without a pastor

There are so many people without a pastor. Maybe millions. They have no one they can talk with about their spiritual journeys. They have no one skillful enough to trust with their very serious, complex and deeply disturbing questions. They have no one they would dare bare their deepest selves to. They have no one who will validate their own unique pilgrimage and provide hope in the outcome of their search, no matter where it leads them.

Not that everyone needs a pastor all of the time or any of the time. But sometimes someone does. And there are so many who can’t find anybody who will listen and assist them with grace, gentleness, kindness, compassion, patience and wisdom.

There are plenty of people out there ready and willing to give advice, to tell them what to do, how to fix themselves, what verses to memorize or obey, what theology to believe, what program to apply or group to join or church to attend.

Spirituality is a component of the human makeup and experience which may or may not find expression in religious observance. It is concerned with the deepest values and meanings by which we live, enabling us to become our most integrated selves.

This is what I concern myself with.