God, Family, Church
I've been contemplating what it means to be a pastor as I begin soon my new appointment at Sycamore Creek Church. I've been asking pastors what their top three nuggets of wisdom are about being a pastor. I often get something to the effect of putting one's family above the church. So the received wisdom of the day is that the priorities of a pastor should be God first, family second, and the church third. But I've been wondering how our baptism changes this prioritization. Is the church our new family? Does the church come before family? If so, what is the difference between the church and the family? Is there anything unique about the covenant between spouses? How does that covenant interact with the sacrament of baptism? Do Catholics have something over Protestants here by also calling marriage a sacrament?