wfn.org | UMNS# 05021-Pastors must take time to be holy, speaker says

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Pastors must take time to be holy, speaker says

Jan. 11, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05021}

NOTE: Photographs and a related report, UMNS story #020, are available
at umc.org.

By Linda Green*

ATLANTA (UMNS) - Attaining holiness is not so much about arriving at a
destination but more about the journey itself - a journey full of road
blocks and possible detours, according to a United Methodist pastor.

Speaking to 650 other clergy members, the Rev. Gary Henderson offered
some "road markers and street signs" to help along the way.

"Holiness is not so much about a state of being but a process,"
Henderson said Jan. 5, at the Fourth Convocation for Pastors of
African-American Churches. "I believe holiness is a place of perpetual
journey. There is always this 'is not yet' sense about it."

Despite the daily "busyness" of schedules, forgetting the appointment
calendar and blocking out personal time is OK, said Henderson, pastor of
East Shore United Methodist Church in Euclid, Ohio. "It is life-giving
and life-sustaining. Our schedules often leave us too long in a barren
and dry wasteland. They can leave us without time to tarry in His
presence, without time to live in power because we are perpetually on
the run."

The gathering, sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship,
focused on how pastors can draw power for ministry by spending time with
God.

An inherent danger of ministry is "to be perpetually busy. It seems to
come with the job," Henderson noted. Pastors need clearly identifiable
places where they give themselves permission to slow down.

The United Methodist Church "ecclesiastically" endorses the busyness of
a clergy person's schedule, he said. "In far too many ways, we are
expected to report and give account of what we have been doing as though
our 'doing' is the main objective of ministry."

He reminded the pastors of the admonition from Methodism's founder, John
Wesley, to "never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any
one place than is strictly necessary."

He added that "rather than a trapping of holy living, our schedules are
often the sign and symbol of a life and ministry on the verge of
collapse and implosion from the inside."

Pastors have given their calendars more authority than the Bible, he
said. They can get around the scheduling roadblock by telling people on
an already busy day: "My appointment calendar does not permit it."

The second impediment to the holiness journey is weariness, he said.
Pastors cannot address chaotic ministry and struggle with the "demonic"
forces of life if they are tired.

"As a pastor, I must be able to spring to my feet from the position of
rest and not out of toil. I must not be so expended mentally and
physically that when it is time for holy action, I do not have the
spiritual fortitude to undertake the task."

"Weariness is an exit ramp off straight street" and leads to failure, he
said. When spiritual fatigue arises, pastors can "fall prey to all sorts
of ungodly stuff."  He invited the clergy to do as the psalmist
encourages: "Be still and know that I am God."

In addition to slowing down, he said clergy need companions and friends.
"Do not always travel alone," he advised. "Companions are essential to
the journey." They can be life-saving and redemptive. Clergy often act
as lone rangers - not building close relationships with other clergy or
lay members - and that is counter to the connectional nature of the
United Methodist Church, he said.

Staying on track requires standing against the "demon of busy," he said.
"We must hold in constant tension our main reason for being on the quest
for holiness."

The quest is all about "seeking Jesus yourself, but also all along the
way pointing others to Jesus as well," he said.  "The quest is all about
our spiritual hunger and thirst to be like him. Our desire is to be holy
as God is holy."

To remain on course, Henderson instructed the convocation participants
to be mindful of the things God has already done in their lives.
"Sufficient memory regarding what God has already done" is essential, he
said.

"Holiness is not so much about arrival at a destination but more about a
journey," he said.  "In fact, in the quest and in the journey, the
experiences along the way are what make arrival at a desired destination
possible.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service