you anticipated my next post in the “advice to young pastors” category….thanks for the verse–it’s a brave man who ventures into verse these days: VENTURE ON! (Just saw that your blog isn’t verse adverse!)
ken

i read margaret guenter’s book ‘holy listening’ recently, and in one section she talks about the implications of any sort of gift of empathy in the spiritual director…which when we are compassionate and empathetic listeners walking as sacred companions with others in the mess of life, we cannot help but take others’ sins upon ourselves…to which she points to the practical issues in ‘burden bearing’. it’s worth the read…

this also sort of remind me of some wordcraft i wrote last year, the legends of lowtide:

there is a cloud of witnesses who intercede at low-tide
digging a way so that voyaging vessels do not collide

with dangers that waters in darkness can hide
that can gash the hull of a ship on its side

and cause it to sink in the oncoming tide
lost to the sea and there to abide

no, our heroes dig deeper for those who cannot cope
a profound trench that will become a pathway to hope

making a way to ease the burden a little faster
to come through at high tide meeting a generous harbour Master

tugging their way in deep draft carrying burdens of oppression
yet a way has been made through with this messy intercession

yes, the wandering ships loaded down for journey
on a passage to safe harbour amidst a storm-tossed sea

our heroes wear waders to protect as they trudge
through the muck and the mire clearing the sludge

yet the grime it seeps off them as they clear the way
devoted to their work so that none go astray

now they follow the channel dredged by legends unseen
to unload their burdens and new grace to glean