By Rev. Landon Coleman
Pastor, Immanuel
As a pastor, I’m used to the occasional question about my work schedule. It’s not terribly uncommon for people to wonder out loud what exactly a pastor does all week, other than the obvious and visible work on a Sunday morning. These questions are sometimes genuine, often playful, and occasionally passive-aggressive. For the most part, the people at my church seem to have a realistic understanding of what a pastor does all week. In fact, people seem to assume that being a pastor is a challenging job that demands much busyness.
The honest truth is, being a pastor is hard work, and I am quite busy. The challenges of pastoral ministry include preparing to teach, working with a staff, leading volunteers, taking care of a building, counseling members, navigating cultural division, confronting cultural confusion, being on-call, and knowing that folks can always contact you through various digital means. Add to that the busyness of life with a wife who works and kids who are in school. This year I’ll have one kid in elementary, one kid in middle school, one kid in high school, and one kid in college. Most of the time, I’m busier than I’d like to be!
I know my experience working as a pastor is similar to others who work in pastoral ministry. I also know that sometimes pastors can get a bit whiny about their work. Sometimes pastors can revel in the pity that comes when people realize just how hard our work is and how busy our schedules are. Sometimes pastors try to showcase the challenges of their work and the busyness of their lives to elicit respect and admiration from the people in their church.
Without denying the challenges of pastoral ministry or the busyness of my life … I’d also like to acknowledge the fact that teaching school is hard, and teachers are incredibly busy. I’d like to recognize the reality that working in the oilfield is hard, and men in the Permian Basin are extremely busy. I’d like to note that stay-at-home moms face unique challenges in their work at home, and their lives are around-the-clock busy. I’d like to point out that our first responders face unspeakable challenges in their work, and their schedules are tremendously busy.
Whatever your vocation may be, you face unique challenges at work. Whatever your vocation may be, your schedule is likely busier than you’d like it to be. These realities are rooted in something deeper than the specifics of your particular line of work, and they are just as real for those who work primarily with their heads as they are for those who work primarily with their minds. These challenges are universal because we all work on this side of Genesis 3 and the fall.
According to the Bible, Adam’s sin brought a curse on the ground. We work amidst the challenges and complications of human sin. We toil by the sweat of our brow, fighting against thorns and thistle that frustrate all of our best efforts. On top of all that, we never seem to have quite enough time, and our to-do list always has one more item to get done. These things are true for pastors, teachers, oil field workers, stay-at-home moms, and first responders.
We ought to be honest about the realities of work in a fallen world. We also ought to remember that God designed us to work. Whatever our calling and vocation, we ought to seek to honor the Lord in our work.
