Thanks for pushing these necessary buttons. Near the end of writing this post I had a very similar thought to the one you bring up.

Most of this stuff is just not “okay.” Plain and simple. I’m fine having doubts and working through those things. But, when it comes to the busyness and the workaholism and some of these other things… they need to be constantly addressed and not “okay.”

It’s okay to struggle, sure. It’s okay to have issues we deal with, sure. We all have them. But, you raise a very, very important question. What am I (and everyone else) going to do about it.

The temptation when someone confesses their struggles (whether its a pastor or not) is to have others who struggle with the same thing just kind of sit around and wollow in our struggles together.

We all feel better because someone else just named the same thing we struggle with. Misery loves company after all. We like to know we are not alone.

Lick you said, confession is not bad. In fact, as we can tell from other people’s responses its freeing to the one who confesses and those who hear it. Its a starting point…

But, like you say, what are we going to do about it? All of us sitting in a circle patting each other on the back is only half the issue.

I am not sure if I’ll publicly deal with some of the things I am doing to fight against these things or not. Perhaps I will. Perhaps I won’t. That’s an issue of time more than anything..

But, everyone needs to take Ginger’s thoughts to heart.

Confess. Yes. Find freedom. Yes. Just don’t be happy with that.

Again, Hebrews has some good thoughts on this,

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Whoah. Not sure I have resisted sin this aggressively. Perhaps it’s because we don’t really take sin seriously enough.

Hmm… maybe that is confession #9 for me….

I’m finding I’ve had a different response to this post than some others, so I’ll take the plunge & share it…

My question for you is, what are you going to about it (or willing to do)? I don’t mean to sound harsh, and I’m very glad you mentioned our dependence on grace. What I’m thinking about is more on the level of your realizations/admissions of your personal faults & struggles than the church & faith issues.

Such as: what tools do we have to take baby steps toward breaking the power of busyness in our lives? What can you & all of us do to break the habit of working too much? How can we even find enough time in our day to consider prayer?

I’m sure you remember it but others may not know Dallas Willard’s great line: “Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort.” We have to do some work, hand in hand with the Holy Spirit.

Solitude, silence, fasting (including Internet fasting)… places to start. The list of activities used by the church over the years is a long one.

Being honest about weakness is a great starting point. But I hope you (and all of us) don’t stop there.

peace,
Ginger

http://reclaimingthefword.typepad.com/are/2007/09/so-how-honest-c.html

http://reclaimingthefword.typepad.com/reclaiming_the_f_word/2007/09/growth-is-good-.html

Dan, i remember hearing of a pastor that was told in seminary that he should not live in the same town as the church. this way he wouldn’t get too close to the people and it would be easier to lead the community. what? that doesn’t even make any sense!

A pastor of mine once told me he was taught in seminary to never reveal his heart to congregants because Jesus never did. But, I pointed out to him, Jesus did tell the 12 he was sorrowful to the point of death. Mark Driscoll said lots of seminaries teach that and that’s nutty. I sort of agree. So I appreciate your honesty. Although I am not a pastor, I am involved in ministry and I have many of the same feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, fear, anger, discouragement, doubt, abandonment. Hebrews 12:3 has meant a lot to me, as has Psalm 37:3 — “Keep plugging.” (dan’s paraphrase).

A pastor of mine once told me he was taught in seminary to never reveal his heart to congregants because Jesus never did. But, I pointed out to him, Jesus did tell the 12 he was sorrowful to the point of death. Mark Driscoll said lots of seminaries teach that. Not sure that’s good. So I appreciate your honesty. Although I am not a pastor, I am involved in ministry and I have many of the same feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, fear, anger, discouragement, doubt, abandonment. Hebrews 12:3 has meant a lot to me, as has Psalm 37:3 — “Keep plugging.” (dan’s paraphrase).