Ask the Pastor: Coveting a pastor, student questions about God
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist
     Q: According to the Tenth Commandment, does a congregation covet its
neighbor's manservant when it calls a pastor away from another congregation
to be its pastor?
     A. A congregation's members should pray that they are not acting with
sinful desire when they insist upon a certain pastor or a pastor with
specific skills and talents. They should carefully look, with much prayer,
for a man who will fit their needs and who will truly shepherd them. Some
people have even applied the "husband of one wife" requirement for clergy in
1 Timothy to mean that a pastor should remain "married" to one congregation.
However, already in Bible times, pastors were sent from place to place and a
calling and placement process was evident in the early church.
     Ultimately, even if congregations are "covetous," they would not be
coveting a "manservant," since, for though the pastor is servant to the
congregation, he is not servant of the congregation.
     What does this mean? It means that while the pastor is called by the
Holy Spirit through the congregation, he is not called to serve every whim or
desire of the people at a particular place but rather, as servant (or slave)
of Christ, to meet their spiritual needs. Sometimes these are identical. At
other times, at least some in a church may have desires that are far
different from their needs. This often involves some aspect of preaching the
Law and setting boundaries. Thus, a pastor may be called by to be a "people
pleaser" but may determine that the actions desired by the congregation would
not please God and thus risks the anger of members in order to be faithful to
God.
     I now turn to some questions asked by students at Holy Cross School here
in Emma.
     Q: When did the beginning begin?
     A: The Bible doesn't give us the time, nor does it provide a complete
chronology of all the people and events to where we can backtrack and say
that Creation began at an exact time. However, the Bible seems to clearly
indicate that earth (and the rest of the universe) is much younger than many
scientists want to admit.
     Q: If God created us, who created God? Where does God come from? How did
he get here?
     A: Three people asked variations of the same question. God is eternal
and uncreated. From a human perspective, this is impossible to understand,
since we live in a world of beginnings, middles, and ends. However, Psalm
90:2 confesses, "From everlasting to everlasting you are God." Similarly,
Jesus said to the Jews, "Before Abraham was, I Am," showing not only a divine
perspective on time but also identifying himself as God. Thus, God comes from
himself and all else comes from him. He did not "get" here; he made "here"
and keeps "here" in existence.
     Q: Is God male or female?
     A: As an uncreated spirit, God is neither male nor female as we
understand the differences. However, he does reveal himself in mostly
masculine terms, including "Father" and "Son." Also, according to his human
nature, Jesus is fully male. And while calling his Old Testament church
(Israel) and his New Testament church "wife" or "bride," God reserves the
titles of "Husband" and "Bridegroom" for himself.
     Q: What language does God speak?
     A: Of his own nature and according to the translation of his Word (the
Bible), he speaks all languages. Since he is spirit, he needs no spoken
language. Yet he can and does use such language as he desires. As for the
language of heaven, we have no idea.
     We'll get to more of the students' questions in a later column.
     To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO,
65327 or send email to askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from
you.
     Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma,
Missouri and coauthor of the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."