Some of the greatest writers of English have described excellent role models for church leadership
How would you describe your pastor?
If you were a writer and you included your pastor as a character in your novel, how would he be depicted?
Most pastors are only too aware of their own faults, so don’t be too hard on him.
The clergyman of fiction is often at worst a hypocrite or at best a likeable buffoon. But some of the most distinguished creators of English literature have written about the Christian minister in ways which are both wise and inspiring.
Chaucer and Christlikeness
Though other clerical characters in Chaucer’s work are to be avoided, like the monk and the friar, the description of the parson in the prologue to The Canterbury Tales gives a number of fine insights into the character of a Christian leader and what is required to care for people’s souls.
A holy-minded man of good renown / there was, and poor, the Parson to the town,
Yet he was rich in holy thought and work. / He also was a learned man, a clerk,
Who truly knew Christ’s gospel and would preach it / devoutly to his parishioners, and teach it.
Benign and wonderfully diligent, / and patient when adversity was sent
(For so he proved in great adversity) / He much disliked extorting tithe or fee,
Nay rather he preferred beyond a doubt / giv- ing to poor parishioners round about
From his own goods and Easter offerings. / He found sufficiency in little things.
Wide was his parish, with houses far asun- der, / yet he neglected not in rain or thunder,
In sickness or in grief, to pay a call / on the remotest whether great or small,
Upon his feet, and in his hand a stave. / This noble example to his sheep he gave,
First following the word before he taught it, / And from the gospel he had caught it.
This little proverb he would add thereto / that if gold rust, what then will iron do?
For if a priest be foul in whom we trust / no wonder that a common man should rust;
And shame it is to see – let priests take stock – / A filthy shepherd and a snowy flock.
The true example that a priest should give / is one of cleanness, how the sheep should live.
He did not set his benefice to hire / and leave his sheep encumbered in the mire
Or run to London to earn easy bread / by singing masses for the wealthy dead,
Or find some Brotherhood and get enrolled. / He stayed at home and watched over his fold
So that no wolf should make the sheep mis- carry. / He was a shepherd and no mercenary.
Holy and virtuous he was, but then / never contemptuous of sinful men,
Never disdainful, never too proud or fine, / but was discreet in teaching and benign.
His business was to show a fair behaviour / and draw men thus to heaven and their Saviour,
Unless indeed a man be obstinate; / and such, whether of high or low estate,
He put to sharp rebuke to say the least. / I think there never was a better priest.
He sought no pomp or glory in his dealings, / no scrupulosity had spiced his feelings.
Christ and his twelve apostles and their lore / he taught, but followed it himself before.
As we look through Paul’s epistles, like 1 and 2 Timothy, we find the same principles for a leader’s character as Chaucer has so eloquently outlined here.
Bunyan and the gospel
In The Pilgrim’s Progress the newly converted Christian comes to the house of the Interpreter, who shows him a number of things which teach him important lessons to bear in mind for his journey. What we have here is a kind of Puritan follow-up course for young converts.
The very first lesson which the Interpreter teaches Christian concerns the crucial question of what are the marks of a godly minister upon whom he can rely to be a faithful teacher and guide.
Then said the Interpreter, ‘Come in; I will show thee that which will be profitable to thee.’ So he commanded his man to light the candle, and bid Christian follow him: so he had him into a private room, and bid his man open a door; the which, when he had done, Christian saw the picture of a very grave person hang up against the wall; and this was the fashion of it: it had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth was written upon its lips, the world was behind its back; it stood as if it pleaded with men and a crown of gold did hang over its head.
Then said Christian, What meaneth this?
(Interpreter replied): ‘The man whose pic- ture this is, is one of a thousand; he can beget children (1 Corinthians 4.15) travail in birth with children, (Galatians 4.19) and nurse them himself when they are born. And whereas thou seest him with his eyes lift up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, and the law of truth writ on his lips: it is to show thee, that his work is to know and unfold dark things ti sin- ners, even as thou seest him stand as if he plead- ed with men: and whereas thou seest the world as cast behind him, and that a crown hangs over his head; that is to show thee, that slight- ing and despising the things that are present for the love that he hath for his Master’s service, he is sure in the world that comes next to have glory for his reward.’
‘Now,’ said the Interpreter, ‘I have showed thee this picture first, because the man whose picture this is, is the only man whom the Lord of the place whither thou art going hath authorised to be thy guide in all difficult places thou mayest meet with in the way. Wherefore take good heed to what I have showed thee, and bear well in mind what thou hast seen; lest in thy journey thou meet with some that pretend to lead thee aright, but their way goes down to death.
The true Christian minister is the one who preaches the message of the Bible and so believes it that he lives for heaven.
Austen and living there
The following is a quotation from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, written in the early 19th century. It comes from a conversation between Sir Thomas Bertram and Henry Crawford. Its topic is as to whether Edward Bertram, Sir Thomas’s son, who is to be a vicar, will live in the vicarage or continue to live at Mansfield Park and travel the eight miles to his parish in Thornton Lacey. Sir Thomas is speaking:
A parish has wants and claims which can be known only by a clergyman constantly resident, and which no proxy can be capable of satisfying to the same extent. Edward might, in the com- mon phrase, do the duty of Thornton, that is, he might read prayers and preach without giving up Mansfield Park; he might ride over, every Sunday, to a house nominally inhabited and go through divine service; he might be the clergyman of Thornton Lacey every seventh day, for three or four hours, if that would content him. But it will not. He knows that human nature needs more lessons than a weekly sermon can convey, and that if he does not live among his parishioners and prove himself by constant attention their well-wisher and friend, he does very little either for their good or his own.
Mr. Crawford bowed his acquiescence.
Here Jane Austen with powerful insight conveys the need for the Christian leader to be a friend alongside, a shepherd among his sheep, and the fact that this is what any good pastor worth his salt would naturally want to be such (see 1Peter 5.2). Truth must come to people wrapped up in love and that can only be evidenced by being there for them.
Austen, Bunyan and Chaucer together set us a fine example for Christian ministers to follow.
