Reading that sermon led me to ponder what I would say if asked to speak at a seminary graduation ceremony. Here are a few thoughts that came immediately to mind:

1. Remember to listen to God first and foremost. There will be plenty of other voices competing for your attention and telling you what your priorities ought to be, but don’t let them drown out God’s voice.

2. Remember that Jesus calls you to love your neighbor AS yourself – not more than, or instead of, or at the expense of yourself. If you do not properly care for yourself, you are setting a poor example and will ultimately be unable to do much to help anyone else.

3. Remember the importance of time apart – time to pray, to reflect, to simply “be” instead of always rushing to do something. Your days off and vacation time are not optional luxuries to give up whenever someone needs you; they are essential aspects of your life and ministry. Even Jesus left the crowds and his disciples at times to be by himself and pray.

4. Remember that you are always God’s beloved child, regardless of your successes or failures as a pastor and a person, that you do not have to earn God’s love, and that nothing can separate you from that love.

Those are my thoughts; what are yours? If you were asked to speak to new seminary graduates, what words of wisdom would you share?

One cause of clergy burnout that I think is particularly significant, and widespread, is this one: “Because of perfectionistic expectations, denial, pride, and fear of telling anyone about their real weaknesses, failures, fears, stresses, and discouragements, pastors are some of the least likely to seek help – from counselors, doctors, friends, co-workers, or even from ministries like PastorCare.” As a pastor, I know that no matter how I really felt about how things were going, I wanted my parishioners as well as my colleagues to see me as confident and competent, able to handle whatever challenges came my way. There were very few people that I was close enough to and trusted enough to share my personal struggles and feelings of inadequacy. Usually, I felt the need to keep my own emotions (especially sadness or anger) in check, and always be the calm, cool professional with an enlightened spiritual perspective on every issue.

I’d really like to know what you think. Do you believe that each item affects every pastor at some point, to some degree? If not, what makes some pastors able to avoid a particular risk factor, or handle it better than others? Of the many causes listed, which ones do you think are the most significant stressors that can lead to clergy burnout? Are there others you can think of that are not listed? Most importantly, how do you cope with those stressors and what could other pastors, church members, and denominational officials do to help support you when you are feeling overwhelmed?

I realize that most of you reading this probably work in church offices, but I’m curious as to whether you have noticed or heard from church members anything about increased spirituality in other work settings. My experience has been just the opposite: not only is faith not discussed at work, to avoid controversy or the possibility of offending someone of a different faith or a non-believer, it is often viewed as a liability.

Whenever I have interviewed for a job, I have specified that I am available to work any day or evening except Sunday, because of church. I have repeatedly been told that is not good enough, that the employer needs someone who is available whenever needed, and that as a new hire I would be expected to work on Sundays. Other friends of mine regularly miss worship because they are working on Sunday mornings. Restaurants, stores, and tourist attractions are all open seven days a week here, and many are open 365 days a year. I have worked on both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, among other holidays.

In theory, it is illegal in the U.S. to discriminate on the basis of religion; in reality, especially in difficult economic times when there are many people looking for work and fewer people hiring, employers can simply choose not to hire someone who refuses to work on religious holidays and claim some other basis for their decision if it is questioned.

I do not agree with those who find it offensive that businesses say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” or that nativity scenes are either not allowed in public places or are placed alongside menorahs or symbols of other faiths. Christianity should not be the official or preferred religion in a country that claims to value freedom of religion, but neither should it be denigrated or its adherents have to choose between attending worship services and getting or keeping a job.

What do you think? Is faith encouraged in the workplace, ignored, or seen in a negative light? Have you, or has anyone you know, had to miss worship due to their work schedule? Is it reasonable for employers to expect employees to be willing to do so? Why or why not?

It’s a good question; unfortunately, some of the answers have not been very good. Pat Robertson actually said it happened because long ago Haitians made a pact with the devil so that their slave revolt would succeed.

Assuming that people must have done something to deserve the bad things that happen to them is one way to try to make sense out of senseless tragedies. It’s a practice that goes back at least as far as biblical times: in the Old Testament book of Job, when one bad thing after another happens to Job, his friends suggest that God is disciplining him and that surely he or his children must have done something to anger God.

If we reject that idea that an angry God causes (or at least does not prevent) suffering, how can we explain it? Why does God let such terrible tragedies happen?

I don’t presume to have a satisfactory answer to that question, and I have yet to meet a pastor, seminary professor, or anyone else who does. The best we can do is acknowledge the reality of pain and suffering, and our inability to know the mind of God, even as we also acknowledge our belief in a loving God who grieves with us and works through us to help others who are also hurting.

If you would like to help the people of Haiti, and be sure that 100% of your gift will be used to do so, click here to go to the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) website.

However, as I read and reflected on the article (which you can read here), I realized that both individuals and organizations do in fact need some degree of conflict in their lives – it’s impossible for us to grow otherwise.

Think about any relationship that is important to you – your relationship with a spouse, best friend, parent, or child, for instance. Has that relationship always been free of stress and conflict?

I’ve been happily married for almost 19 years now, and I can assure you that during that time there have been periods of stress and conflict. I don’t think it’s possible to have a healthy relationship without it, because different human beings are inevitably going to have different wants and different opinions about the best course of action at some point.

As the Alban article points out, sometimes bringing up an issue that others are avoiding stirs up conflict, but that conflict is a necessary part of considering various options and moving forward into an uncertain future.

When has conflict been a difficult but necessary part of your life or your congregation’s? How have you benefited from the experience?

“Saints” is not just the name of my favorite team, though; it is a word of great religious significance. While it can refer to anyone – we are all both saints and sinners – it is most often used to refer to people we admire for their strong faith, exceptional generosity, and willingness to give up a lot, sometimes even their lives, in order to do what God calls them to do.

I met a saint in church this morning. We had a guest speaker, The Rev. Bob Graetz, who spoke of his experience serving as a white pastor of a black church in Montgomery, Alabama, at the time of the bus boycott. Pastor Graetz lived across the street from Rosa Parks and knew her well. He encouraged his parishioners to participate in the boycott and told them to call him if they needed a ride.

That support led some whites to consider him a traitor to their race, and he received hundreds of threatening letters and phone calls. His house was bombed three times.

Of course, like most saints, Pastor Graetz is a humble man who credits God with giving him the courage to speak up publicly despite the risks. His message was that God has given all of us gifts meant to be used for the common good.

As he spoke, I found myself wondering what I would have done in his shoes. Today, it is easy for me to speak out against racism or the unjust treatment of any other group of people for any reason. I’ve been verbally attacked for my “liberal” views, both in person and in print, but never had to fear for my safety. If speaking out meant risking getting beat up or murdered, and also endangering my family and friends, would I still be so bold? I’d like to think so, but I’m not sure I would.

It’s easy for me to judge those pastors and other Christians from earlier generations who actively supported slavery or segregation, or at least chose to play it safe and not speak out against those practices. I also have a negative view of the Christians in Nazi Germany who either bought into the idea of Aryan superiority or stood by mutely as innocent people were killed by the thousands.

It’s not so easy to admit that there are times, even when all I have to fear is social disapproval or a heated argument, that I choose to keep silent in the face of injustice.

I thank God for people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Bob Graetz, and the many others through the years who have fought for what is right, even when they had to risk their lives to do so, and pray that God will give me the courage to do the same.

Given the rather dismal statistics about clergy health I have read elsewhere, and the number of pastors who get burned out and leave parish ministry, I was surprised by this. It also made me wonder if, given the fact that my company focuses on helping stressed out pastors find healthier ways of coping with the demands of the job, I have become too focused on the negative aspects of this profession. After all, there is great satisfaction (at least there has been for me) in doing things like comforting a dying person and their grieving family, preaching a sermon that is praised as thought-provoking and inspirational, or counseling someone during a time of crisis.

I wonder what percentage of clergy truly love their work, at least most of the time, and would gladly choose the same career if they had it all to do over again. Obviously those who choose to comment on this blog post do not constitute a statistically valid representative sample, but I’d still like to know, if you are a member of the clergy, whether or not you would make the same career choice if you had it to do over again, knowing what you know now, and why or why not. Please take a moment to share your answer by leaving a comment.

What is a toxic parish? I define it as a parish that is so embroiled in conflict and unwilling to make the changes necessary to move toward health that it actively sabotages or passively resists all attempts to engage in meaningful ministry.

Of course, there are varying degrees of toxicity, and in some situations the right pastor can transform a conflicted, dying congregation into a vibrant community of faith. Is there a point, though, at which denominations should simply refuse to send another pastor to a parish with a long history of chewing up and spitting out its pastors? Does the denomination have any responsibility to forewarn pastors about a parish’s history of conflict, or to provide financial or emotional support to pastors who are forced to leave dysfunctional congregations?

One vicar in England thinks it does, and he is suing his diocese for not exercising its “duty of care.” You can read more about it by clicking here.

What do you think? Please add your comments below.

Naturally, President Obama and all of the world’s leaders need our prayers; they must make difficult decisions which affect many lives. It is equally clear that Christians are called to pray for those with whom we disagree, and in fact Jesus specifically commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44)

However, I don’t think this is the kind of prayer Jesus had in mind. Psalm 109:8 reads, “May his days be few; may another seize his position.” The following verse is even more ominous: “May his children be orphans and his wife a widow.” That certainly doesn’t sound very loving, does it?

Remember the song with the refrain, “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love?” Sadly, it seems to me that Christians are at least as hate-filled as anyone else out there, and when we disagree on social or political issues we do things like shout each other down at town halls or church meetings, demonize those who don’t see things exactly like we do, withhold or threaten to withhold our offerings if we don’t get our way, and start a new church so we don’t have to associate with anyone who doesn’t share our views. Do we really believe that we are being faithful Christians and glorifying God by acting that way?

What if we genuinely prayed for those with whom we disagree instead? I don’t mean prayers that God will zap them, remove them from power, or make them see the error of their ways and acknowledge that we are right; I mean sincerely asking God to bless and guide them. What if we talked WITH them instead of AT them or ABOUT them, with the goal of understanding why they feel the way they do? What if we made it clear that we do not agree with their position, but still recognized that they, too, are trying to be faithful and believe that God is calling them to pursue a particular course of action that we find offensive?

Who knows what could happen? Maybe if Christians could learn to live together in peace, we could help the rest of the world do the same.

What about a regularly scheduled worship service for dogs, complete with doggie treats passed out during the offering? No, I’m not making this up; you can read all about it by clicking here.

I admit, my first response was to laugh, especially when I read these lines: “The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing. But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn ‘GoD and DoG,’ one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened.”

I also remembered a home-bound member of a previous congregation I served. Each time I communed her, she broke off half of the wafer and fed it to her poodle. I cringed inwardly, but it was clearly important to her to share this meal with her beloved companion, and I decided not to risk alienating her by challenging the practice.

Clearly, animals play an important role in the lives of many people. I have fond memories of my own childhood pets (which included, at various times, dogs, a cat, a rabbit, a turtle, gerbils, and a parakeet) and the cats with whom I have shared my home as an adult. They provide unconditional love and have greatly enriched my life. I consider them members of my family, and grieve deeply whenever one dies.

I still don’t think I’d bring my cats with me to church on a regular basis, but I can understand why some people might want to bring their animals with them, especially people who live alone except for their animal companions. The worship service mentioned in the article seems to be meeting a real need, and is reaching people who otherwise might not attend church at all.

What do you think? Have you brought your animals to church, or would you if you had the option? Would you feel comfortable praying for animals by name? What about giving them treats during worship? Please leave a comment to share your thoughts.