Today marks the last “Weekly Word from Pastor Lee” here in the CW Current. I started writing a weekly reflection when we changed our communication format last summer. I love that you’ve been reading it! But this is the last of that series.
Fear not, though, because it’s not going away (nor am I going away!); we’re just making some changes. As of next week, This space will be A Weekly Word. And for now, it’ll be a reflection from a pastor, because Rev. Jena is going to join me as an author of these weekly missives. She has so many experiences with campus ministry that need to be told. Plus a ton of ministry experience that she’ll share. I’m glad to share the load, and the privilege, of showing up in your inbox with a few timely words week by week.
This might be a good time to comment that I’ve long thought the pastor’s voice is way too prevalent, too privileged, in the local church. Not that we don’t hear from other people, but still. The biggest chunk of weekly worship is the pastor’s message. The pastor, if they’re respected(!), has an outsized voice in the life of the church. A “bully pulpit,” as they say.
Even when we didn’t set out to do that.
I worry about how the prevalence of your pastor’s voice lets everyone else off the hook. You likely don’t get asked regularly to share your thoughts on a Scripture we’ve read in worship, or one from your own devotional practice. So you may not think very much about what those thoughts are! If asked to share what you’ve discovered, you may not really know, or not have words to convey what you did think.
We get better with these things as we practice.
And don’t even get me started on praying out loud. You quail, most of you (I’ve seen you!), when a volunteer is asked to open or close a gathering in prayer.
(You know when you can always count on a volunteer to pray? Wednesday night suppers! I love how one of the kids will always step up to pray over the meal.) (It might have something to do with the rule that whoever prays gets to go first in the line for food!)
I want to change that. Not the kid-who-prays rule! The unaccustomed-ness of many of you regular church-goers and musicians and leaders when it comes to sharing your thoughts around faith, and church, and the world.
Hence this one small change. No more “Weekly Word from Pastor Lee.”
And, yes, I’m mindful that changing this space to “A Weekly Word” that will be authored by Rev. Jena or by me is hardly even a half-step in that direction! But I figure this small movement to including and valuing one additional voice might help move us toward a time when y’all are vying for the chance to share a reflection in this space.
I hope you’ll think about it. Feel free to reach out with what you would like to share. Words that will connect us more closely to one another and get us thinking about things we wouldn’t have considered. About Scripture, about God, life, the universe and everything (as author Douglas Adams put it, long ago). About what love looks like in real time, on the ground among real people.
Let us know when you’re ready to share your Weekly Word. We could become our own new ministry team. (We could put together our very own food line!) You are welcome.
