This month we asked our bloggers about how they view the role of pastor, how they understand their pastoral identity, or to share what a pastor really does all week.  Here’s how they responded.
The women of the church were bustling about the kitchen and fellowship hall as they prepared a meal to be shared after a funeral. The tables had beautiful lace table coverings on them. The china they lovingly hand wash had been set on the tables. The smell of food being cooked filled the hall. Buffet-style tables were set up. They were ready to attend the funeral and serve the family.
The funeral director gathered the family into the same area so that we could gather to pray before the service started. The church was filling up with people, many who had driven a long way and needed the restroom. I buzzed around nervously, making sure everything was in place. Knowing it was time to pray, I zipped around a corner into the fellowship hall and I was startled by what I saw, something so unusual it took me a good 10 seconds to figure out what I was seeing. There were church folks running into the hall with every sort of bucket or container you could image because it was raining inside the building. It was raining onto one of the tables they had so carefully set. The funeral was to start in three minutes!
I was overcome with nervous laughter and ran to hide it. I gained my composure, made sure someone knew who to call and went out to lead worship. When we had finished, aside from a fan, it looked as though nothing ever happened.
I do not know a single pastor who studied plumbing alongside Greek and practical theology. Yet, nearly every pastor I know has a nightmare plumbing story or two. These stories lead me to three unexpected skills a pastor needs in everyday church life.
1. Flexibility: I am a planner by nature. I still use a paper calendar in addition to a digital one. It is filled to the brim with sticky notes, as are my desk and computer monitor. On any given day, I walk into the office with a plan for how I might spent my time. More often than not, things come up that need my attention in the moment. Perhaps someone has fallen ill and I need to visit her. Someone pops in the office to chat about a meeting or program or just to say hello. Being flexible helps to manage all the tasks a pastor has to do.
2. Managing curve balls: The key to surviving the curve ball is having a plan. How can you plan for something that is unknown until it is seen? Know who you will call if, say, a plumbing issue arises. For me, it is usually a buildings and grounds person, sometimes it is the plumber the church uses. I try to keep a list of all the businesses we use for such services. I always have a back-up pastor for when I plan to be out of town. This way if there is a death the night before I leave for study leave, I can call the family and let them know I am out of town, apologetically of course, and let them know who will be there in my place.
About three months into my first call, the tornado sirens went off in the middle of the sermon in worship. Having grown up on the East Coast, where tornados are not so common, I didn’t know what to do other than to seek shelter, preferably in a basement. So, I stopped preaching and we went to seek cover. We went through this three times that morning; I never finished the sermon. I was absolutely terrified, but had to stay calm so that I could keep my people safe. Which brings me to my next tidbit: Try not to freak out.
There are going to be a thousand unexpected things that come at me and that I cannot control, so I adapt and lead through them. I try not to let panic set in. That morning after I sent everyone home and locked up the church, I sobbed my whole walk home.
3. Trusting I do not have to do it alone: We can trust others to get the job done. I know this is painfully difficult for many of us pastor types. The morning of the funeral with the plumbing leak, there was nothing I could do. I had to lead worship. I had to trust the fine folks of that congregation would step up and take care of it, and they did. I am always sure to let folks know how grateful I am that they stepped up.
The call to the pastorate is an incredible gift and offers me so many ways in which to grow and serve the people of God. I appreciate deeply how no two days are alike and I look forward to the curve balls that lie ahead. They make for the best stories!
REBECCA GRESHAM-KESNER is pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Medford, New Jersey. Outside of church and family life, you can find her in nature, finding fun ways to be creative or asking awkwardly deep questions of people she just met.
