My tagline would be “Don’t take yourself too seriously.” It’s been my mantra for a while. One could paraphrase that as “Lighten up,” “It’s not about you,” or “Just relax.”
My tagline helped me keep perspective during my career in full-time pastoral ministry. The church was there before me and it’ll be there when I’m gone. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of unhappy people who go to church. I would wonder, “Was it something I said or didn’t say?” Or, “Was it something I did or didn’t do?” Most of the time it wasn’t even about me. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Knowing how fragile memory is, I knew that within months of my retirement, some would mention, “The pastor who was here before…what was his name?” I know that because they forgot my predecessor’s name a few months after I started preaching. So, don’t take yourself too seriously.
On one occasion, I was at the church and dressed in a black clerical shirt. Someone walked in and asked me, “Are you the pastor?” I chuckled then and I’m chuckling now. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Much of the time, people aren’t really paying attention. They aren’t listening to you. They’re thinking about themselves. They tell you what they think you want to hear.
In response to all of that, I try to pay attention to what’s going on around me. I work hard to listen. I try to express myself in a sincere, positive way.
And I don’t take myself too seriously.
Waite for it... 