First Congregational Church UCC Harwich

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Newsletter: August

September 10, 2015 by FCCH Staff

Summer rest, or rest in general, is, apparently, more important than I realized. In mid-July Linda and I took a week to visit my mother in CT and see our granddaughter perform in a musical in upstate NY. On the way back we stopped to see our son in Holden.

But it wasn’t until about 3 or 4 days in that I realized how tired and stressed I was! You find yourself on a treadmill which soon becomes the unwitting norm.

Of course, I also was reminded of something Eugene Peterson once said. In his book, Working the Angles, he openly concedes that he has very little sympathy for pastors who complain about being stressed out!

The reason? For one, he thinks contemporary pastors get overly involved in things that aren’t really their job. He cites as symptomatic of the change in the pastoral role the designation of the “pastor’s office” as opposed to the “pastor’s study.”

For Peterson, the pastor’s job is threefold: to provide pastoral care, pray, and study, ergo, “pastor’s study.” In a related sense the liturgy used for all U.C.C. pastors at ordination challenges us to be “pastor and teacher,” not, notably, politician, social worker, community organizer, or…CEO!

Today, Peterson argues, pastors (and churches) have defined the pastoral role as “CEO,” a term borrowed from the business world. Here the pastor is in charge of everything. He or she is tasked with overseeing every aspect of the church’s life.

Instead, Peterson understands the pastoral office more in the traditional sense. Here the pastor is ostensibly responsible for the spiritual life of the church community. This, it is essential to note, also involves the spiritual nurture of him or herself, which ideally serves as a model for the entire church. If a congregation, stressed out by the demands of this world, sees their pastor falling victim to the same syndrome, where is help to be found?

I’ve long maintained that the proper role of the pastor is to train and equip the saints for the ministry of the church (“to make disciples”). This means, among other things, that most of the work of the church is done by these same saints, i.e., church members. The pastor’s job, in other words, is to teach and equip, and to embody the gospel, in much the same way a coach trains, equips, and inspires a team before they go out onto the field. (Note that the coach is not on the field!)

Ever since entering ordained ministry, and even before, I’ve observed that many pastors have an overly-developed need to be needed. Here the temptation is to respond to every request and every demand.

Though I strongly suspect I’ve failed in any number of ways in terms of keeping these pastoral lines clear (as per my recent stressed-out state), I do know better.

Summer seems the perfect time to reclaim the sacred center in our lives, to find ways to experience God’s presence. Paradoxically in this we discover our need to do a bit less of the heavy lifting by allowing our efforts to flow forth from the source of all of this is!

Grace and peace,

Thomas C. Leinbach, Pastor

Filed Under: Letter

Sunday Worship

We are an Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ.

During the health pandemic, we invite worshippers to join us on Sundays at 10:30 am. We meet in safety for a 45-minute service on our (encrypted) video-conference platform.

How to Find Us

Past Sermons

Sermon: Plan? What Plan?

December 27, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Worry, Be Happy

December 18, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Thoughts for 3 a.m.

December 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Moods of Christian Life

December 5, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Who Are We to Judge?

November 27, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Keeping One’s Marbles amid the Whistling Tree Frogs

November 20, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Interpreting the Bible

November 7, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Luther, Schmuther!

October 30, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: A Mechanistic God

October 16, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Knowing Who We Are

October 12, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Freedom of Constraint

October 2, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Daytime TV and Bonbons

September 25, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Mind Your Own Knitting

September 18, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Stasis, Novelty or Reform

September 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Decisions, Decisions

September 5, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Everyone’s Got One

August 28, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Self-Righteousness, Othering, and Violence

August 21, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Oh, This!

August 14, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: From Heel to Healer

August 8, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Unexpectedly

July 31, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Surviving Hope

July 25, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Prevenient Grace

July 17, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: The Strange Persistence of Guilt

July 11, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Freedom

July 3, 2017 By FCCH Staff

Sermon: Looking for the Lord

June 26, 2017 By FCCH Staff

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