Hello,
This past Sunday I was installed as the Senior Pastor of First Lutheran
Church of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a church at which I have been working since
the first of June. “Makes it sound
like he’s a computer program,” said someone reacting to what happened to me on
Sunday. And given that I have been
the Senior Pastor there for the last three months, it may seem a bit late to
install me now, after all it feels to me like I have been doing what a pastor
is supposed to do over this past summer.
Maybe in the computer world in which we live, the word “install” creates
a bit of confusion, for the installation of a pastor isn’t really meant to mark
the day that a pastor begins to work, but it is the day that the pastor makes promises
to the congregation as to what they can expect of his or her work, and the
congregation likewise makes promises to the pastor of what she or he can expect
from them in their shared mission.
So this past Sunday the congregation and I promised that we would pray
for each other, support each other, draw upon God’s strength in our work, and
sing the notes of God’s grace and mercy that Lutherans have sung for over 500
years. “I will,” I said, “and I
ask God to help me.”, and so said the congregation. Installed.
Interestingly enough, one of the Bible passages selected to be read in
every Lutheran church in the world was Mark 8, where Jesus asked his disciple
who people thought that he was.
The disciple told Jesus the variety of what people were thinking. Then Jesus responded to their answers,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter spoke boldly and rightly, “You are the Messiah.” I say that I find it interesting and
ironic that this passage should be appointed for the Sunday on which I was
installed because it is probably the most important passage for a newly
installed pastor and the receiving congregation to hear. It is important because it makes
something perfectly clear, and this is it: that no matter how skilled or
talented or no matter how experienced or wise any pastor might be, no pastor is
the Messiah. Jesus is.
As a pastor, it is far too easy to slip into placing far too much
responsibility on my shoulders, and likewise it is also far to easy for a
congregation to likewise place far too much responsibility on the shoulders of
their pastor. Sure, as a pastor, I
need to do my best. God deserves no less.
I need to do my best in preaching, in teaching, in relating to people,
in coordinating the ministry of the church, and everything else that a pastor
does. Yet all the while doing my
best, it is essential for me and the congregation to remember, I am not the
Messiah. Jesus is.
Pastors don’t save people.
Jesus does. No matter how
eloquent the speech, no pastor can take a broken heart and rise up new life in
it….only Jesus can do that. No
matter how savvy a pastor is in the latest trends and fads, no pastor can pull
people away from the empty things that take hold of their lives…only Jesus can
do that. And no matter how good
and holy a pastor’s life might be, no pastor can unleash (by themselves) the
chains of sin or break down the gates of death….only Jesus can do that.
As I promise the congregation of First Lutheran Church how I will work
among them, and they make promises to me, it is important to know…it is a
relief to know…it is a blessing to know….that I am not the messiah….Jesus
is. And I hope and pray that
Jesus will use me as a vessel of his grace and mercy to accomplish only what he,
the Messiah, can do.
I am now the officially installed Senior Pastor of First Lutheran Church
of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Jesus
is the Messiah!
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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