New CC articles on solidarity, self-care, using the lectionary, and more.
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** Being a pastor is hard. But how hard?
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My grandfather was a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He fulfilled many of the tropes of former generations of US pastors: a pillar in a small neighborhood who overworked, knew everyone’s name, always seemed to be making a hospital visit, and didn’t necessarily have much energy left over for his family.
Times have changed, and so have the challenges facing pastors—who are increasingly part-time and bivocational, and who often lead congregations on the brink of closing their churches’ doors. These and other difficulties came to a head at the peak of the Covid pandemic, causing what felt at times like a mass exodus from the pulpits (and other ministry settings). Three brand new articles all address the situation of ministers in 2024:
* Scott Hagley and Karen Rohrer consider the ways that pastoral challenges aren’t unique ([link removed]) and why that is a good thing
* Ben Dueholm explores the limits of self-care and suggests new ways to think about vocation ([link removed])
* Julian DeShazier documents the life-saving role of the lectionary ([link removed]) in his own ministry
Plus more great new content below. Scroll down for a Jewish scholar’s perspective on God’s love in Hosea 11 ([link removed]) , a column about the types of legacies we leave ([link removed]) , and more.
Email me: What do you think is the hardest challenge for ministers today?
Jon Mathieu
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Editors%E2%80%99%20Picks)
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** Ministry and other difficult jobs ([link removed])
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“Many pastoral challenges are not distinct from those faced by anyone working with people in a caring or service profession. Feeling unappreciated and unsupported is a symptom of a larger sickness: the fracturing of our social spaces in real time.”
by Scott Hagley and Karen Rohrer
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** What comes after clergy self-care? ([link removed])
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“The real problem with self-care is that it can’t actually make our jobs better.”
by Ben Dueholm
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** Why I came back to the lectionary ([link removed])
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“I stopped using the lectionary for a while. Then I went back, and it saved my life.”
by Julian DeShazier
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** In the Lectionary for April 14 (Easter 3B) ([link removed])
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Why doesn’t Jesus just remind the disciples of a story or an inside joke they shared before he died?
by Josh Scott
** Easter 3B archives ([link removed])
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Get even more lectionary resources with Sunday’s Coming Premium, an email newsletter from the editors of the Christian Century. Learn more ([link removed]) .
** Divine love in Hosea 11 ([link removed])
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“In one of the most exquisite chapters in the Hebrew Bible, the prophet imagines God struggling with how to respond to a recalcitrant people.”
by Shai Held
** A deeper legacy than hard work ([link removed])
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“Passages like Psalm 127 invite us to sit with a foundational truth we ignore at our peril: the work is God’s. The work is always God’s.”
by Debie Thomas
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