1 Samuel 3:1-20: What are pastors God for?*
Have you ever asked yourselves the question, ‘What are pastors good for?’ You wouldn’t be the first. A father, a pastor himself, once gave his daughter some advice as she began to date and search for a life-long partner. He told her,
“If you marry a builder, he’s good for building you a home.
If you marry a mechanic he’s good for keeping you in a safe and reliable car.
If you marry a gardener he’s good for keeping fresh fruit and vegetables on the table.
If you marry a pastor, he’s good, well he’s good for nothing.”
They didn’t tell me this in seminary but the reality is, Pastors are unnecessary. They are unnecessary to the culture in which we live. We don’t produce anything and are often at odds with what the culture wants to hear. There we stand as an anomaly on the cultural landscape.
Pastors exist in the ‘nothing’ aspects of life; those parts of life that cannot be measured. We show up alongside hospital beds, lead ancient services of worship to a God that no one in our world cares about any more, and we conduct weddings for distant relatives and friends of friends because the cost of a celebrant is ridiculous.
From time to time a pastor will reach above the crowd as a reflection of the cultural leaders of our day. He or she will have a political or corporate image that causes them to be useful and good for something. But a ministry defined by cultural success or celebrity is not what pastors are good for.
For many years I thought pastors were good for speaking in Jesus name. Every Sunday the pastor stands before the gathered saints to declare the word of God to the people of God. I was taught that religious words when mixed with holy passion and anointed sweat rouse a congregation to holy living. But this is not what pastors are good for.
I have colleagues who tell me pastors are good as agents of change. In a post-modern highly digitized world the pastor is good for missionary endeavour and deconstructing the ancient forms of church. Taking on the role of entrepreneur the pastor exists in coffee shops and online as he or she promotes an activist form of Christianity while bashing the church that exists in buildings and steeples. But this is not what pastors are good for.
So, what are pastors good for?
In 1 Samuel 3 we find Eli – a man of God once passionate and devoted who is now a parody of a priest. He has reduced his calling to no more than a religious job. His name is still on the door and on the stationary but what he does has little to do with God. Thankfully God is not limited by our unfaithfulness. In one last act of true pastoral faithfulness Eli helps a young boy hear the voice and call of God and respond.
What are pastors good for? Believe it or not, Eli shows us. Imperfect and fallen as he is in this moment he reveals the one-thing pastors are good for and in doing so shows each one of us what is truly important. It is a nothing-thing that is everything.
Late one night in the house of God a young boy prepares to sleep in the presence of God. Alongside the ark Samuel rolls out his matt and settles in for the night. Not far away, but far enough, the Priest Eli is already in bed. The young boy is an image of faithfulness while Eli is a parody of faithfulness.
As darkness descends God calls Samuel’s name. Thinking it is his master Samuel runs into see Eli. Samuel gives the right answer to the wrong person, “Here I am.” Three times he thought it was the voice of his master calling him. Three times he returned to his bed confused until, in a moment of rare clarity, Eli helps Samuel discern the voice of God from human words. He enables Samuel to hear the voice of God and respond to appropriately. Eli does what a pastor or Priest should do; he helps Samuel listen for God and respond appropriately.
We call this prayer. Pastors are good for helping us pray.
Upon hearing his name Samuel takes on a posture of response and his first response is to listen. To listen to God is to pray. Prayer that does not begin with listening is simply talking at God, not prayer. Prayer is the wonderful invitation listen to God.
One of the things that impacted me last year on my silent retreat was the way in which my spiritual director began our time of prayer in silence. I was taught to begin prayer by listening.
This is not the way in which we have been taught to pray. We think we have the first word as if we need to get God’s attention. No, no, no! Prayer is the act in which God is getting our attention; calling us from our slumber in the middle of the night.
“Speak for your servant is listening” are more than words awaiting more words. They are words that bring us to God. These words should be the first words out of our mouth before we pray, “Our father, who is in heaven, hallowed by your name.”
Eli shows us that Pastors are good for helping people pay attention to God and respond appropriately. A good pastor is not someone who grows a big church or speaks loudly in Jesus name. A good pastor will help us pay attention to God when God is calling us by us by name.
*Most of this message was inspired by Eugene Peterson. :)
