For some time, the month of October has been identified as “Pastor Appreciation Month.” I’m not sure offhand when or how that association began, but of course it is appropriate to express our appreciation for those men who are called, ordained, and sent by God to preach His Word and administer His gifts. I have mixed feelings about designating days or weeks or months for such purposes, only because it can become rather artificial, contrived, and forced, or a kind of “tokenism,” suggesting that one has checked a box and fulfilled a duty that really ought to be a regular part of life throughout the year. But I recognize that, without such occasions, important things can be left unsaid and unexpressed which we would do well to articulate and show.
For my part, I have considered that the latter part of January, in the midst of Epiphany Tide, and in connection with the Feasts & Festivals of the Confession of St. Peter, St. Timothy & St. Titus, and the Conversion of St. Paul, would be a more appropriate time to formally acknowledge and appreciate our pastors and the Office of the Holy Ministry within the rhythm of the Church Year. Be that as it may, perhaps October was a month in need of an occasion, aside from All Hallows’ Eve and the Commemoration of the Sixteenth-Century Reformation.
More recently, “Pastor Appreciation Month” has been broadened to include the appreciation of “Church Workers” more generally. And again, it is certainly appropriate that we should express our appreciation for those men and women who serve the Lord’s Church and the people of God in a wide variety of ways: those who serve full-time in professional positions, as well as those who volunteer their time and energies within their congregations. I applaud the desire to show genuine gratitude to all those faithful servants – and I do hope this happens throughout the year, even if only by way of courtesy, kindness, and a simple “thank you” whenever the opportunity occurs. I do wonder, though, whether this broad category of “Church Worker” is really helpful, or if it doesn’t end up flattening the variety of gifts that Christ has bestowed upon His Bride. It would, I suspect, be more salutary – more effective and encouraging – to highlight each office and its particular labors at appropriate times and seasons, rather than bundling them all together. After all, each office and station contributes to the whole in its own uniquely significant way.
It remains the case that the Office of the Holy Ministry has its own unique significance within the life of the Church, chiefly because it is divinely established as integral and fundamental to that life. That is to say, the Office itself – along with the work that God has given it to do – is definitive and necessary to the very existence and well-being of the Church on earth. By the Lord’s own design and intention, there simply is no Church apart from the Ministry of His Gospel in Word and Sacrament. All of the other “church work” offices are established by the Church in love, not by divine necessity but in Christian freedom, as supportive auxiliaries to the Office of the Holy Ministry. This is not to say or suggest that pastors are better than anyone else, but only that the Office they are privileged to serve is of singular importance to the Church’s life.
To be sure, a congregation experiencing a vacancy in the pastoral office does not cease to be part of the Lord’s Church! But there is something lacking that needs to be filled (Titus 1:5). For faith comes by the hearing of the Word of Christ – but how shall anyone hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-17). Thus does the Lord send out His Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers, as the Father sends His Son into the world, to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name (St. John 20:21-23; St. Luke 24:46-49; Ephesians 4:7-13). And upon this pastoral Ministry of Christ – the continuation and extension of His own Office and work as our great Good Shepherd – He builds and sustains His Church on earth, even to the close of the age (St. Matthew 16:15-19, 28:16-20; St. John 21:15-17). For all of this it truly is meet, right, and salutary that we should give all thanks and praise to God, our dear Father in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for this blessed Ministry of His Gospel!