Isn’t automatic. There are so many competing versions of you being put forth every day—from both external and internal sources—that it requires some careful consideration. The false self is tricksy. Unmasking the false self is hard work.

That means questions.

Below are a few just to get you going. You may not be able to answer all of these very well. That’s OK. That’s not the point. The power is more in the asking than the answering. Resist the urge to force an answer just for the sake of having one. 

Fairness is all about someone getting what they deserve. Grace is all about someone getting what they do not deserve. 

Fairness is getting what you pay for. Grace is being gifted what you could not afford.

Fairness is concerned with return on investment. Grace is concerned with a generous payout regardless of your contribution.

Fairness values your performance. Grace values your personhood.

Fairness bases decisions on merit. Grace bases decisions on mercy.

Is part of your work. 

Think about why you do what you do. From the big picture all the way down to the details; both the forest and the trees. The desires that drive you from within and the purposes that push you out into the world are perhaps the most important thing about your work. “Why” is the soul of work. 

I preached my final sermon to the church that my wife, Angela, and I planted and co-pastored together almost 14 years ago: Greenleaf Vineyard Church.

It wasn’t a year ago by date, but by the church calendar. It was Pentecost Sunday, 2020, the day that Christians celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The sermon was titled, “What is the Holy Spirit Up To?”

I phrased it as a question because questions were pretty much all I had at the time. 

So over a computer screen (as if what I was doing wasn’t hard enough), I read from Acts 2, and then made the following points as I said goodbye to our church, our dream, our baby, and our friends:

Because their stories are not their own. Because no individual’s story is only about that individual. The protagonist is always surrounded. There are always antagonists, companions, and supporting characters. 

To tell my story is to also tell part of someone else’s story. And, of course, as the saying goes, there are always two sides to every story. In the case of a pastor telling their story, there can be dozens of other sides to a single story. 

Pastors’ stories also belong to their congregation, to the volunteer leaders, to the staff that they work with. This is both beautiful and paralyzing.

Into the fabric of your life is part of learning to live spiritually.

You have a life. A normal life that is built with at least some of the same bricks that form the structure of everyone else’s normal life: a family, a home, a job, coworkers, friends, grocery stores, gas stations, garbage cans, doctor appointments, books to read, a lawn to mow, and maybe a dog to walk. All these ordinary bits and pieces add up to create something unique and unrepeatable: your life.

The Christian Scriptures it turns out (and this may be true of other sacred texts as well) have a knack of getting themselves caught up in the mix. If you read them often enough, you will one day find that a particular verse or phrase or word gets stuck in your head like a hook from a pop song.

Was the request one of the disciples made to Jesus. (See Luke 11). A bit of a surprising request, given that these disciples had been praying their whole lives. Since long before they began following this Rabbi.

They were no strangers to prayer. 

They were, as best we can tell, good Jewish boys. They began each day with the Shema. They prayed multiple times throughout day. They observed the Sabbath, rich with centuries of passed-down prayers. Up to this point in the story they had already done much praying with their Rabbi, Jesus. 

Because you and I are not static.

Because life is not static.

Because time is not static.

Because the seasons are not static.

Because relationships are not static.

Because society is not static.

Because culture is not static.

Because history is not static.

Because creation is not static.

Because the Creator is not static.

Ought to be the most spiritual person in a local congregation—and also the most down-to-earth. The most heavenly and also the most earthy.

The spiritual and physical aspects of reality are not distinct and opposed. They are both, together, the fully connected and whole reality of the universe. 

The temptation for the local pastor is to swing to one extreme or the other. The pressure comes both from within and without. Some pastors are more wired for being overly spiritual; others are wired for being overly earthy. Some congregations press their pastors to be more like gurus; others press their pastors to be more like CEOS. 

Are different things. Cognates of the heart, but more like cousins in action. 

We wait for hopes. We work towards dreams. 

We inhale hopes. We exhale dreams. 

Hopes depend on something outside of ourselves, given to us like precious gifts. Dreams bubble up from the secret places of our souls and spill out into the world.