Pastor as
Priest
“People need priests to stand with them as much as they need prophets to stand over against them. But ‘bear one another’s burdens’ doesn’t mean being a pal to every parishioner, a minster someone once described as a ‘quivering mass of availability.’ What the second century physician Galen said of doctors applies equally to pastors: ‘They heal most successfully in whom the people have the most confidence.’ A successful pastor is one who unveils Jesus’ presence in the everyday lives of ordinary people, someone who can weave sorrow, loss and especially death into our understanding of life.” _Wm. Sloane Coffin