This isn't the first time I have written an entire blogpost which is inspired by the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In the most recent season of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" (must watch TV if you have Netflix), Seinfeld is talking with another comedian (and it doesn't matter who, because all of the comedians on the show are really just a foil for Jerry to be Jerry), about stand up comedy. They are talking about the art of doing comedy, the ups and the downs, the fame and the misfortune, the money that can come from the job if you are lucky. And at the end, both of them muse with one another, about whether either one of them had won any awards for their comedy sketches. Jerry is asked, "Have you ever been given an Emmy for a show?" Jerry says, "Yes, I think so, I can't remember." And then he is asked, "Have you ever been given the Mark Twain award for comedy?" Jerry says, "No." The comedian asks, "Have you ever hosted the Grammys?" Jerry says, "sort of." And then Seinfeld says - prophetically, "I don't care about awards...
The Life is the Award
I have been thinking about this deep nugget of wisdom lately as it relates to the ministry. A lot of pastors tend to think of the ministry as a long race, that when it is run, will be completed someday, as the proverbial pastor crosses the finish line. And then, there is this unspoken notion, that when the finish line is crossed (whatever that finish line is - retirement, a big project, a fruitful church) there will be some kind of trophy, award, prize, medallion, life time achievement award. But there isn't. As with comedy, in ministry...
The Life is the Award
Patrick Lencioni recently underlined this idea in a talk he gave to the Global Leadership Summit. He said, "There are a lot of people in leadership who really shouldn't be in leadership." The reason is because most people in leadership see it is a mechanism by which they can get something from the experience (adulation, money, fame, etc). Lencioni says, this is a bad model. The motives that people have for leadership are the most important thing. The technical skill of how to lead can be learned and taught and trained. For a leader, the only motive that really matters is serving other people. Patrick says that this is often called, "Servant Leadership," but as he says, "there really is no other kind of leadership." Either you are serving or you are not a leader. And the award for serving is the live of service.
The Life is the Award
Recently, I was down visiting Monte Vista Grove, where my grandmother's funeral was. Monte Vista Grove is a Presbyterian pastors retirement center in Pasadena. It's where the, "old elephants go to die," is the joke at the breakfast table there. As I was staying in one of the apartments, I was lying on a couch, and I was looking up at the ubiquitous palm trees through the window. All of a sudden, I could imagine myself as an 80 year old retired pastor lying on the same couch. And then, this thought came to me, "So this is how it all ends?" And then a second thought came to me, "Cool!" In other words, there won't be any awards at the end, because, the award for being a pastor is being a pastor.
The Life is the Award
Is the life you have chosen the reward? Or are you going for something else?
All For Now,
GB
