12-Time, Vacation, Money
XII. Time, Vacation, Money
THESE OF MY NEPHEWS, ABOUT six, EIGHT, AND TEN, were overheard one day when, after the manner of children, they were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. The youngest said, “I want to be a motorman.” The eight-year-old replied, “Aw, I don’t want to be anyone who just runs things; I want to be a preacher like Uncle Pete.” But the youngest, to whom, of course, attending church services was an ordeal of some length and fatigue, answered, “Not for me; you have to stand up all the time.”
Then the oldest boy contributed his bit of wisdom by adding, “Yes, but look what you’ve got during the week.” The idea, we may be sure, is not confined to children that the minister has really got something between Sundays. And they are right at that.
I wonder if we ourselves are always aware of how much we have? We have six days that are all our own. We have no boss, no one to tell us what to do, or when to do it. We have no time clock to punch. We have a week’s time on our hands to do with as we will. That is a great privilege. It is also a great danger.
It would be well to remind ourselves each morning of this privilege, and of our guilt if it is abused. For we will have gone a long way in the faithful use of our time when we squarely face the fact that our time is in our own hands. If it is wasted, we are responsible. If we are too busy, we have allowed it to be so. If we have too little time for study, or personal devotions, or visitation, or anything else we must do, it is not time that is at fault, but our management of it. When a minister takes up a new work in a new community, he is usually considered fair game for everybody who wants to use him in some public activity or program. Let him keep his head in this circumstance. He has not suddenly acquired an exalted place in the community. He is just a new face and a new voice. Unless he is cautious he will soon find himself a community Boy Scout or community handy man. As to participation in varied types of programs, let him remember that it is not likely that the public is clamoring to hear him, but that some program chairman, with a duty to perform, is seeking to complete a program. His part is to get somebody to say “Yes,” and his job is done. The most likely candidate is the new minister. We cannot afford to be boorish in such circumstances, but neither can we afford to be an easy mark. It is not part of our task to be a “yes man” to every call that is made upon us. We have long heard that “time is money.” For the minister it is at least valuable enough not to let it be used indiscriminately.
Some ministers are great joiners. They have membership in lodges, civic groups, luncheon clubs, musical organizations, clubs and boards of various kinds. It would be neither reasonable nor wise to assume an attitude of aloofness toward all activity and association with one’s fellows, but any minister who joins every group into which he is invited, or engages in every activity that solicits his effort, is woefully careless with one of Ms most precious assets time. No man can properly tell another how to use his time. It ought to be clear that we must plan our day. An elaborate schedule is not required.
It is stretching a point too far to make a schedule for every moment in the day, but intelligent order in our use of time is a necessity.
Some men can plan in greater detail than others, but it is absolutely essential for all of us to order times for study, calling, reading, meetings, and the broad outlines of our program. We are fond of telling ourselves, and others, how busy we are.
Sometimes we are not as busy as we think we are; sometimes we are busy at the wrong things. And always the fault is ours. We have just as much time as anybody else has for his job. And our time is our own. I think that if we honestly face that fact many of us will use our time more wisely and will do a better job.
It would seem that most everything about one’s ministry is something of a problem. Well, in part that is true. The personal elements of a minister ’s life are more a factor in his task than they are in that of anyone else. We have chosen that kind of a task.
There are some perplexities for us even in the matter of our vacation. Some of our people, at least, are perplexed about it. The preacher does not seem to them to be very much broken down by his work. They do not have a month away from their work. Satan is always on the job. Why should a minister take a vacation for a whole month or even more?
However it came about, it is the established custom for a church to give its minister a vacation. Somebody must have discovered at some time that it is as good for the church as for the minister that they be rid of him for a while each year. Probably more of our people than we know appreciate the imperative need of relaxation and rebuilding in the exacting work of a minister and pastor. These will expect us to relax and to enjoy ourselves, and to come back refreshed and strengthened for our task.
How shall we use our vacation time? No man can even suggest what kind of a vacation another needs or enjoys. I used to try, upon the request of others, to find some place for them near where I spend my vacation. But not any more. Never, not even once, did my conception of what they would like coincide with theirs. I am convinced that in vacations each man is a law unto himself.
Ministers are as individual as anyone else, if not more so. Some like to travel, some to rough it, some to attend religious conferences. Some work hard at it; others just want to loaf. Let a man have the courage to do what he wants to do..1 used to feel a little guilty about not going to the summer conferences of my church, and somewhat apprehensive about my complete surrender to my lazy self to the extent that days on end even reading anything more than fiction was a burden. But it does not bother me any more. I have found that a complete change was just what I needed to send me back to my work with a zest far beyond that with which I had laid it aside.
I find it a delight, on my vacation, to sit in a pew on Sabbath mornings and not to preach myself. I could not stand to hear the same man for fifty-two Sundays in the year without a break. But after those few Sundays off, nothing could hold me back. I want to hear myself again.
Whatever sends us back to our task enriched in mind and body and soul has been a means of grace to us and to our people. And whatever does that, let us continue to do, whether or not it follows the pattern of anyone else. Jesus frequently said to his disciples, “Come ye yourselves apart... and rest a while.” If we have tried humbly and earnestly to follow our Master in other things, we may rightly try to follow him in this too. In the normal course of his task the minister will have many things to say to his people about money. There are perhaps even more things that he ought to say to himself about it. And what he says to himself about money is going to have more influence on his people than what he says to them. Our fundamental attitude in regard to money will determine our life for good or ill. It will determine the effectiveness of our work, and our personal happiness and contentment as well.
Paul says, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” He is speaking, of course, of the right of every man to his support in material things. The words, however, are just as true if we interpret them to mean that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel alone. It suggests to me, at least, that as a minister I ought to live within the income received for preaching the gospel. Our salary may not be as much as we feel that we need or desire, but seeking to supplement it with other sources of income, of whatever kind, is dangerous indeed. Some years ago a nationally known minister of great power, having yielded to. this lure, testified to its ruinous effect upon his ministry, and humbly begged the forgiveness of those who may have been led by his example. His useful career remains clouded to this day. It is too easy to become more of a businessman than a minister. It is inevitable that it will divide our interest. We have one business, and one business only. Of no one is it so true as of a minister that “ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
There is probably not as much understanding about money between the church and the minister as there ought to be. And for this the minister himself is largely to blame. He has sometimes been silent about money, not only to his own hurt, but to the harm of the church as well. Most churches want to do the right thing by their minister financially. They have little idea of what must go into his work from his salary. Dr. Cleland B. McAfee, in his book Ministerial Practices, has a suggestion about frankness in salary discussion when receiving a call. It would seem that after a minister has served his people for some ’ time, and has established by his devotion and his conduct that money is not of primary consideration with him, he ought to be able on proper occasion to speak without undue reserve about money as it pertains to himself. In one of the three churches I have served, a friend, close enough to me to know something about my financial situation, without my knowledge spoke to some of the officers about my salary. Then he came to me and told me about it and said that they had expressed surprise that I had never spoken to them about it, as they did not know my need. Well, was that an invitation! Thus at their suggestion I made a frank statement to them to their satisfaction and mine. It does not seem to me that such action was altogether unique.
Let a minister tell himself, believe it, and practice it, that money is not the deciding factor in his own happiness and satisfaction. The years of depression and reduced salary taught many a minister some things he should never forget. One of them is that to have given oneself to one’s task without stint, and with no lessening of effort and devotion, commands a self-respect that is without price. If ever our financial return is the measure of our giving of ourselves in the service of the Lord, we ought to be utterly ashamed of ourselves. And we will be.
How to spend one’s money may seem to present little difficulty because we will never have very much of it to spend. It might be accepted that of necessity we will learn the laws of thrift. A definite budget will be a great help. If possible, a budget for both husband and wife is advisable.
We will need to beware of the dangers as well as the benefits of installment buying. Prompt payment of bills is a matter affecting both our own peace of mind and the success of our work. Nothing can so undermine our effectiveness in our task as laxness here. A minister’s credit is taken for granted. Without the utmost restraint he can be hopelessly in debt. It is tragic that so many men have impaired their usefulness through the use of the simple words, “Charge it.” As a rule one’s salary is fairly proportionate to the scale of living needed in the field served. In the course of time salary increases will come to us. These should be used to relieve the pressure of our current living expenses, but they should also help us to provide for our future. One of the best ways for any minister to provide for the future is through life insurance. This provides protection for his family should he be taken from them. And should he live to retirement age, his insurance values can be added to his retirement income. The ministers’ annuity plans of most churches provide at least a foundation for retirement income. An ultimate insurance income added to one’s pension receipts will provide a modest but adequate retirement fund, and meanwhile enable us to dismiss this whole matter from our minds during our active ministry.
Modern hospitalization insurance providing for hospital service is open to ministers as a group.
Sick-benefit insurance policies that pay sick benefits in cash over a period of weeks or months are also available.
Owning a home is possible under present longterm methods of payment if one’s pastorate is likely to cover a number of years. Home ownership is a matter both of saving and of security and contentment. Our finances may always continue to be something of a problem; but nobody has an easy time in this matter, not even those who seem to have much more than we. If the truth were known, some of them may be envying us. In any event we ought always to practice what we preach. And in nothing is this more urgent than in the matter of money. “We will often find ourselves preaching about the discipline of the difficult. When I was a boy I had to take molasses and sulphur. I was told that it was good for me. And I guess it was. The most potent medicine usually has some bitter tang to it. Any bitterness incident to having too little money, however, is not to be compared with the tragedy of having too much. The salvation of many a marriage is in the financial struggles that cause the two to pull together. Financial struggle may have broken some lives, but it has made many more. We have an opportunity to make the whole question of money a source of discipline and strength to ourselves. What other thing is there for a true minister of God to make out of it?