One of the specific tasks of the pastor is to talk to many people. Whether it is greeting people before and after the service, or when we are on a visitation. These conversations are very important because it lets the congregant know that they are cared for and are important. The fact that someone listens to them is enough.
However, I found while serving at Steinmann Mennonite Church is that I didn't always have much in common with a lot of the people I had to talk to. Many of them are middle-aged and up, while I am still in my early twenties. I don't have the depth of experience and knowledge that they do. SMC is a rural church, so most people there are either farmers or from small surrounding towns, while I'm a city slicker. Without a common base of understanding, how can I fulfil my role as pastor, and have a good relationship with them? How can I maintain a decent conversation?
The Trick is to step back and find something that is universal to all human experience.
Everyone feels the weather.
Everyone has experienced, to some varying degree, hot and cold; dry and wet. whether you are 21 or 101 we all have a common knowledge of weather. Because I know how 30 degrees C feels to me, I can empathize with the elderly man in the nursing home, who can't go outside because the heat would probably kill him.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion about the weather. You can't be wrong because it's about what you experience! Even if they've never felt the full blast of a Winnipeg winter, they are allowed to not like a Toronto snowfall.
Because of this universal human experience of weather, I know have a basis to get to know these people, and I can start to build relationships with them. One where we can share new common experiences.
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Everything I write is intended to be part of a conversation, even prayers are conversation with God if we take time to listen. These are beginning thoughts, please join me in the conversation.