Lesson Number Seven: The Wisdom and Longing of John Watson

One's heart goes back from this eager, restless, ambitious age to the former days, and recalls with fond recollection the pastor of his youth, who had lived all his ministry in one place, and was buried where he was ordained - who had baptized a child, and admitted her to the sacrament, and married her and baptized her children - who knew all the ins and outs of his people's character, and carried family history for generations in his head - who was ever thinking of his people, watching over them, visiting their homes, till his familiar figure on the street linked together the past and the present, and heaven and earth, and opened a treasure house of sacred memories...  People turned to him as by an instinct in their joys and sorrows; men consulted him in the crises of life, and, as they lay a-dying, committed their wives and children to his care...  Ten miles away people did not know his name, but his own congregation regarded no other, and in the Lord's presence it is well known, it was often mentioned; when he laid down his trust, and arrived on the other side, many whom he had fed and guided, and restored and comforted, till he saw them through the gates, were waiting to receive their shepherd-minister, and as they stood around him before the Lord, he, of all men, could say without shame, "Behold, Lord, thine under-shepherd, and the flock thou didst give me." - John Watson (Ian Maclaren pseudo), The Cure of Souls, (Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, 1896), New York: Dodd, Mead, 1896, pp. 241 ff.

There is a quite disturbing trend in the church today.  Of course, we would be fools not to recognize the fact that this problem has plagued the bride of Christ for centuries.  It is the desire to move onward and upward, from where we are to where we think we should be.  Luther wrote of this issue when he declared: "Ambitio praedicatoris est ecclesiae pestis...the ambitious preacher is a pestilence to the church."  It begs the question of us all - am I in the ministry to receive or am I in the ministry to give?  Am I a pestilence to the church, or not?

Many bi-vocational pastors will echo these words in one form or another:  If only I had this..., If only I had that..., If only my people were more educated..., If only I made more money..., If only we had more room..., If only our facilities were updated..., If only people knew how hard I worked..., ad nauseum.  The glaring error in these statements is the self-centered nature from which they all flow.  When we begin to look at our shortcomings, or begin to wander in thought about what we would do if we had the resources other preachers have we fail to realize the eternal blessing we have inherited already by answering the call to serve where we are presently.  We should not really think so high of ourselves and abilities - or at least that is what John Chrysostom was probably alluding to when he stated, "Hell is paved with priest's skulls."

God has us where we are, at the time he has appointed, for reasons only Heaven is privy to.  To think we have to be on the internet constantly perusing for a better paying position or one with better provision for our families is to miss the high calling of Christ Jesus.  George Johnstone Jeffrey wrote in This Grace Wherein We Stand on page 86, "There is no more common illusion in our profession than the conviction that we could be a shining success anywhere else than in the sphere which we happen to be occupying... Get it wrought into the fibers of your being that the sphere in which you find yourself is the arena in which you are to win your soul."  And, perhaps, it is this illusion that we would be better off somewhere else that keeps our focus away from our people and our community and places it wrongly on others and places where we shall most likely never dwell.  What is wrong with the place where you are at now?  If you are like every other living and breathing bi-vocational minister, well, there are a TON of things that are wrong!  Most importantly, it is our hearts that are wrong...not the people nor the buildings.

When his son first began pastoring, Friedrich von Bodelschwingh wrote him a letter of encouragement.  In this quite simple letter he wrote: "I beg you, do not look upon Dortmund as a steppingstone, but rather say: Here I shall stay as long as it pleases God; if it be his will, until I die."  What about us?  Are we ready to step over the stone God has placed us on?  Or, are we ready to face the wind and waves of culture while standing steadfastly in the place where we are now?  Do we in our heart of hearts, truly believe that we are standing on holy ground?  Is our faith - that which we preach and shout that others must have - stronger than what we demand of our listeners?  Do we trust God to work through his awesome Holy Ghost in the backwoods as much as the back-rooms of multi-million dollar facilities?  God is alive and well!  He is as active on the farm-to-market road as he is on downtown Broadway.

Christina G. Rossetti wrote a poem which powerfully uplifts and encourages the

long-term pastorate.  It is entitled Send Me.

Use me, God, in thy great harvest field,

Which stretches far and wide like a sea;

The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield

will suffer loss.  Oh, find a place for me!

A place where best the strength I have will tell;

It may be one the older toilers shun;

Be it a wide or narrow place, 'tis well

so that the work it holds be only done.