One word that best captures pastoral ministry is routine – saying and doing the same things again and again. Not out of emptiness, but out of faithfulness.
I was freshly reminded of this truth in 2 Peter 1:12-15. Apostle Peter is nearing the end of his life, and writes: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder… And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”
The Apostle Paul also echoes this exact sentiment in Philippians 3:1: “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”
Dear pastor, this is your primary calling: to proclaim the same old gospel, over and over again. Never be ashamed to repeat yourself. Never succumb to the temptation to reinvent the gospel out of fear that your people will grow bored of the saving news of Christ. Martin Luther was right when he observed, “Pastors and their people need to hear the Gospel every day, because we forget it every day.”
We are a forgetful people. Our hearts leak. We drift. We grow numb to grace. Therefore, the routine of preaching Christ crucified is never a failure of pastoral creativity—it is the mercy of God to spiritual amnesiacs. If you are a pastor, you have been called to a holy routine:
To stand in the same pulpit.
To open the same Book.
To lift up the same Savior.
To remind the same souls.
Embrace it. Rejoice in it. Yours is a high calling of sacred repetition.
Confex Makhalira 