Rev. John Simpson, General Superintendent, Baptist Union of
Victoria, Australia
Number 132

Some pastors get high on people; others are totally absorbed in
getting things done; a few respond to needs before they occur and are so
far ahead they have planned the funeral service for the child they have
just dedicated. Now not all of us are spiritual Ferraris…but we do
tend to measure our value to our people by how much we get done. We may
even get some mild pleasure when others make the "I know you are
very busy…." speech.

As we all know well, leadership is not a nine to five enterprise. It
never has been. It does not matter if you have a small or large
congregation, there is always something more to do. The day is never
long enough. Some of us cope with this better than others. We sleep well
no matter how many loose ends there may be. Others of us live in a state
of perpetual panic having basically excised from our Bibles all
references to "entering into Lord’s rest" (whatever that may
mean). Anyway, those bits are clearly for the non-serious, the spiritual
"lay-abouts" who would not know what a hard day’s work looked
like.

The Benefits of the Fast Lane

But we need to check our rear vision mirror before we start slowing
down. Such an alteration to our daily routine could lead to some
worrying consequences. There are some very real benefits of keeping on
the go. For example:

* We will never be really distracted from our commitment to ministry
by our own inner contradictions, rough edges and unspoken hungers for a
deeper experience of the "otherness" of God. We simply do not
have the time to get into all of that. Besides, it is a touch
introspective and only for those reflective types.

* We will continue to derive satisfaction from the endless round of
redefining our priorities without having to realise that these may not
be entirely in keeping with what the Lord requires of us anyway. It will
not enter our heads that we just may be in the wrong ball park
altogether. Now that discovery would be truly unsettling and throw us
into a tail spin. The courage to acknowledge that we may be misguided is
a rare commodity.

* We will be saved the hassle of "waiting on God," a term
much loved by the truly spiritual. Now this is a terrific biblical
concept but it comes from the pre mobile phone, computer, e-mail, and
fax era. Besides, people who insist on waiting upon God when there is
much to be done need to discover what the responsible stewardship of
time is all about.

* We will continue to err on the side of hard work for the Kingdom
with our unbroken labours carrying a rather more tangible bonus than
those constant withdrawals for prayer undertaken by the well motivated,
the mystical and delightfully impractical.

Finding a New Structure

To lose the capacity for quietness is a risky business. The
discipline of slowing down is hard at the best of times for most of us.
The creation of room for personal retreat requires a conscious decision.
It takes effort, planning and the deliberate setting aside of those very
worthwhile causes which so frequently and subtly seduce us. Most of us
need a clear structure in our routines if we are to function well. The
giving of a priority to silence, to genuinely listen to God, demands a
reorganisation of that structure and a questioning of the whole edifice
of good works which we unconsciously build from a sincere heart.

It is not just a better use of the diary, commendable as that may
be. It is a revisiting of the underlying order of our lives and what
causes us to operate in the way we do. It has so much to do with how we
see ourselves before God and our understanding of what He requires of us
in our daily round. Now this depth of enquiry is demanding and
unsettling. Pursued consistently it will begin to call into question
much of what we may have seen to be our priorities.

But to think that being quiet is just another thing that we should
be doing since we are in leadership and want to be open to God is to
miss the point entirely. Being alone with God is not simply an add on,
an optional extra which we somehow accommodate in an already full life.

It is indeed a fresh way of ordering our lives, a new way of being.
It is an overt departure from the fast lane. It is an exiting from the
spiritual freeway of doing great things for God to another road where
the pace and direction are not so clear. Our problem is finding the off
ramp at high speed. It is not easy. Further, we can find that off ramp
only through careful observation and deep desire. It is not clearly
marked by an "Exit" sign.

Moses and That Rock

There is the appalling possibility that the good works which we feel
we have been called to do may, in the end, be the very barriers which
inhibit or prevent a rich and deep fellowship with the Lord. The
appropriate balance is that which enables us to find Him in the rough
and tumble of service, at the very heart of it all.

Too often though this same rough and tumble effectively frustrates
the calming, energising movement of the Spirit. We can all understand
why Moses whacked the rock. When we are surrounded by a sufficient
number of critics and otherwise difficult people, we can lose our cool
very easily too. But the only way to respond obediently under pressure
is to hold on to the reality of His Presence and His provision.

There is an enormous problem in crowding out the Presence of God.
When we start to lose the plot, our reactions give us away. We may long
for a complete withdrawal, or failing that, we become unconsciously
abrupt and short with people. We look for sanctified ways of targeting
the jugular.

A barely controlled frustration leads to irritation, a feeling of
something being constantly wrong but not having the capacity to identify
what the problem is. Not too far away is the potentially paralysing
growth of unreflected doubt not to mention a loss of direction and
purpose. We start to see the inconsistencies in the lives of others and
are only ever a short step away from being perennially judgemental of
them. It is like being on a diet of pure prune juice. We become allergic
to the very people we are called to serve.

The truth is that even the most disciplined of us can be strangers
to regular silence and quietness. Many of us have a unique ability to
fill up every moment. We do it for the best of reasons, of course: it
arises from our devotion to the Lord and His people. What we fail to
realise is the cost of being on the run, of never taking the time to
pull over. It is not just the matter of a muddled spirituality.

There are profound implications as far as effectiveness and health
are concerned. One study found that people who work over fifty hours
weekly suffer a productivity drop of fifty per cent. Higher times on the
job lead to even less productivity. Also, there is a much higher risk of
stress with job dissatisfaction leading to heart disease. Pastors ignore
these findings at their peril.

The High Cost of High Speed

We simply cannot be there for others if we stay in the fast lane all
the time. There comes a point when we wilt at the possibility of bumping
into Mrs Jones at the supermarket, or having to face yet another phone
call from Mr Brown whose marriage is going down the tube. Instead of a
regular retreat helping us to keep a perspective, we want to become
reclusive and this has a very different motivation. One is a deliberate
decision to ponder where we are on the journey; the other is a desperate
escape device which is doomed to failure. Surprisingly, we are often
blind to the value of hauling into the pits for a check over and tune
up.

Perhaps the most expensive mistake is to launch into a day without
taking the time to receive it from God as His most recent gift to us. We
can be like the impatient child in the toy shop: we grab it and run. It
is no wonder then that priorities are scrambled, little is achieved and
we lack the poise to handle the inevitable interruptions which are all
part of ministry. We see the day for what we want to do with it without
ever considering that it is His for Him to do what He would through us.
It is a rather different equation and is not understood easily.

The intersection between our designs and His do not necessarily fall
into place in ways which we can identify quickly. But that is the walk
of faith. We spend time with Him in whatever way has meaning for us and
then take a shot at the day without the intention of bringing in the
Kingdom by lunch time.

If the day is filled with joy or disaster at least it was His since
we returned to Him right at the first jump. And, furthermore, if our
schemes were dismembered along the way, so be it. There is a liberation
here, a departure from the heaviness of trying to do everything for God.
If, having sought His blessing for the day, not much seemed to be
accomplished, then that is His problem too.

May we have the bravery to find ways to live ever more closely to
this God Who loves us and gave Himself for us. His is not a call to self
destruction, ineffective living and damaged health. It is a call to
fullness, to trust, to believe that our part is just that: a tiny piece
in His grand plan for His world. But you won’t find it in high gear.
Keep an eye open for the off ramp. It is around here somewhere.

Rev. John Simpson

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