remove your shoes, please

there are some ups and some downs to being a pastor, or said another way, some good, some bad.

as a brand new pastor, only having been serving a congregation for like 3 weeks and getting a call at 6:00 a.m. from a parishioner who says that their 40 something year old daughter just died and they would like you to do the funeral... that is good, you feel honored, but that is bad in the sense that it was your first funeral and you don't know their daughter at all... that can be stressful. also, getting a call at 5:30 p.m. by another parishioner saying that her husband has gone into diabetic shock and the paramedics are there now trying to revive him! yikes! you feel good that they called you right after the paramedics so you can come and be with them, but that is bad when the person who went into shock really needs to go to the hospital, but they are a grown human being and you can't make them do what they should do and you spend all night worrying if they will live through the night.

there are ups and downs.

sometimes though, what you get to do as a pastor is very, very special. you get to be there with them for surgeries, weddings, for honest conversations about very private things, for new babies and stuff like that.

sometimes you perform your call and you walk away glad that you could be there, but sometimes you walk away with a blessing that you never thought you would find in that private talk, hospital room, or home visit.

sometimes when you go to them and it is just you and them, one on one... they talk to you and say things they wouldn't say in front of their spouse, family, friends, or co-workers... they let you glimpse a very private part of their lives that maybe nobody has ever seen before, and you get to see it and talk with them about it. when it is happening you are aware of it and you feel like the ground beneath your feet is holy and you have a sense in which you think you should remove your shoes because this is truly holy ground. the air around you seems to change and your eyes are locked into their eyes and you can meet their gaze because The Spirit gives you the power to be sensitive at that very moment. it gives you the power to know that right at that moment it is all about them, and not about you or anybody else. if you are smart and listen to The Spirit you keep your mouth shut and just listen, i mean really listen.

when a miracle, and i believe it is a miracle, like that happens you just want to say let's stop and take off our shoes, because right now this moment is so holy that it almost seems disrespectful not to.