears come to
youyes... they pray.’ Greate in me aclean
heart’Jand go home | and put on work clothes
and tend their flower beds and grow their
lawns,” ___

Lutherans, he says, are people who would
rather be in the church basement making
coffee and casseroles than leading worship.

because I have lived with one for more than fifty
years, jana the very best thing | ever did in the

world.was ask her to marry me. \and while she

became a Presbyterian only after it became
inconvenient not to beN suspect that around
February 1,\when | retire she will flirt with the
idea of returning to the One True and Holy

Church.

| don’t know how he does it, but Garrison
Keillor understands church and he
understands ministers particularly.

In one of the chapters in the book “The
Pastor’s Resume” he tells about Pastor
ingquist, of the Lake Wobegon Lutheran
Church - faithful, long-suffering, and very
human), We all know this guy.

He and his wife have been looking forward to a

Pastor’s Retreat in Orlando in February when

life in Minnesota i $ ond dreary) They apeadreawen s
iene o fitting around the pool Can elu of

inl vary

Le

in Florida, little drinks in their hands|_The al
money is in the church budget -~$1,800. And
. he on

then at the Board meeting Val Tollefyastood up “Vo\le f=
and said he believed they ought to be doing
more for Rwanda nd passed around pictures
of the horror and suffering and so the $1,800
for the Pastor’s Retreat was redirected to
Rwanda Relief and Pastor Ingquist went home

\ en t
and looked up thel Pastor’s Wanted column in

the denominational magazine.

He updated his resume and sent it to the

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport which was looking for
a chaplain| He received a phone call and an
invitation to-4ly to Dallas/Fort Worth for an
interview. the salary,\by the way, was
handsome, So he flew down to Dallas, toured

the airport) checked out the non-
denominational chapel, carefully non-

Sector with soft lighting) a table in front

with a large Lucite ball hovering over it. @! ¢* OP
Dook Cnr Crtlee \ Wisden

ere.

The interview itself never nappened| The
airport Vice President got called away and
Pastor Ingquist flew home and ruminates.

“He was glad to get back — no matter the
serious faults it has, and they are serious, home
is the place where, when you get there, you
know (You can never separate yourself from

the love of God: you can never separate
yourself from God. You can never break the
connection with the people you love.”

How does he know that about us About

i

how our life long love affajr has ups and downs,
and days when we wonder why we are doing

this and who actually cares and surely there is
a better and more lucrative way to earn a living.

Crat me, Reverend, how did you get into
this business?” )We are asked that question all
beet

the time. | And | don’t know about you but I hate
it because it takes a while to answer — it’s

Sen

complicated, || wish | could say that | heard a
voice in the middle of the night, or | had aclear
sign from God.\T he day | was taken under COLL erent

of my Presbytery back in Pennsylvan a, |had
the misfortune of appearing with a young man

my age who was questioned about his sense of
call./What he said was breathtaking\ He knew
he wanted to be a Presbyterian minister

because God has called him in no uncertain
20 hol

terms He could name the date_and time.

Furthermore, God had told him what to major in

at Penn State and which courses to take and to
Ee |

apply to Princeton Theological Seminary.

When it came time for me — | mumbled

ww

something about liking people and being
interested in big philosophical questions And
where will you pursue your theological

education? Yhey asked! ' said | had applied to

the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

There was a silence.| One of the older members
“That’s McCormick
Seminary, right?(One of our Presbyterian
schools?) / And | said, “| guass.it. wee. ” And
they let me in.

of Presbytery said,

The truth is that | did it because | didn’t

know what else to to. do| Ihada a job offer{irgm

ec
IBM) — military service pec ee secs a college

advisor said, (‘You are asking big important

ideas.\ Why don’t you take a year or two and
work on them? |You’ll never have another

opportunity\ | know just the place — the Divinity

School of the University of Chicago, great
facility, demanding. But t don’t want to be a

— isan

mine S chal

Le replite

minister,” | said. Con, that’s all right. i

don’t care about that.”

So we packed all our earthly belongings in

a 57 Ford and came to Chicago.
ere,

And then something happened that
changed fe. We walked down seme, (Ci ber &

sed mi. d.dc \<
Avenue to the First Presbyter rian Church of
anne and we had never seen anything like it

eee

— an interracial congregation, an interracial

‘ pts Cte oa church that took race
— A
val Af relationfseriously \and modeled its life —
A

something | had never seen before Sani idea |
had never though of 4 church as a place that
changes the world 4 \ or the better\ Ghurch ~
where theological abstraction takes shape in
action in the world.

At about the same time | discovered

Dietrich Bonhoeffer + not in the curriculum —
eel Se

ww A ka rea No yh
God frdb - | was busy with Whitehead, and Karl
Maggi and Gordon Allpert 4 but Bonhoeffer Manheim

said 4 “When Christ calls a man, he bids him
ome and die.” \That was it.

anne

be ©.
Were, " we_ Vas God in tha’ God in that? Irhat thought never
e yews f0 occurred tome atte time’ |But of of course God
G i

ga was in thatland isi is in all those experiences,
Pd

ow? encounters the intellectual itch you cannot
W ofA a
scratch] the compassion for the hurting, the
* eat M4 wounded, \the impatience with injustice and
Pp See ee meant Cinimel

be Yor
unkindness in the world, Wo |e Ws =
be Comb Frese

Like Pastor Ingquist, there are close calls
along the way, flirtations.

In March of my first year | hit.a low ‘alow spol. l

wasn’t much interested in academic 4 stack bau L

Bio LW
disizaakggn, | was doing okay, but loved First

, saree ee Cod wt
Presbyterian and the Senior Highs that | was uy hes rane
vu
now teaching and leading kept me alive}, But I
Mev bere Wee
“ a
So4 wince) - nN

Glen

began to explore abetneretiions, began to check
builetin boards. A new program at Johns

Hopkins caught my eye-a PhD inanewy > an —
founded,-Education Management, all expenses eu

patd.\ could see myself as the Superintendant Fl Gus Og ):
of a big suburbSchool system| So | applied_and
they liked mel liked me so nuech they sent a

recruiter to Midway Airport for an interview, |
Antes ame”

put on my only white shirt and tie and met him

bl

in the passenger lounge of United Airlines.| As

the interview proceeded, the strangest thing
began to happen 4! became bored, began to
look out the window and watch the airplanes

taking off.| The interview ended \He got back
on a plane to Baltimore and | went home to our
tiny apartment in.Hyde Park to wait for what |

was sure was my ticket out of there and into a

nine]

wonderful new life.

The Johns Hopkins envelope arrived) |
opened it eagerly.\To my utter astonishment, it

bn ene ral eee

11

oT) be
lo hed Never DEM
— reyiccteed fe amt «

Z-

was a form letter rejection, (“Thank you for your
interest. {your gifts, however impressive, are
not a good match... blah, blah, blab-“At the
_— —
end, a hand written note from the interviewer:

Cl

Mr. Buchanan,

l enjoyed out conversation| During the
interview you seemed distracted. |Maybe
you should think a little more about what
you want to do with your life\ Regards.

Don’t you just love the account of the call
of Moses in the third chapter of Exodus?

There he is Ninally safe.an ecure,
having narrowly escaped Egypt with his life.
He has a new wife and a new jot, watching his
father-in-law’s sheep. Life is good.

—

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. yp te
aout i opangent

And then the ah ndt ice uaa panini

WHO | AM - and his Simei oses”’ and the
amazing ology } The | Al The | AM WHO I AM cares

about the people Moses just abandoned: hears”
them cry and wonder of wonders,is about to do
something to set them fred, Moses_is delighted
with all of this -

hen - the rub -

“| will send you to do the job.”

This is Mat he wanted to hear. So he

‘Ere

negotiates — he tries four times.

- “Who am! that I should go? Pm not

qualified.”
- Suppose they don’t believe me

- Vmaterrible public speaker, dnd fi ‘finally ~

wae he’s be egging now, ow, pleading, “oO _O Lord,
please send someone else.”

=

13

| suspect we understand that at a deeply
personal level. \Before every major
responsibility that has come to ma I have had

that conversation) or something very much like
maimemimened ae,

it, with God, or with whoever was asking me to

do something | did not think.) was capable of

doing.

God wants Moses, apparently,| And the fact
that you are here this evening — after all that

has gone before} whatever it is| and in spite of

all you are dealing with\struggling with |fussing
and worrying and arguing about now —God

XT au
| apologize if you cane this evening hoping for Civ da
some practical advice, new tricks of the trade. helcum ie
The fact is — you don’t really need that. You wl ever *
eae ca vies --

probably know plenty already and there is no

14

shite

always ask your mentor.

of books — and besides you can

Ses

But, here a few thoughts on not just surviving
but flourishing in this amazing vocation:

ake care of yourself, bo not bea
literalist about Bonhoeffer’s invitation to
die — unless the Nazi’s take ver| Until

that happens get enough sleep\eat right,
exercise regularly\and pay attention to

your life-giving relationships ~ spouse and
children.

-——™ Do not miss one-time only events in your

children’s lives because of a church
penne “immer

meeting. (Say at can’t be there because

my daughter is playing first violin in the

concert, or |’ll have to leave at 4:00

because my son is starting at center at

4:30. You can not only get away with it,

eel

15

but your people will appreciate you
modeling responsible parenting.

—=>Y Sometimes we are devastated when
someone implies that ministry is not hard
war a do you do the other six days
of the week, Reverend?) Don’t try to
prove them wrong)or prove yourself, by

eer eet
working harder and longer than anyone

else It won’t work anyhow and you'll do
damage to yourself and. your family.

That's first/ Second is Pay the Bent an old
, id

idea, by the way, from Jameg_Dittes who used
to teach at Yale.

- The Rent - Dittes says — is the same for
every parish regardless of size.
aan Make sure the budget is balanced and
bills paid
econ Make sure the furnace works and the
sidewalk shoveled

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--— Make sure your people know you are
available when they need you
~w=en- ANd pay enou tention to sermon
preparation.that your people won't be

Ww
embarrassed why they bring their friends
to church

Paying the rent is not full time work, Dittes said.
Ce
But it must be paid and if and Sealy paid you are
ae

free to do other things.

“preacher's kids.

- if your spouse wants to be deeply involved
(ane
in the church, fine. \That’s his or her

business\ But it does not come along with

Cl

the marriage covenant.

- And do not have expectations of your

children because of what you do fora

living — anymore than anyone else.\ If your

17

K

Ne y V4 [

v
~

We

children say “pe preacher’s kids -

wash their mouths out with soap

tienen —

Fourth

- Praise your predecessor at every
opportunity. | Some people will never
believe you can live up to her or him.

- Agree with them.| Forget about it.

teeereerenerertt

- Give sermon preparation the time and

priority it deserves) Carve out time| Tell
erent erent

people you are carving out time Lyou't be

reading, studying on Wednesday morning

and writing on Thursda\. You?ll be in the
office at noon\_Unless you’re close to

v
death don’teallme then.

Finally

18

- Remember in the midst of it all } the grace
you prociaim, is for you, too.

- The forgiveness you assure them God
extends — is extended to you.

The love of God, from which nothing, not
OTOP jotning
even death, you tell them, is fo
- As you break the bread and share the cup
CE ee!

ee

— remember it is for you, too.

Remember that however you came to be
here this evening, however tortured,|circuitous,
or straight as an arrow { your route\|- God has

' ee

been én it / every day every step of the way.

_e,

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