Are you a chaplain?

I had coffee with a very good friend yesterday morning. What was supposed to be 30 minutes of getting caught up turned into 2 hours. We talked about what has happened over the past few months since we had last gotten together. I've only known this friend for 15 months and so even now we are still sharing more and more of our story and how we came to be where we are.

I was telling him about a phone call from another friend the week before where we discussed his struggles with a potential inappropriate workplace relationship when the topic of a former pastor came up. I was describing this pastor's week as roughly 40 hours of office time in sermon/teaching prep with an occasional trip to the hospital, wedding and/or funeral....no time in the community, no time in a small group, no relationships with the lost, no feeding the hungry or clothing the poor....nothing that I believe Jesus came to die for. His response has had me thinking ever since:

"So....he was your chaplain."

He went on talking but I glazed over (I'm not a very good listener at times). Let me stop and say this is in no way meant to bemean the role of a chaplain. I've only known two people who were chaplains and both were amazing people. I guess I'm stuck on how some people who call themselves pastors and that take on that incredible task can get to a place where they believe that 90% of their life should be given to sermon preparation.

I truly believe that he was/is a product of a lot of things but mostly a time and place that takes the idea of the equipping of the saints as they (try) to do the rest of the Bible.....literally. I guess the idea is, "I'm just called to equip the saints." How anyone can get to a place where they believe they are in no way called as a Christian to get out and live life among the world and put "their money where their mouth is", is beyond me.

I know this generation is passing away. Most of the pastors I know spend intentional time outside the walls of the church engaging this wonderful world that Jesus came to die for and have a pretty good grasp of God's mission of reconciliation. Many of the pastors I know and interact with are actually trying to figure out how to get more of themselves and the money that comes in back into the community to meet the needs of the least, last and lost.

As always, I apologize that you choose to be subjected to my ramblings....just my way of processing the ideas bouncing around in my head about the idea of pastors as chaplains.