Now, if you’ve ever been to a large pastor’s conference, you probably already know where I’m going with this.

This Entmoot is a meeting where all the Ents gather to discuss the important matters at hand. In Tolkien’s story, when the Ents must decide something important – like whether or not they go to war – they call for an Entmoot. So pastors begin to pull back from the authority given in their charge as their eyes go wandering for something else to provide the fruit that proclamation alone didn’t seem to create. I imagine it’s somewhat similar to shepherding trees. But that work is slow-moving, often with no visible result of its effectiveness. A pastor, first and foremost, is a preacher: one who delivers the goods and proclaims Christ crucified for the death and resurrection of many. Our hiding is firmly rooted in a real understanding of our own sinfulness and a weakening of our resolve to do what it is we have been sent to do. We hide in bureaucratic institutions we hide in the advice of experts we hide in ivory towers and clever programs. The only difference is we have gotten much more sophisticated about our hiding.

We’re not (at least most of us) recluses and hermits, but we do hide. Pastors may not hide away in the forest of Fangorn. In their hiding, they have, for all intents and purposes, been lulled to sleep. In fact, if anyone remembers them at all, they are not regarded as anything to be too worried about they’re an impotent bunch and more legend than real force. They lurk deep in the forest forgotten by most of society. These ancient shepherds of the forest, crafted in the imagination of Tolkien, have found themselves slowly but surely pushed to the sidelines in the trials and tribulations of the world. If you think about it, pastors have a lot in common with Ents. The above quote from Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers provides us with a workable metaphor for the pastoral ministry in our day. “A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong.”

The ents are going to war