“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2
In 1 Peter 5:2, elders (pastors) are exhorted to “shepherd the flock of God.” The picture of Christians as sheep is a common one in the Bible, and pastors are typically thought of as under-shepherds of Christ, who is the chief Shepherd, as verse 4 says in that chapter.
I used that analogy recently to describe the pastoral workload at St. Paul’s currently. It takes a certain amount of work to shepherd a “flock” of 150 people. But when the flock grows to 250, there’s that much more sheep-tending to do (we don’t have that many people in church every Sunday, but there are dozens of shut-ins and others who don’t come on any given Sunday, so the real number is probably higher than 250). It’s important for me to remember that I can’t expect myself to do all the work that needs to be done, and there’s great comfort in the reality that the Chief Shepherd watches over all of us all the time.
However, the reality is that there are still needs that must be addressed, and one of the temptations when a congregation is without a pastor or short-staffed like we are is to not share those needs or burdens because “there’s no pastor to talk to,” or “the pastor is too busy.” The danger there is God has given us one another to bear each other’s burdens, and Paul exhorts us in Galatians to do just that. This is so important because the devil loves to keep us isolated from one another. In other words, God uses the Church, the body of Christ, the other sheep, to encourage one another, to speak God’s Word to one another, to share the load when we are suffering.
So what do we do? We don’t know how much longer we will be without an associate pastor, but it’s very possible that it will be many more months. I would encourage you to consider that the answer is not to tough it out and handle everything yourself. We still need each other! If there are needs that require the assistance of a pastor, please don’t hesitate to still reach out, and I’ll do my best to help you however I can.
And don’t worry too much about burning me out. We are blessed with a great parish worker and administrative assistant who faithfully help me bear the workload in the office. We have an excellent church council who hold me accountable to manage my time and make sure I don’t burn out. We have a team of men and women who are volunteering their time to visit people, pray with them, and serve communion.
And that leads me to my final thought. One of the beautiful things about the body of Christ is that we don’t have to be ordained to help bear others’ burdens. Paul doesn’t write that the pastor should bear all the burdens; rather, he says that we bear one another’s burdens. If you are struggling with something, and you feel free to talk with someone other than the pastor, by all means please do that! Not because I don’t want to hear from you, but because it’s healthy for the sheep to help one another. Are there people in our fellowship that you haven’t seen in a while? I encourage you to reach out to them. Send them a text or an email, or pick up the phone and call them. Invite another family over for a meal. Seek strangers out after church on Sunday and welcome them to St. Paul’s.
When Paul says that bearing burdens fulfills the law of Christ, he’s talking about Christ’s sacrificial love. Bearing burdens is a sacrifice. It’s one that Christ willingly bore when He marched to the cross with the weight of the world upon Him. I praise Him today because He bore my burden of sin, and made me right with God. In that love, we are free to point one another to Christ by loving each other as He has loved us.
Let’s use this time of being short on shepherds to grow in our love and sacrifice for one another.
Your under-shepherd,
Pastor Micah
The full newsletter can be found here.