I am not an answer man

I’m into a new book, Making Sense of Church, by Spencer Burke. (It’s been around for a couple of years, but so many books, so little time.)

The first chapter hit something in me that I’ve been wrestling with off and on for a long time now. Since I’ve been “out” from “Pastor-ing”, I have been relieved not to be looked to as the answer man for everybody’s problems. I grew weary of the expectation some people had of fixing, controlling, and telling people where to go and how to get there. “Pastor, can you pray for me about…”, “Pastor, what should we do about…”, “Pastor, can you talk to __________ about…”. It’s not that I wasn’t concerned about these issues, it’s more that they were forcing me onto a pedestal that I didn’t want to be on. The expectations as the source of knowledge, vision, wisdom, and “anointing” were unrealistic, unbiblical, and unwanted. Today I still get tired just thinking about it.

Burke’s first chapter hits the same issue. In Tour Guide to Traveler – A Conversation About Leadership, he points out that we have defined spiritual leadership in terms of a hierarchical relationship: one person finds the way and tells someone else how to get there. The picture is that of an expert out in front with all the answers for everyone.

Cow poopies.

Instead, Burke offers another metaphor: the traveler. It is a picture of a person who is also on the journey, not one who has reached the destination. You are traveling with the others, not in front of them. You don’t always know where you are going, and you don’t have to. You get blisters and feel thirsty, so you need rest.

But you are going somewhere. There is something calling you onward and upward. And you want to go there. And you want to walk with others who feel the same tug. And the trek is an adventure, and the destination is awesome, and you want others to join with you.

Life is something to be lived, not a problem to be solved, especially by me. Just enjoy the journey.