Chores Galore
Ever wonder what a senior pastor does on an average day? So do I. But I really only know what I do and Tuesdays are chore days. It begins outside: pick up scattered trash, water the new trees, return shopping cart to Walgreens and put the dumpster away after last night’s pickup. Then the inside chores: open the building to get it ready for the day, water the office plants, put stray coats and coffee mugs in the Lost (items are so seldom claimed I cannot in good conscience call it the Lost and Found), put lunch in the fridge and tidy the kitchen.
Though I delay as long as possible I then begrudgingly sit myself in my chair and begin my ‘real’ pastoral work. But I marvel at how much of it amounts to chores as well. I answer the backlog of e-mail that has accumulated since Sunday afternoon. I sort out tasks leftover from the weekend and update my To Do List for the week. I prepare for my weekly meetings with the other pastors. Oh, and I write this update. These are my Tuesday chores – routine tasks I have done every Tuesday for as long as I can remember.
I marvel at how much of life we spend doing chores. Jesus gave us the Great Commission: “Go into all the world and make disciples…” Was that instead of doing chores or after we manage to finish them all? What if we never finish?
Chores are a major ingredient of life for everyone, truck drivers, homemakers, accountants and missionaries alike. That must mean the call to make disciples is something that happens aswe do our chores, not after. This means I must think differently about how and why I’m doing these tasks.
I can pick up trash not just because I’m a tidy freak but even more to reflect something of the care we have for the place God has entrusted to us. I can return the shopping cart because that’s what I would appreciate if I was the manager at Walgreens. I water the trees and plants and remember our souls need watering as well. I stow lost items in the Lost and Found with a prayer that even if none of these things are ever claimed that many lost people will be found by Jesus in this place.
I will also write this update and exhort you to find God’s mission in the midst of your many chores.
Pastor Toby
Categories: Evergreen Connection