After 20+ years of pastoring, a thread of some thoughts for you youngsters and seminarians:

First, theology is important, but probably not in the way that you think it is.

Bottom line: theology—when pastoring—must be relentlessly tied to helping your church live out the faith.

In seminary, theology can serve primarily as an intellectual exercise, as the ultimate mind games. So we ask Qs like:

Does God predestine souls to an eternal destination before birth?
How do we reconcile the existence of God/evil?
How to make sense of certain Scriptures?

Etc.

These are good and even helpful—if we are constructing a pastoral framework with them. It is helpful to remember that many questions/situations have a *theological* response and a separate *pastoral* response. While the pastoral response may be informed by theology, it is unique.

For example: When a church member tells me he has an inoperable brain tumor, my theological treatise on God and evil is tone deaf, and, frankly, likely pastoral malpractice.

The pastoral response in that situation? To sit. To grieve. To hug. To say, “I am so sorry.” To pray.

Later, at some point, that same church member *will* be ready for a theological discussion of “Why?” But, even then, I must remember this is not a classroom. I am not attempting to win an argument. I am helping a very real human make sense of reality. That is what theology does.