I think the biggest change in my thinking about church came as I was writing my Life Journey book. Thinking about Psalm 23 where David affirmed that "The Lord is my Shepherd", I came to realize that I'm really not the Pastor of anyone. I understand that I am called pastor, and that's all right. The fact is though that the Lord is our Pastor (that's what the word shepherd means) That makes me his little helper! What a relief to not have to carry the weight of anyone on my small shoulders.
My job then is to simply do what the Shepherd tells me to do. That's why Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you... the work is easy... the burden is light". He does the carrying of people. I simply have to walk beside and in step with Jesus. When I came to understand that the Lord is the pastor of my church, it took a huge load off my back. Leadership is actually fun! I just have to keep pointing people to Jesus. Like the Apostle John wrote about John the Baptist, "When they heard John speak, they followed Jesus."
So back to my friend's concern that not everyone shows up in the summertime; it's really not my problem (I've got enough managing my own life without running everyone else's) The Lord is still their Pastor whether they are in church or on the beach. But don't misunderstand what I am saying; I believe that we should faithfully be in Church. I"ll write later about why we must go to church regularly, but my point is simply that it doesn't help me to fret about it. My job is to walk beside Jesus and keep pointing people back to him.
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