Monday, March 30, 2009

The Legacy of Bob Birkholz Lives

Yesterday, someone from our parent church asked me to lunch. I accepted, and today we got together. It was nice. We went to the new Irish pub near our house. A friend of a friend described us as living within 'staggering distance,' the pub, but we just had lunch. Honest.

Turns out that the reason he invited me to lunch was to see how I was doing. That was it. Just to see how I was doing. He knew about my friend Tom's suicide and wanted to see how I was doing. Which was wonderful.

My wife's father died in 1996, but that was one of the things I remember about him. It's funny to think of it that way, though, because I only met him once and that was never something we talked about. Yet Beth has shared over and over how hard his death was on their pastor because her dad- Bob- had made it a habit to take his pastor out every now and then just to see how he was doing. It's a legacy that she's never forgotten, and one that I too have never forgotten.

This is often a lonely business, folks. Which sounds weird because we're always surrounded by people, and most of them (though hopefully not all) are Christians, so you would expect Pastors to have huge support networks. But we don't. As a result, huge numbers of clergy get burned out every year. For some scary stats that seem to be well cited, go here. There are other reasons why pastors get burnt out, but fact is that we need support. Pastors just gotta have support.

So take your pastor out to lunch sometime. Take them to Starbucks and buy them a "Super Tall Extra Fat Chocolate Expresso Something Or Other" and ask them how they're doing. When they're struggling, offer to help. I'm even going to go so far as to suggest treating them like you would anyone else. If they're hungry, give them food. If they're naked, give them clothes (please!). If they're feeling lonely and burnt out, help them out. You might not think we need it, but we do. And when we get it, it's appreciated.

So thanks, my friend. And thank you, Bob Birkholz. And thank you, for reading this and caring.