Pouring it out.

Had a great get-together with a pastor who works at another church yesterday. Sat and had a drink at the end of the day in a lovely little Irish Pub close by the church.

Perhaps the greatest solace for a minister is to sit with another minister (one who doesn't work with you directly, so they can't ever use what you say against you!) and say, "work sucks."

I admit this now with a bit of guilt. It sounds petty and self-indulgent. Or it sounds like I don't love my work. And neither of these things is true.

The need for these venting sessions like this: my job is to be present with people through all of the awful and weird and difficult things that come up in life. Someone gets fired for whistle-blowing about sexual harassment. A single parent is $100,000 in debt and has two kids and no way to dig out. A person is crumbling under the load of supporting a wife who has epilepsy. Those were just the situations that came up YESTERDAY. My job is to be strong, to be encouraging, and to be supportive. But what do I DO with all of that heavy stuff? You can't carry it with you, or take it on yourself.

Add that to regular preaching loads, raising money, planning for upcoming church events, organizing outreach and mission efforts.

Like every job, the emotional toll ebbs and flows. But when the tide comes in in this profession, it can REALLY bowl you over.

And you don't want to bring it all home to your family, and burden them with it.

So you sit quietly at a bar or coffee shop, once a month, with a colleague who understands. And you vent. And when you're done, you sit back and say, "your turn."

***

As a side note, I always wonder where all the young men are and why they don't come to church. In the pub yesterday, we were surrounded at 5:30 PM by young men in suits. I was about ready to start passing out my business card.