4 minute read
Faithful Presence
I am a pastor who watches pastors. I study them. I want to know what makes them work—especially what makes them work well. As I think about those I consider to be “good” or effective pastors, past and present, I find a common denominator: every good pastor I know operates with a healthy doctrine of incarnation. Other Christian doctrines are important to this line of work, but there is something about the doctrine of incarnation that is essential to truly effective pastoral ministry. If a pastor is not gripped by it, chances are, their ministry is lacking.
The incarnation is about more than the narrative of Jesus’ birth. It is about more than the notion that once upon a time, God came to us or God did something in the past. Incarnation is about who God is. With the incarnation, God in Christ lived as a person, embedded himself in creation, and embraced a humiliating, excruciating execution among criminals. That is all-the-way incarnation to the fullest extent. And more than two thousand years later, he continues to incarnate himself, by the power of the Spirit, through his Body, the Church.
The Christian story is the story of a very present God. God who will not leave us to ourselves. God who refuses to be God without us. James Davidson Hunter calls this “faithful presence.” Faithful presence describes God’s gracious self giving solidarity and covenantal activity throughout the story of scripture. The garden narrative in the beginning shows God being faithfully present with humanity. The Exodus narrative is about God’s faithful presence in relation to leading the Hebrew people, and on and on. God’s faithful presence is a dominant thread that runs throughout the Bible. Faithful presence expresses God’s identification with us and covenantal binding with us in love.
A rich, unbounded theology of incarnation is central to pastoral work. In a world where relationships are shallow and commitments are conditional, ministry that is marked by faithful presence serves as a witness to God’s relentless determination to be with us. Hunter explains, “It is a quality of commitment that is active, not passive; intentional, not accidental; covenantal, not contractual. In the life of Christ, we see how it entailed his complete attention. It was wholehearted, not half-hearted; focused and purposeful.”1 In response to God’s faithful presence, our first responsibility is to be faithfully present to God through the means of grace. Then, faithful presence works its way into our pastoral vocation. By living and pastoring incarnationally, our lives bear witness to God’s ongoing presence in this world.
Pastoral ministry that is practiced in the name of Jesus is about being with and living deeply where people are.
Some clergy make the case for ministry without the need for pastoral visitation. Some say visitation is outdated and unwanted. No doubt pastoral visitation can, at times, be awkward and feel unnecessary, especially as clergy are increasingly sidelined in our post Christian culture. But pastoral ministry should not be driven by trends, whims, or immediately calculable results. Pastoral ministry that is practiced in the name of Jesus is about being with and living deeply where people are. It is about faithful presence; locating our bodies in places with people. After all, bodies have always been God’s best way of getting to us. Therefore, regular pastoral visitation is integral to ministry. Visits may not occur in homes as often as they once did, but they can now occur where people are: ballparks, dance recitals, workplaces, nursing homes, community events, hospital rooms, band concerts, etc. The more we place ourselves among people— on their turf and on their terms—the more our ministry bears witness to the kind of God who is personally, faithfully present.
Sometimes, as pastors, we ask ourselves questions like, “What must I do?” or “What should I say?” But maybe the most important question should be, “Who will I be with?”
Rev. Daron Brown lives and pastors in Waverly, Tennessee, with his wife, Katie, and children, Kendall, Parker, and Macy.
1 James Davidson Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, (New York: Oxford, 2010) p. 243.
