| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 13 |
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These are mere glimpses of some phases of the personal work of the minister, the part of his work the world knows nothing about. He is priest as well as pastor. In one of St. Paul’s epistles, where he is speaking of the strenuousness of his own work, he says this: “Besides those things that are without, there is much that presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.” If any one is in trouble, he is troubled too. If any have sinned, he is grieved, almost to heart breaking. If any are suffering, he suffers too. “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?” The minister’s heart burdens are his heaviest. People do not begin to know how their minister enters into their experiences, their sicknesses, their struggles, their sorrows, their temptations and falls, as well as their joys. When their home is shrouded in gloom, his heart is breaking.
Is there nothing in this part of the minister’s calling to make it sacred and holy? There is higher honour in being such a friend to men and women, in entering into the inner experienced of their lives, and in standing as priest between them and God, than there can be in the most distinguished position the world can give to any man.
The work of a minister is sacred also because of its essential motive. It is all a service of love. The lawyer does not need to love his clients. They physician may not love his patients. The teacher may teach without personal affection for his pupils. But the minister must love his people, or his work will avail nothing. Though he speak with the tongues of men and angels, if he does not love, his eloquence is but sounding brass. St. Paul’s epistles are full of love. You feel the heart beat in every chapter. For example, “We are gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children; even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us.” There is no true ministry without love.
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