Ordination Day was awesome and a lot of fun! It was great to see (and make fun of) Pastor Randy Freund again, and I was humbled by the affirmation and support received from so many people! What a great day! And then, the next morning, it hit me: Now What?
Everything that I’d been working and waiting for the past 5 years had been realized. I was officially “Pastor Dave.” It was time to get to work! So here is a brief, rambling list of my new life as a pastor:
- I still feel like a tall acolyte.
- The first Sunday I fully vested (alb and stole), I managed to tie myself up in the microphone cord so bad that I had to go back into the Sacristy during the opening hymn to free myself!
- Folks at the early service still comment on how good I look dressed up.
- Folks at the late services still comment on how strange I look dressed up.
- I unintentionally ignored a special Hymn of Praise and went with the regular, traditional one during an 8am service. Thankfully our organist, Shirley Holtz, is good on the fly!
- I sat in on a lot of benefits discussions and nearly understood all of it!
Yeah, I’m a work in progress. But then, aren’t we all? My “Life of a New Pastor,” with its mix of successes and bumbling failures and klutzy moments, mirrors our “Life of a New Creation.” In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read that, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” In our baptisms, through the gift of grace that comes through faith, God makes us new. However, though we are new, we still drag around that old, sinful self. This means that the life of a new creation can look a lot like my life as a new pastor:
- We feel out of place.
- We get tangled up in our old sins and addictions.
- Some people say we look good.
- Other say we look bad.
- We go our own way.
- We understand in part, but not fully.
If this is you, take heart! You are not alone! In fact, this will be a reality on this side of heaven. We never stop needing God’s grace, and he never stops giving it. So live your life as a New Creation in the same way I’m living my life as a new pastor: enjoy every minute, learn from your mistakes, and serve God boldly!
God Bless You!
