Recalling What We Wish Had Happened | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Recalling What We Wish Had Happened | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ken Grant
04/29/20
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

I have been going to church for almost forty years and therefore I have experienced a number of pastoral changes. Pastors step away for any number of reasons, both positive and negative, but the impact is almost always cataclysmic for those who have sat under a particular pastor’s leadership and called his or her particular church their home. Individual members can become very protective of a pastor, especially when it was under that pastor’s shepherding that significant spiritual growth occurred. The very idea of allowing another person to claim that role is sometimes too much to accept. A pastor who is leaving a church often finds the most challenging work of his or her life is in walking a member through the process of stepping out from under his or her care and into that of another.

I have gone through this process as a member a number of times, but only once did I do so as part of a church council. In our denomination, while the selection of a new pastor is the responsibility of the district supervisor, it is up to the church council to make the transition as seamless as possible and that challenge is often a very difficult one. The relationship between a pastor and his or her individual parishioners is a profoundly personal one. While some church members find no difficulty in moving from the leadership of one pastor to the next, there are always those who have formed a deeply intense bond with a pastor such that the pastor represents God to that person in a manner that can sometimes be dysfunctional in nature.

It is with respect to these church members that I witnessed a unique phenomenon regarding how people recall past events. They would often speak of life under a former pastor in terms that didn’t remotely reflect how those events actually happened. Having been around for the same time as these church members, I had personally witnessed the time that they spoke of and they had created a narrative that left out any fact that didn’t fit an ideal view of the former pastor. They had elevated the former pastor to nearly god-like status such that no current pastor could ever hope to compare. I realized that these people weren’t doing what they were doing intentionally but actually believed what they were saying.

The past is a tricky thing and our memories of it are affected by a wide variety of factors. Often we choose to remember certain details and decide not to remember others. In some cases we can create fictions about the past that we carry with us into the present. While this coping mechanism can be useful for those who have experienced deep trauma, it can also be destructive as we compare the present with the past. In some cases we remember how we wish things had been rather than how they really are. A commitment to truth is a central focus of the Christian faith. We must regularly allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth; even hard truth. In doing so we will live better today as we have a more balanced view of what has gone before.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.