The Contemplative Pastor

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With the vastness of the heavenly invasion and the urgency of the faith decision rolling into our consciousness like thunder and lightning, we cannot stand around on Sunday morning filling the time with pretentious small talk on how bad the world is and how wonderful this new stewardship campaign is going to be.

The adjective apocalyptic is not commonly found in company with the noun pastor. I can't remember ever hearing them in the same sentence. They grew up on different sides of the tracks. I'd like to play Cupid between the two words and see if I can instigate a courtship.

Apocalyptic has a wild sound to it: an end-of-the-world craziness, a catastrophic urgency. The word is used when history seems out of control and ordinary life is hopeless. When you aren't sure whether it is bombs or stars that are falling out of the sky, and people are rushing toward the cliffs like a herd of pigs, the scene is apocalyptic. The word is scary and unsettling.

Pastor is a comforting word: a person who confidently quotes the Twenty-third Psalm when you are shivering in the dark shadows. Pastors gather us in quiet adoration before God. Pastors represent the faithfulness and love of the eternal God and show up on time every Sunday to say it again that God so loves the world. Pastors build bridges over troubled waters and guide wandering feet back to the main road. The word accumulates associations of security and blessing, solidity and peace.

But I have a biblical reason for bringing the two words together. The last book of the Bible was written by a pastor. And the book he wrote was an apocalypse. The St. John who gave us the last words of the Bible was an apocalyptic pastor.

I am misunderstood by most of the people who call me pastor. Their ...

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