Pastor's Weekly Word

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

Allow me to share with you what I will be doing this week. When you read this, I will be in Indiana at a 7 day gathering called Presbyterian CREDO. Their website describes it as a conference designed to help pastors “cultivate their spiritual, vocational, health, and financial well-being, as well as their leadership potential.” It also says that CREDO is:

• an intentional Christ-centered community
• a living stream with a sustainable spirit
• a work of the heart, mind, body, and spirit
• a four-step life cycle process of identity, discernment, practice, and transformation

It is organized by our denomination’s benefits group, The Board of Pensions, and you have to be invited in order to go. I was invited many years ago, but I passed on it. My friends who have attended told me to never do that again, so I promised myself to accept if I were to ever be invited again.

Now that I find myself in the middle season of my pastoral career, I also find myself reflecting a great deal on my own faith, my calling as a pastor, and life in general. I am sure that is simply part of being middle-aged. I don’t necessarily expect to come away with a profound new understanding of myself or for the week to reveal miraculous things, but I do hope it will serve the purpose it is intended to serve, whatever that may be. I guess I find myself being open to God’s still small voice. I picture Jesus in that kind of posture when Mark talks about him going away to pray alone. I too will be spending a week in prayer. It is important for pastors to do that, and, truth be told, we rarely get the chance. I am looking forward to this experience. See you in a week.