By Runar Eldebo
It was an ordinary Sunday after the service. The pastor was tired after preaching, weary too with the congregation. People come and go. People shopping for a church. People you can never trust will show up next Sunday.
The pastor was in tension. This was not her life. This was not her call. She did not dig into this to develop an organization and be executive like this, having responsibility for many to be there. This was not it. She was tired of competing with other pastors. Tired of herself being in this competition.
Today's sermon was quite a bit of work. It does not come easy to preach when you are in thoughts like these. Then he appeared. He stepped forward and she had never seen him before. He was attractive. He was handsome. He looked at her and gave thanks for the sermon. And he asked: " Is this a good church?"
She turned around herself and was back in her thoughts of tension. Another churchshopper. She did not like this game. Another one to evaluate her and her church.
"Yes," she heard herself answer, "this is a good church. We have good things going on. The Children's Corner. Men's breakfast is a new thing on the horizon, gathering executives in their 40's. And we have a great many lay people participating in preparing the services. Yes, this is a good church!"
He looked at her with big, blue eyes. And he said "I gotta know. Because I am going to die in half a year. I gotta know!"
"Thank you, Lord," she said, walking back home. "This is where I am called to be."
The Rev. Runar Eldebo is a lecturer in Practical Theology from Stockholm School of Theology in Lidingo, Sweden.