Reflections from Pastor Larry
As we moved into Advent I found myself being at Paradise 4 weeks in a row, even though I only preached 2 of them. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy being at Paradise. It did give a feel of the days when I served a church alone.
Today I attended North Star for the second week in a row. I was able to walk in and greet people and then take a seat and have a pastor feed my spirit. After the service we went out to eat and I was actually in front of my TV before noon. I remember thinking, "They are just about ready to take communion at Paradise!"
Then I realized one of the dangers of a pastor is that we spend so much time tending to the spiritual needs of the church members that it is easy to neglect one's own spiritual life. I had times in my past where my spiritual level was low enough that it even made it difficult to prepare good sermons.
So, I give thanks that we have this special arrangement at Paradise. I believe it blesses your pastors by allow us to re-charge our spiritual batteries. It also benefits the church members because your pastors are better prepared to give strong spiritual direction to the church.
I wasn't sure how this experiment was going to work. Now, each month I am more impressed by what we are experiencing.
Pastor Larry
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2 comments:
Larry, it is so funny that you blog about this topic- I thought about this earlier as I cleaned the kitchen. I thought about sending our DS a card and tell her the success that PUMC has had with this. You and Arlin balance each other so well. PUMC has been blessed by this forward thinking. I think it is wonderful that the pastors have a shared responsibility that allows each of you time to be fed. It is so important - I also think its cool that you can each go to worship and enjoy the fellowship - just to enjoy -
I know that not all shared situations would work as well as PUMC's has, but I think that knowing the church and the pastors involved greatly increase the success.
I feel like we may be pioneering a new area so I'm interested in looking at all aspects of it.
since you were in the kitchen as you thought about it, does that mean we are in sync?
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