As Easter approached, with it’s usual responsibilities for those in pastoral ministry calling for my attention, I held the door of my office open as the parishioner wiped her eyes once more before leaving. Closing the door behind her, I became aware of the weight of what she had disclosed to me. Although finalising the details of the Good Friday service was next on my list, I knew I needed to give attention to this weight. A brief walk through Wellington city streets on the doorstep of my church beckoned. As I looked out across the harbour, refreshed by Wellington’s autumnal breeze, I sensed the invitation to consider my pastoral care of the parishioner in light of the approaching Easter season.
Easter offers the pastor the reminder that there is both a letting go and a holding on that comes with pastoral ministry. Good Friday reminds us that, at the cross, Christ took on all of our human brokenness and frailty. Yes, I have a pastoral responsibility to care and to disciple, and to intervene when there are issues of safety, but the weight of brokenness that pastors and others in the field of pastoral care are often confronted with is not mine, it’s not ours, to hold. Perhaps, as this Good Friday approaches, you need to be reminded it is Christ who bore the weight of human brokenness and frailty. Sustainable ministry mandates the pastor to regularly reorientate to this reality; what are the practices that enable you to let go of the burden of brokenness you hold?
As I turned and headed back to the church, I consciously opened my hands, practicing a posture of letting go. I began to silently pray for the person I’d met with, and again the invitation of the Easter season began to permeate my thinking and prayer. On Easter Sunday we celebrate that brokenness, frailty and decay will not have the last word. Easter Sunday reminds us of the potential of new life, new creation, of resurrection. For the pastor, there is a holding on to the hope of Easter Sunday, the hope that new life might emerge from the brokenness we witness.
Theologian Andrew Purves encourages pastors to be doing ministry in the ‘mood of Easter Sunday’, that is ministry that holds on to joy and hope. Rather than a forced happiness that detaches itself from reality, ministry in the mood of Easter Sunday, as Purves suggests, ‘trusts the Spirit presence of Jesus at every turn and knows his ministry continues into the life of every person we encounter and every situation we confront’[1]. Perhaps this Easter season invites you to reorientate to this reality; what are the practices that enable you to hold on to the hope of Jesus’ resurrection?
Darren is a coach with the Centre for Church Leadership. He is a former speech- language therapist and pastor. In addition to coaching, Darren works for an EAP organisation providing pastoral care to government agencies and businesses in Wellington. He also has an independent supervision practice providing pastoral supervision to clergy, youth workers and social service providers.
[1] Purves, A. (2010).The Resurrection of Ministry: Serving in the Hope of the Risen Lord.(Kindle Version).
