A Pastor's Promises

I am going to disappoint you.

I will forget your birthday or anniversary.

I will forget the anniversary of your mother or partner's death.

I will forget that you have lost a child.

I will forget the history of this holy place.

I will fail to recognize you at the grocery store.

I will miss your urgent phone call because I forgot to turn my ringer back on.

I will forget your name.

I will forget your story.

I will confuse you with someone else.

I will fail to understand the importance you give a tradition.

I will misunderstand what you have tried so hard to tell me.

I will forget to return your phone call.

I will fail to visit someone you wanted me to visit.

I will give you bad advice.

I will fail to sing your favorite hymn.

I will fail to notice your new clothing, haircut, or jewelry.

I will get lost trying to find your house.

I will answer a question you are not asking.

I will answer the wrong question and lead you astray.

I will fail to grasp that what I said offended you.

I will forget to write down an appointment and create a conflict that affects you.

I will fail to check my calendar and leave you hanging, waiting for me to show up.

I will run out of energy when you expect it of me the most.

I will be sure I am right when I am not.

I will make a remark that sounds irresponsible or irreverent to you.

You will offer me a gift and I will not understand the value or sacrifice it represents.

You will invite me to participate in an important event, and I will miss its importance.

I will spend too much time and energy with some people to the neglect of others.

I will rely on bad information and fail you.

I will ask you to do something you feel unprepared to do.

I will allow some emergency to take precedence over meeting your need.

I will allow my lack of preparation and time management to inconvenience you.

I will promise my help, but fail to follow through.

If I have not managed to offend you by Christmas, just be patient with me. I will get around to you eventually.

This is my promise to you. These are the things you can expect of me. Especially if these are the kinds of things you are seeking. Why do I tell you this? I want to clarify from the outset that I will not meet all of your expectations. I cannot meet all of your expectations. I am human. I am limited. I do not have unlimited time on my hands. I do not have all the right answers. As your pastor, I do not need to have all the answers or be unfailing. After all, being something more than human is not my calling.

My calling is to represent Christ Jesus to the best of my ability. More than that, however, I am called to share my faith journey with you. That means that like you I am still struggling with aspects of faith. I am still learning. I am still growing. With Paul, I am still pressing on to become what God would fashion me into.

If I were superhuman, I would be trying to replace God for you. I am not worthy of idol status, however. I am not the one on whom you should hang your hope and faith. I am not the answer to all your dreams and struggles. I am one called to live alongside you so that we might encourage one another along the journey of rebuilding our lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

It's not all gloom and doom, however. There are, however some other things, however, which I can promise you just as well. They may not always be to your liking, but that is simply part of the calling to which I am trying to be faithful.

I will love you in ways you will not be able to understand.

I will teach the Bible to the best of my ability.

I will lead you in prayer to make you more aware of God's will and presence.

I will live out before you a journey seeking to become ever more like Christ Jesus.

I will walk beside you along the milestones of life.

I will model outreach to the community beyond the walls of our sacred spaces.

I will visit in homes, nursing homes, funeral homes, restaurants, coffee shops, and homes in the community.

I will preach funerals, officiate weddings, and celebrate the milestones of life.

I will encourage and challenge us to invest our lives in expanding God's reign at the expense of our material wealth, time, and energy.

I will sing the songs of faith with you.

I will share my family with you.

I will share in some of your family celebrations.

I will preach from God's written word.

I will continue to study to show myself approved.

I will press you to own your responsibilities in the gospel.

I will plan and prepare weekly services designed to lead us further along the journey of faith.

I will challenge you to change some of your pet ideas of God, faith, the Bible, church, and the community.

I will introduce you to people you might never have met on your own.

I will encourage you to go out of your way to meet and welcome outsiders.

I will spend a significant portion of my time with people outside of the congregation, many of whom will never become a part of our fellowship.

I will invest resources in living out faith among people you think only Jesus would love.

I will call us to trust God into a future that is unknown and may at times feel threatening.

I will call us to minister in ways we have never attempted before.

I will grieve when people leave the church for whatever their declared reasons, and often take it personally.

I will call us to review our traditions to make sure they are still meeting valid objectives.

I will challenge us to review how to best invest our resources to expand Christ's reign.

I will attempt to lavish forgiveness and compassion as a matter of course.

I will extend grace to people you deem unworthy, for we are all unworthy.

I will often feel I have failed the community when less than a hundred percent of them accept the call of Christ or join a different congregation.

I will introduce new elements to our worship experience and the life of the church.

I will challenge our comfort and call us to live with the tensions of discomfort.

I will call us to find comfort in the renewal of God's grace and love.

My task as your pastor is to continually lead us to Christ. My task is to uncover God's vision for this church and hold us to hanging meat and bones on that vision. This won't happen because I am perfect. If it depends on my perfection it will never become reality, for I am far from perfect. It depends upon God's grace, love, and compassion flowing through our lives, all of our lives.

—©Copyright 2017 Christopher B. Harbin

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