Every time I stand at the baggage carousel in an airport, I am reminded that everybody prays. Not long ago, while joining this circle of prayer, watching well-worn bags revolve in front of me, I was overcome with a sense of déjà vu. What did this remind me of? Then it hit me: pastoral counseling.
Seldom do people make appointments with a pastor to say everything is fine and they’re just so grateful they can’t stand it. No, they come to a pastor when they are weary from their journey. For a while they may have checked their baggage as they flew through another new job or relationship, but eventually the time always comes to take possession of their issues. That’s when they need spiritual help.
As they talk, the old baggage eventually appears. It usually isn’t long before the parent baggage tumbles down the chute (that’s a big one), trailed by the self-esteem baggage, and the bag marked “unsatisfying work.” They may want to discuss their dreams, which is the baggage that somehow got lost. At least one bag has the word HURT scrawled across it, a plea for this one to be handled with care.
The same bags continue to circle round and round. Every time the pastor thinks the parishioner is done with an issue, it’s soon apparent that it was only out of sight a while and has now circled back into view.
It took me a while to figure out that parishioners think pastors are skycaps who are going to lug all of this stuff away for them, which is not our job. So instead we just listen. But when the time is right, we do invite them simply to walk away from it all.
As Dante, Bunyan, Lewis, and most important, Jesus kept reminding us, the Christian journey is difficult and no one who is burdened down by baggage can make it. The hardest thing to leave behind in following Christ is not our many possessions, but the hurt and guilt we’ve collected as souvenirs from the places we’ve been. Periodically it’s necessary to get rid of the junk.
Of course, it is often necessary for the pastor to make a referral to a trained therapist who can help these burdened pilgrims discover why they are still carting so much pain through life. But I wonder if we don’t make that referral too quickly. Only the pastor has the calling to speak the liberating Word of God into human souls. So we at least need to hold before them the biblical claim that they don’t have to lug around all of that hurt.
Our goal isn’t to overly examine the baggage, or even to be particularly careful with it. Rather we are called to remind them that no matter how many times they consider their issues, they’re never going to have a better past. Maybe it’s time to lift their heads to the call of heaven to be a new creation.
When Jesus prepared his disciples for the long road of ministry ahead, he cautioned them, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down.” Don’t overload it because whenever the heart is full, it just cannot hold another thing. Not even a Savior.
While pastors must always be ready to serve as confessors, we dare not let those burdened by their sins, or the sins of others, leave our study without the declaration that in Christ they are free from the hurt of the past. They are no longer either victim or victimizer. It may take a long time in the therapist’s office before they will be able to accept this freedom and finally leave the baggage behind, but they still need to hear our unique declaration of pardon.
There are so many things our parishioners can do for themselves in the spiritual life. Prayer, Bible study, acts of compassion, and even worship may all be done alone. But when it comes to absolution they have to hear it from a priest – even if the news seems too good to be true. They will believe it when they can, but pity those whose pastors did not hold up the joy of being freed by Jesus Christ.
He never said, “Be on guard that your hearts are not too light.” Perhaps that is because while some forms of shame and sadness prevent us from seeing Christ, all forms of joy help us see him. Maybe because it’s just too hard to laugh with your head down.
Craig Barnes is editor at large of Leadership and professor of pastoral ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
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