We Many, We Unhappy Many, We Band of Perfectionists

Third Monday / January, ’25

Hello! Third Monday posts are more incidental, personal, and situational updates touching on my life in general and on the possibilities and circumstances of ministry. Let me know what you think at randy@greatheartstable.com or in the comments below.

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I

There is much of value to take away from Richard Reeves book Of Boys and Men. But the fact that “There are more prostitutes in the US, one million, than pastors and priests (about 250k)”^⁠¹ is probably not one of them. Nevertheless, it troubled me somehow. I tried to process this in writing, which is my way, I wrote absentmindedly, “For every pastor or priest there are four prostitutes.” While that is mathematically accurate, it is clearly not the best way to express the data.

I recently acquired a new-to-me bandsaw. As I flipped through the instruction manual, I was surprised and then amused to find that, along with other more obvious warnings and cautions, the manual cautioned me to “Always Avoid Accidental Staring.” My son and I discussed this and agreed that accidental staring can be a problem, and quite embarrassing in public places. We do our best to avoid doing so.

I chuckle at all of this, because none of it is contained in anything I’ve offered for public consumption. When that happens, it can be humiliating if not horrifying. The reality is, though, that I will at times let something slip through. A typo, some absentminded phrasing, or even some accidental staring will happen.

When it does, I trust that readers will give me much grace. I don’t always get it write.

II

Most of the Greatheart’s Table posts are stand alone commentary on some aspect of life and ministry. Occasionally a topic is simply too big to be corralled in a single 800 word essay. The question, for example, of “success” in ministry seems to be one of these. I’m asked now and then how such “success” should be defined, and whether it even should be something attached to pastoring. I will address this some day, but as I’ve gathered thoughts on it, I realize that it will require more than one post. I mention it here to encourage you to pass along^⁠ any thoughts you might have on the subject.

III

Intriguing to me is a series I hope to do on the intersection of the concerns of pastoral ministry and the book of 2 Chronicles. That sounds odd, I know, but the stories and accounts of that book are rich with commentary on the realities of pastoral life. When we do walk through the book, we’ll have a chance to consider the brilliant ”Prayer of Jehoshaphat,” which is so much more relevant than the so-called “Prayer of Jabez” which was all the rage thirty years ago. It’s also 2 Chronicles that suggested to me what I call “Ass Backwards Hermeneutics.” So, these topics, among others, will be under consideration soon. Stay tuned!

IV

I’ve also wanted to write a series of posts on a pastor’s reading life. Maybe I won’t need to. Every “fifth Monday” I release on Apple and Spotify a longer form interview I call “Rainy Day Conversations around Greatheart’s Table.”² The next conversation, to be released on the last Monday of March, will be a conversation with a pastor and a bookstore owner both of whom have varied reading habits. We’ll mine their thinking on what pastors may, or should, read and how and why. There is no telling where this conversation will lead, but it will be great fun. I’m looking forward to this one.

You can listen to our previous conversations on either Apple³ or Spotify.^⁠⁴

V

Sometimes, early on Sunday morning, I realize that my sermon is not all that I want it to be, and that my brain and heart are not going to be able to fix it. I have to be okay with that. If my name were Keller or Spurgeon or Ferguson or Sproul or that of countless others less well known but competent preachers, I’m sure I’d find a way to massage it into a wise and moving message. But, alas, my name is Greenwald. In such moments, I have to accept that I’ve done the best I can with the resources I have, and with the person I am. As long as I’m true to the gospel and not laying burdens on people they cannot or need not bear, as long as, that is, I end with the gospel, I have to trust that God, the living God, who alone knows and can reach the heart of a person, will use what I offer.

We, we many, we unhappy many, we band of perfectionists,^⁠⁵ need to be okay with that.

I trust you are and will be.

1. Richard V. Reeves, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It (United States: Brookings Institution Press, 2024), p. 93.

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2. You can read an explanation here.

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5. In case it is not obvious, this is a clumsy riff on Shakespeare’s “band of brothers” monologue from Henry V:

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.