I once suggested that someone needs to create a padded, soundproof room where pastors could go from time to time to kick, pound, scream, curse, spit, and blubber. Then, when they were done, that is exhausted, they could leave the room and continue with their ministry. I think that room would be especially valuable for a pastor who is told that he has been fired. I know that people use all sorts of euphemisms but being fired, however nicely, is still being fired.
A very valuable first act once that reality is made clear is to find some place where you can vent in an uncensored way. With the psalms as our guide, some of that venting can be appropriately directed at God. “My God, my God, why . . . ” Here is where our faith should remind us that God is big enough to listen to our uncensored venting. A very good psalm to guide you is Psalm 13. You will notice, as is true of most psalms of lament, that once the prayer has vented his or her feelings to God, then they are free to hear God’s reassurance that life is not over. See Psalm 13: 5-6.
No matter how unfair the actions of a congregation may have been, the challenge for you is to get your anger and hurt out and then begin to see what God can now do with you whom God has called to ministry. The next step for you personally is to find a trusted counselor or friend who can help you process what has happened to you. As Victor Frankel reminds us in his Man’s Search for Meaning, no matter what power someone holds over you nor how unfairly they treat you, the one thing they can never rob you of is the freedom to choose how you want to respond.
In the midst of your pain that is hard to hear but for your future it is essential to understand.
