The Pastoral Office and the Lutheran Blogosphere

Originally published on May 1, 2007 at www.theunknownlutheran.blogspot.com.

Ok, let's just admit the problem.

When you were a kid and the garbage man drove by in his garbage truck, you wanted to be a garbage man.

Can you imagine being a fireman? They drive the cool truck around and most of the day they hang out with the boys playing cards and taking turns cooking in the kitchen.

Or see the cool plane in the sky? Man it would be awesome to fly one.

So you are older now. You have three cubicle walls you face everyday, maybe 3.5 if you are lucky. Or you are working on an assembly line somewhere. Or you see this patient or that client about some issue that they have, that probably isn't so serious anyway.

Some time in the last five years you finally woke up from the beer induced stupor of your college years and realized that you are baptized. You started planning your early/late church attendance around the communion schedule. You managed to get your sorry carcass to confession. Then you found another church that offers communion at every divine service. You finally read the Book of Concord and have built a small library of theological books. The 12 years of Lutheran school, no longer seems so Lutheran anymore. And every morning on the way to work you say to yourself, "I wish I was a pastor. I wish I could baptize. I wish I could preach. I wish I could put our Lord's Body and Blood into the mouths of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I wish I could absolve. I wish I could commend the dying."

And in truth, you are the same kid, sitting on the front porch wanting to be a garbage man.... Only looking at the big truck and not noticing the dirty work that goes into filling it.

A former Lutheran pastor once told me: "Most times, I preach the sermon that I need to hear."

I have just done the same.