C25k is a hot new fitness program. It calls self-identified couch potatoes (hence the “c”) to (“2”) train to run five kilometers (5k) in nine weeks.
I wonder what a C25k program for leaders experiencing transition might look like?
Three weeks into a new cure myself after a brief Sabbath from vocational ministry, I feel a strong kinship with those in the early stages of a rigorous training program. Three words of wisdom have inspired me:
1) From my Bishop: “You are not the CEO of a not-for-profit. You are the spiritual leader of a faith community.” Clergy entering a new ministry encounter innumerable administrative tasks that require attention: pressing decisions have been delayed; budget concerns need to be addressed; staff and lay leaders look for direction. Who has time to rearrange furniture, hang pictures and organize books and files?
My new Bishop called me back to center: my primary responsibility as a priest is to help these people grow in their relationship with God. My job is to pray, preach, teach, and administer the sacraments to equip faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
The roof may leak. The organ may need tuning. The budget may be tight. Each of those merits attention. But they must not distract from my primary role in this community of faith.
2) From my brother, himself a pastor: “Free yourself from the burden of pastoral idealism.”
I believe in the practice of Sabbath -- of not working more than a 10-hour day or a 50-hour week. I would ideally take an hour lunch every day and arrive home in time for dinner with my family. I would like to finish my sermon before I leave the office and not write on the weekend. These are all worthy goals and essential to long term clergy health.
But to think all of them attainable in the first month of a new ministry is unrealistic. Such expectations only invite a sense of inadequacy that is especially harmful in a season of transition.
Talking with my brother about the struggle of finding my “sea legs” in these first few weeks, he noted that the writings that inspire us to cultivate healthy habits were written by folks who were decades into their ministries. Eugene Peterson didn’t write "The Contemplative Pastor" in his first year in his congregation. It takes time to find our rhythms for ministry, and those early crazy days do not a pattern make. It will take some time, perhaps a year, to settle into a sustainable rhythm.
3) From a mentor priest up the road: “Jesus experienced temptation at the outset of his public ministry. Be aware of those areas where you might be vulnerable.” These words of experience and wisdom arrived in an email out of the blue, but the insight has raised my antenna and invited vigilance in my self-reflection and prayer life. Some clergy are compulsively responsible and hard-working. I am cognizant of my perfectionist tendencies. This advice helps me ask: “Am I overfunctioning in this situation?” “Is this sermon good enough for the time I can afford to put into it this week?” “Am I really what this person needs right now?” The email also reminds me to be intentional in seeking out collegial relationships with clergy and nurturing older friendships outside the parish. We need safe places to be accountable and real so that we may be faithful to the responsibilities with which we have been entrusted.
I know I am not alone in experiencing a transition in ministry. I wonder what words of wisdom have been spoken into your life in seasons of change? As the Book of Proverbs says “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”
Kim Seidman serves the people of God at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Broomfield, Colorado.
