The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer confesses sin first in terms of having “left undone those things which we ought to have done,” and then in terms of having “done those things which we ought not to have done” (Daily Morning Prayer).
Sins of omission typically precede sins of commission, so the Prayer is true to life in confessing neglect before misdeeds. Neglecting to do the things that we should is the root of much suffering.
We open the door to problems by failing to strengthen our relationships with others, especially our relationships with spouses, friends, and church leaders.
Good marriages do not just happen. We achieve emotional intimacy by investing time and energy in our marriages. The effort supports fidelity. When we neglect our marriage relationships, however, we open the door to temptation.
We can face almost anything with the help of friends, but we often fail to establish and maintain personal friendships. We assume that friendly relationships with church members and colleagues offers adequate support, but there is no substitute for the support of friends who are not involved with our work. Outside friends see things about our work situations and us differently and we need that. The time and effort needed to nurture friendships is important to long-term success in ministry.
Maintaining an active relationship with church leaders is a critical job. That the work of ministry was a team effort was clear as early as the first century. The Apostle Paul taught young Timothy how to select church leaders and coached him on how to relate to them successfully. Today, churches call pastors to be a leader of leaders.
Pastors should meet regularly with church leaders and they should get to know one other personally. Concerns should surface in these meetings before they come up in board or business meetings. Pastors may not be able to meet with all leaders in a big church, but pastors need to meet regularly with anyone who wields significant power in the church whether that person hold an elected office or not. Failing to make the effort can open the door to nasty surprises if a church leader goes to work leading others against the pastor.
www.mtmgeorgia.org published a version of this post previously.
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