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FEATURE:
A Pastor's Life
February 9, 2001 Episode no. 424
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BOB ABERNETHY: A new study reports that most American clergy
find their work deeply satisfying, and worth devoting their
lives to. The clergy have often been described as suffering
from low morale, because of low pay and long hours. But the study --
by Duke University Divinity School -- will report that seventy per
cent of clergy have never considered leaving the ministry.
Pastoral leaders from eighty denominations and faith groups participated.
In suburban Chicago, Judy Valente looked into the life of one pastor, and found that life to
be stressful but satisfying:
PASTOR
MELODY EASTMAN (pastor): We didn't attend church at
all when I was growing up. When I went to college, my neighbor
in the dorm invited us to go to this church she had found.
I walked in the door and it was like I had come home.
JUDY VALENTE: It is Sunday, just after dawn, Pastor
Melody Eastman prepares for the 7:30 worship service --
the first of three she'll conduct today.
Pastor Eastman: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God be with you all.
VALENTE: A few words of parting. A dash for coffee,
then it's on to the 8:30 service.
PASTOR EASTMAN: You're on, bud. You know what you're
doing? Not a clue? Regular, straightforward service.
The amount of time it takes to plan one worship service
would probably floor folks.
VALENTE: At this service, Eastman's husband Marty
is a guitarist. Her son, Niles, plays the conga drums. Daughter
Emlyn is in the pews.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Welcome on this Lord's Day, it's
good to have you with us. You know, Jesus could be disturbingly devious when He had a mind to.
I find there is almost always a hook in the Scripture
passage, something that's either a surprise or struggle
with the text. That tends to be where I'll focus.
VALENTE: Women make up only about 14% of the ELCA's
[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America] nearly 18,000 ministers.
Only 26 senior pastors are women.
STEVE MEYSING (associate pastor): The first woman
to serve a congregation usually has a lot of ground to break
and goes through a lot of trauma in that acceptance process.
VALENTE:
With the 8:30 service over, she rushes off to teach a religious
education class for teens.
PASTOR EASTMAN: I've got to get to class now.
(To students): It is very important to know the Apostles'
Creed, isn't it!
VALENTE: To liven up a lesson on the Apostles' Creed,
she enlists the help of her son's fish and a dog named Jeraboam.
PASTOR EASTMAN (to dog): I need you to help me teach
these fish. Have you got that? Jeraboam, the fish, honey,
the fish.
VALENTE: With five minutes to spare before the next
service, she jots a few notes to herself in her office.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Welcome on this Lord's Day. It's
good to have you with us.
You have to learn how to juggle all kinds of things, and
not all of them are your gift. Sometimes, you make mistakes.
That's hard. You want to be good at everything, but you
can't.
VALENTE: Finally, at 3:30 in the afternoon, some
ten hours after starting her day, she arrives home. Her
husband Marty, a computer programmer, is slowly remodeling
their house.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Hey, hon.
MARTY EASTMAN (husband): Hey, dear.
PASTOR EASTMAN: I'm gonna go crash. By the way, I
thought it went great today.
MR. EASTMAN: Oh, good.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Life is short ... read the funnies
first.
VALENTE: After 14 years in ministry, Pastor Eastman
earns a base salary of about $33,000 a year. The church
also subsidizes her housing. Lutheran ministers are among
the lowest paid in mainline churches. A minister starting
out might earn as little as $25,000 a year.
While Sunday worship represents the core of pastoring, it
is but a small portion of a minister's life. Today's pastors
are more than counselors, preachers, and spiritual leaders.
They have to be chief executive officers, accountants, and
crisis managers. It's a constant battle to balance each
role.
Add to that list, doubling as a maintenance engineer.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Here we have a case of a recurring
... concerns with the building. ... Those things come up
just about every week -- almost everyday.
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VALENTE: Few areas absorb as much of her time and
energy as church finances.
PASTOR EASTMAN: It surprised me how much I would
need to answer about accounting. You know, there's a reason
I didn't go into that [laughs]. Just a lot of detail work
... making sure you understand employment policies and federal
guidelines and tax regulations.
MAN (at finance committee meeting): This year we're
projecting to go in with a shortfall of $20,207.
VALENTE:
A pastor must be able to shift at a moment's notice between
administrative tasks and the tough emotional work of ministering.
On this day, Eastman brings Communion to a man who suffers
from a rare and debilitating disease.
MATT (parishoner): I lost six out of seven layers
of skin.
PASTOR EASTMAN: God is holding on to you, and He's
not letting go. God is even more stubborn than you are ...
stubborn in grace.
PASTOR EASTMAN (with Matt): Being present to someone
when you can't make it better. Sometimes all you can do
is not run from the pain ... which to me is the epitome
of embodying Christ.
PASTOR EASTMAN: There was a parishioner here when
I started who was ill. Just at the moment, I realized that
we would not hear another breath, I heard her husband --
they had celebrated 50 years of marriage -- I heard him
singing, [sings] "Praise God from who all blessings flow."
He could barely get it out. We all wept, wept and sang.
VALENTE: Every Tuesday, Eastman meets with other
Lutheran pastors.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Let's just start ... around the room
and seeing how everybody is.
FIRST MINISTER: [I'm] having trouble sleeping at
night because all these decisions are going around in your
head.
PASTOR EASTMAN: When pastors get together, there's
a lot of pain, hurt, and struggle. Congregations are like
family systems, and you can get dysfunctional patterns that
set up.
VALENTE: With nearly non-stop meetings, there often
isn't time enough for prayer.
PASTOR EASTMAN: I don't know any pastor whose prayer
life is as disciplined as they'd like. I'd like to think
I can come into my office and have prayer time; that never
happens.
I sing and that becomes really good prayer time for me that
I do find feeds me.
VALENTE: Ministry wasn't Eastman's first choice.
She had planned to become a journalist. But a job in campus
ministry convinced her to attend seminary. Her mother was
less than thrilled.
PASTOR EASTMAN: She called back and said, "your father
and I are extremely disappointed in you." I think that was
one of the worst days of my life. When I was ordained, they
just didn't come. One of the best days of my life was the
first time my parents came and took Communion from me, and
I cried the rest of that morning. It meant so much to me.
VALENTE:
When Eastman's daytime appointments are completed, her evening
duties begin -- like this pre-marriage counseling session.
It is also the hour to return calls.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Sometimes, you have to hold the phone
away from your ear, because they're just yelling and it's
really loud.
VALENTE: In between bites of a rapidly cooling TV
dinner, she checks in at home.
PASTOR EASTMAN: Hey darling, you're home. I'm not
going to be home for dinner. Did I warn you about that?
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot.
EMLYN EASTMAN (daughter): We don't see her that often,
She's always running off to meetings.
MR. EASTMAN: You do have to get used to sharing your
spouse. It's almost as much a marriage with the church as
a job with the church.
VALENTE: The family tries to make the most of the
time they can be together.
PASTOR EASTMAN: My feet were hurting so bad by the
time I got through this day.
There are times where ... I cannot do one more thing.
I can't talk to one more person who needs something. I'm
done. But every day I feel blessed that I'm in the right
place. Trusting in God's promise that if God has called
me, then God will give me whatever it is I need to do whatever
it is God wants me to do.
VALENTE: For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this
is Judy Valente in Wheaton, Illinois.
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