BEING TRUSTED (Part Two)

The question of being called, gifted, and located invited me to a place of revival. The wise-man’s question forced me to remember by what authority I have to lead – Trust. God, who calls and places, is the One of great trust and by whom I and the congregation have life.

I am coming to the point that TRUST from the congregation is our grounding. Please hear me clearly, pastors do not operate primarily from the congregation’s trust in the pastor, but their trust in God and God’s faithfulness. This trust in God is strong enough that it is shared, even imparted, onto us, the pastors. This is no small gift or impartation. Congregations trust pastors as gift.

In the same way, trust from God is also on the congregation. This is the economy for which the pastor can stay engaged and empowered. The pastor believes that the church is the people of God, worthy to be trusted. (I might be on thin ground for some of my colleagues).

I have been long troubled by trust, as it continues the ambiguity in the pastoral vocation (this is why counting heads on Sunday is such a fulfillment to what the vocation can often lack – certainty). Yet despite the concern, I am not willing to let it go. My discontent with the notion of trust is ultimately theological.

Two separate narratives invite the insane notion of God’s trust for us and welcome us to consider how we might trust our congregations (and vice versa). The first narrative occurs in Genesis 18 – The Oaks of Mamre. God trusts Abraham and Sarah enough to request a meal. Despite Sarah’s laughter, Abraham and Sarah respond with hospitality. Trust was extended and upheld. “Trust begets trust,” according to Leadership gurus Kouzes and Posner.

The second narrative of trust is less copacetic – the story of Incarnation. Jesus Christ comes into the world, a man, and relies on this world for life. He is born in a barn—vulnerable—and he engages the world with a posture of openness and the practice of listening (he has everything Kouzes and Posner require for a culture of trust, See The Leadership Challenge). In return both those of his community and those outside, not too mention his own disciples, abandon him to the point of death, even death on a cross. He trusts and he dies. He seeks trust and he is rejected. In this story, trust does not beget trust….

The theological practice of trust is tenuous if we are seeking safety, security and affirmation. In the narratives, God trusts us for hospitality, and the gift is both offered and rejected. Sure, this is not good news, on first read, but it is good news in the end. The One who trusts is worthy to be trusted, and we need not put our trust in horses, chariots or humanity. This gives both pastors and congregations great freedom to live without need for perfection or control. The Church is no longer primarily an organization to be managed but a people to be enlivened - even if we (the pastor, congregation, or both) are relegated to a cross…..  for we know who speaks on behalf of those are rejected.

Being trusted becomes a beginning point, not one for arriving.