Back on the podcast, Dr. Fred Schmidt is here to talk about doubt, proclamation, and the calling of pastors. Fred is a professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and is the vice-rector at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Nashville, Virginia.
Here’s the bit he wrote that we discuss:
There you go. A perfect distillation of Boomer-esque spirituality. And a perfect summary of what is wrong with far too much of the modern American church.
“I don’t want answers. All that matters are the questions.” (Thank you, C. S. Lewis and the The Great Divorce) A faith with no discovery to share. A spiritual director with no direction. A church without a creed. A proclamation with no reliable hope to offer. Clergy every bit as lost as anyone else.
Do people need clergy who are willing to stand with them in the middle of the struggle and confusion? Yes.
Do people need spiritual directors who are prepared to ask questions that prompt people to listen, even as they struggle to understand why they have made the choices that they make? Yes.
Do people need spiritual directors who can with them without playing spiritual wack-a-mole, when they struggle, stumble, and fall? Yes.
Do people need pastors and priests who are willing to limp alongside them, lifted up by the One who emptied himself and became one of us? Yes.
But do people need clergy who are just as lost as they are? Only if all that clergy have to offer is their own certainties or pride in their own uncertainties.
But that is not the calling of pastors, priests, and ministers. Like the Samaritan woman, we declare, “He told me everything I have done.” Like Peter, we confess, ““Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
We don't offer them our doubts. We don't offer them our certainties. We offer them Jesus.
