(It is an unusual experience for a pastor to be able to sit in the pew for many weeks right in the middle of a life of ministry. Pastor Burchett’s sabbatical leave in South Carolina has given him this very opportunity – the result being a number of refreshing insights and interesting observations. Here, in an interview format, are some of those thoughts.)
Q. Pastor, what were your first impressions in moving from the pulpit to the pew?
A. Well, a lesson I learned the very first Sunday was that the seats are hard! — and a rambling sermon doesn’t help any, either. The whole experience has caused me to reflect often on my childhood and early youth when week after week it was possible to attend church and hear others teach and preach. It has been very good in many ways.
Q. How did you go about finding a church home in Columbia?
A. Changing from pulpit to pew can be almost a traumatic experience. Locating and choosing the right church is not an easy thing. As one tries to judge between churches it is a real test to keep the attitude right. Of course, it requires some sound discernment in order to find the right church home. We learned right away how important common kindness is to those who are strangers in a church. On our very first Sunday a man approached us with real warmth and introduced us to other friends and made every effort to help us to be at home. He went out of his way to see that we were in the right Sunday school classes and were acquainted with the general program of the church. May God raise up many like him in all our churches.
Q. Did you really feel a part of the church where you finally settled?
A. I came to realize how difficult it is to really get acquainted with a new church without some involvement in their homes. This has taught me all over again that strangers will always be strangers until we invite them into our homes. I pray that God will bless and help those who minister in this way.
Q. What thoughts have you had about others’ teaching and preaching ministry?
A. Sitting on the receiving end of teaching in classes and in church services has driven home the fact that teaching that has no reference to the lives of the hearers can even be a deadening thing. For example, it is troubling to come into a church and hear facts given on prophecy or some thing else but no pointed application to the way lives are being lived.
Q. Has it all been that way?
A. Oh, no! It has been a joyful experience to hear words shared from the heart. Even a simple Sunday school lesson taught without eloquence is such a blessing when it comes from the heart.
Q. Let’s talk more about worship itself. Has this time helped you to understand the average person’s worship experience?
A. Sitting there in the pew helps me to realize how thoughts wander. One can almost feel the passive drifting attitude of others around. It takes real effort to participate meaningfully in a worship service. So many do not choose to make that investment. We must offer to God a sacrifice of praise, Hebrews 13:15 says.
Q. What about communion services?
A. On our first communion Sunday away from home I distinctly recall a sense of family. A sort of heart fellowship with those around us. I praise God that He has ordered that we should worship Him together. Yet communion services seem especially stiff and missing in the spontaneous blessing I am sure they are intended to be for God’s people. In one communion service I conducted it all seemed so complicated. All the various little formalities I was required to go through. It all had to be “just so.” How different from the upper room gathering when our Lord led His disciples in the first supper observance.
Q. Have you come to appreciate any aspect of worship more?
A. Yes. I find myself valuing a good song service. I don’t like to feel I’m singing a solo! There certainly is a difference between hymns sung by everyone in a hearty manner and just grinding along without enthusiasm. While on the subject of music, it’s hard to listen to those special renderings which have neither heart or quality. I certainly wouldn’t mind so much if the talent was lacking if only more folks would throw their heart into what they do.
Q. Has anything in particular caused you to appreciate more what God is doing here?
A. The greatest jolt of all which I have received has been the return to a form of public worship where the pew is absolutely silent except for singing. A real longing wells up within me to hear from others who sit around me. I wonder what God is doing in their lives and what notes of praise and testimony they might share if only there were opportunity. It is a deadening experience to hear prayer after prayer, in a single service, from the man on the platform. How good it would be to hear words of exhortation, testimony and prayer from others in the churches. This is so much different from what Paul says in I Corinthians 14, that when we come together, some have a hymn, or a lesson or a truth, and all is to be for edification.
Q. Have you seen any of this while you have been away?
A. Well, my own heart has been refreshed several times just hearing an earnest man mention how when his own spiritual life was lagging and things seemed discouraging God spoke to his heart through the scripture. Or how he learned the secret of praising God even in drought and then the showers fell.
Q. What about at times other than during the services?
A. In the fellowship of the various groups in which we have recently been involved we notice a sense of restraint among believers. There does not appear to be an openness to admonish and encourage each other. I fear that many have confused the Biblical warnings against gossip and criticism with our plain responsibilities to admonish one another. Actually, the existence of gossip is evidence of the need for exhortation — certainly it’s no grounds for disobeying God’s
orders. We need each other’s insight and help.
Q. Obviously no church is free of these difficulties. Is the weekly fellowship really worth it?
A. Yes! No matter how imperfect all of our efforts are, fellowship in the church keeps our hearts tender and filled with love for Him and each other. I think our lives would be so hard and wretched without this week-by-week experience. May God make me a better pastor for having sat awhile in the pew.